Easter is less than a week away! And while we spend Easter weekend visiting with family, we’ve already started having some Easter-themed fun. If you’re looking for some ideas, here are of the few things we’ve been doing, plus a few extra Bucks County Easter events that I’d love to do if we had time this week!
Local Events
We have Season Passes to Sesame Place, so we headed over on Friday Night for the Pass Member Preview of Elmo’s Eggstravaganza. While it got REALLY windy at times, it was so nice walking around in shorts on the unseasonably warm night. Crowds were low, so we got to ride everything we wanted to, and we even rode our favorite Oscar’s Rusty Rockets twice. In honor of the Easter event, there was a scavenger hunt, where you looked for large cutout of eggs hidden throughout the park and marked the shape that was on the egg on your sheet. After completing the scavenger hunt, you trade in your paper for a prize at Hooper’s Emporium. (The prize is a plastic egg with a sticker and small toy.) There are also a few different shows, dance parties and pop-up parades. We were just there for the rides and pics with the Easter Bunny though.
If you’re already planning to visit Sesame Place, getting in a visit with the Easter Bunny is a great two-for-one in your Easter activity checklist. The setup is really cute (in the previous Santa Workshop if you’ve visited at Christmas preCovid). You’re only with your own group as walk through a few decorated hallways, where you can hunt for Easter eggs on the walls, and then you’re lead into a private room with a photographer and the Easter Bunny. Kids sit on a bench 6 (or more) feet away, so no pics on laps or anything, but you are allowed to remove masks for the photo. You can obviously purchase photos at the exit, but they also allow you to use your own phone/camera.
Sesame Places’s Easter-themed event Elmo’s Eggstravaganza runs select days through April 18.
Wish we could fit it in:
Because of other things we have going on this week, I don’t think we’ll make it to Shady Brook Farm for their Easter festivities. They’re doing an egg hunt, visits with the Easter Bunny and access to festival field. But we love Shady Brook, and we’ll definitely be there once pick-you-own starts up in May!
Since we got to see the Easter Bunny at Sesame Place, I’ll probably stop at that. But if we hadn’t seen him there, I’d definitely be making a trip to Fairless Hills Garden Center this week! We had a great experience getting Santa pictures there this past December, and I appreciate that while we felt totally safe (constant cleaning, temp checks, etc), the children are able to remove their masks and stand with Santa/Easter Bunny if you’d like to.
Peddler’s Village is another favorite of ours, and their PEEPS in the Village actually goes until April 17, so maybe we’ll get there for a belated Easter activity.
Bunny Picnic in the Park
There was a lot about Easter 2020 that was sad and weird. BUT, on one beautiful day leading up to the holiday, I decided to get the kids dressed up, grab a bunch of bunny stuffed animals, pack some food and head to the park. We had a great time, I got some really cute pictures, and the parks actually ended up closing shortly after, so I was SO grateful that we had that day in the park before then. Fast forward to this year, and while things are starting to feel a BIT more normal, I really wanted to keep that Bunny Picnic in the Park tradition.
So when we had a warm day last week, I had the kids collect their bunny stuffed animals, we packed a picnic lunch, and we drove over to Neshaminy Park. The kids love eating picnic style (even at home), and since I rarely let them bring toys to the park, they thought it was so fun to run around and play on the grass with stuffed animals. We even played some bunny-themed songs like “Little Bunny Foo Foo” on my phone while they had a dance party.
TIP: The weather isn’t looking great for picnics this week, but you could always do this idea at home in your family room! You could also do a bunny tea party. Or, turn it into a movie afternoon by gathering stuffies, making popcorn (bonus if you add Easter-colored M&Ms), and watching a movie like HOP.
Easter Chalkart
Spring is the perfect time for chalkart because it’s warm enough to play outside, but the driveway and sidewalk aren’t too hot to sit on it! This weekend’s chalkart had more of a Ghostbusters theme going on, but last year, we were able to get really cute pics of the kids as chalk bunnies. (This also makes for cute Easter cards/mail for grandparents!)
