easter – Addie Dwyer

Easter Basket Scavenger Hunt

Posted on 03/20/202303/20/2023 by Addie

A fun way for kids to find their Easter baskets!!

Every year, we come home from Easter Mass and my kids go on a mad race to find their Easter baskets. It starts with an egg filled with a clue on the kitchen counter, and they run from clue to clue until their Easter basket is found. More detailed instructions are found in this video

How many Easter eggs?

You can do this hunt for kids of all ages, but the hunt may vary a bit. For example, babies up to 2 years might only have between 1 and 4 eggs with clues, and the clues will be very straight forward – ‘dishwasher’, ‘bed’, ‘couch’. The clues are simple, very near each other, and have an adult help them.

Once they get a little older, that 2-3 age range they might advance to 6 clue eggs. The clues will still be pretty straight forward – you could go completely simple like the 2 and under age, or you could take it up a notch by doing a clue like: “where you sleep”. They will still need adult help!

As the age increases the egg clue count and clue difficulty can increase. For 4-5 year olds, think about maybe 8 clues, for 6 and above you could do 10 and increase the difficulty in clue and where you hide them as they get older. My mom was still doing an Easter basket scavenger hunt for us when we were in high-school, and I can tell you it is still one of my fondest Easter memories to this day.

Some example Easter basket scavenger hunt clues

Easier Clues for 2-4 year olds

Where you sleep at night (bed)
Look where you’d store the thing you use to cook an egg (pot/pan drawer)
Where you go to watch your favorite show (couch)
Where you get buckled up (car seat)
Mom and dad go here to let coffee flow, but I prefer hot cocoa (coffee bar)
Milk, eggs, yogurt, cheese and more are kept cool here (refrigerator)
Where you would find your crayons (art supplies)
A special place where only your toys belong (toy box)
Where mom and dad sleep (parents bed)
Where you get your underwear (drawers)

Harder clues for 5-7 year olds

I have prongs and help you to eat, I also help you keep your hands neat (utensil drawer)
I cook things really fast in here, when it’s done a beep you will hear (microwave)
If you open me up you’ll feel the heat, I often cook things on a baking sheet (oven)
Scrub your head, scrub your toes and everywhere in between, when you get out of me you’ll feel squeaky clean (tub or shower)
Some nights I count sheep, in the place where I go to sleep (bed)
First you throw your clothes in a bin, then it’s my job to make them spin (washer/dryer)
Mama sits here to do her work, but I also like to go there to draw my artwork (desk/office)
Add some dish soap and pick my mode, and open me up to load and unload (dishwasher)
If I want my room to look nice and clean, I put my clothes here where they won’t be seen (closet)
It’s always fun to go outside, put on your helmet and jump on me to ride (bicycle)

The riddles or clues can get even harder for 8 years and up. I don’t have that age kids yet, so I haven’t come up with any example clues, but I bet you could find some with a quick Google search if you need some ideas!

Setting up the Easter scavenger hunt

For more in depth steps, make sure to watch this video

Write out your clues
Organize them in the order you want them to be hunted. I like to send my kids all over the place, from one end of the house to the other, from the