Easter Crafts
I love crafts, so I’m so happy that Henry and Charlotte like them too. Since they’re only 4 and 3, I still have to keep them pretty simple, but it’s so fun to see how they each have their own style already. We’re always coloring and drawing, but one of my favorite things to do is have them create paintings to hang in a certain spot in our kitchen. Value packs of 8 x 10 stretch canvases are perfect for this.
I’m looking forward to seeing how their paintings change as they get older, but for now, “reverse stencil” style painting are my go-to. I find a simple image online (or freehand it), print it out on thick paper, cut it out, and then tape it to the canvas. Then I have the kids pick the colors they want to use, put dollops on paper plates for each of them, and let them go at it. The only guidance I really give is making sure they go around the edges of the paper shape so that you’ll be able to tell what it is when we remove it. Henry was really proud of the eggs he painting around his bunny this time! After they finish painting, I remove the paper shape, and that’s it! Well, this time we also glued a cotton ball on the bunny’s butt for the finishing touch!
Tips/products I love:
I typically buy canvas packs when I’m at Michael’s, but I also found them on Amazon if you want to just have them shipped to you. Click HERE for a 12 pack for $14.99. These are great for play dates and birthday parties, too.
Whenever we paint (or do anything messy) I throw down a plastic tablecloth from a previous birthday party. It’s SO easy to just use a wipe on it when we’re finished and then just fold it back up and put it back in the drawer with our paints. I used to use newspaper but 1) We don’t get a newspaper anymore. and 2) This is easier!
Get smocks or aprons! Even though most of the supplies I buy are marked washable, I don’t like to take chances. You can buy apron-style smocks at Dollar Tree in a variety of colors, and that’s what Henry (4) prefers to use. But Charlotte is ALL in when it comes to her art, so I needed something more substantial for her. I bought her one of THESE smocks before her unicorn-themed birthday, and it gives great coverage. THESE are great for simpler options.
As for paint, we use whatever I see that’s washable, good colors and at a good price. But recent favorites have been THIS Crayola set that I ordered before Charlotte’s birthday party. It comes with 12 small bottles – 6 classic and 6 glitter. It worked well during her party and my kids have been loving it since then – especially the glitter colors!
Whenever I see new holiday-themed crafts go out at Dollar Tree, I make sure I snag a few that the kids would like. They tend to go quickly, so don’t wait! These are great for a rainy day – like we just had! In fact, we got out some Dollar Tree crafts today while our eggs were sitting in cups of dye.
Dying Easter Eggs
Our other big Easter art project was dying eggs. None of us like hardboiled eggs, and I knew the kids would want to play with them anyway. So I thought I’ve give plastic dyeable eggs a try. I got THIS PAAS Kit last year (Amazon Affiliate link), but with the crazy shipping delays, it didn’t come until well after Easter. I know I got it for less from Target, but I don’t see it on their site this year. I’m sure you can find them at a number of places though! What’s cute about the PAAS Kit is that the eggs actually open, so it’s easier for small children to do different color on each half, and you can put little treats inside them. Plus, there were a few eggs that looked like chicks or bunnies, which Henry and Charlotte loved.
The plastic egg kit came with 3 dye tablets to use with vinegar and water like traditional egg dying kits. We used these for half of the eggs, and then we tried the shaving cream method with the rest. We filled a small baking dish (they each wanted their own) with shaving cream and a bit of food coloring (we used washable paint last time when we were using paper). Then swirled it around with a skewer. Then we placed the eggs in the shaving cream mixture and rolled them around, before putting them on paper towels. We waited about 5 minutes before wiping off the excess shaving cream so that the dye would have time to set. We made Valentine’s Day art this way, and it was a big hit, so I thought it might be fun to make eggs this way, too. The kids loved the shaving cream because it was more hands-on then just dropping an egg in a cup. But next time, I’d control the colors in the shaving cream more. Charlotte got REALLY into mixing it up, so the colors got pretty muddled. But they had fun! And now we can save these eggs instead of just throwing them out in a few days.
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Sweet Mini Moments 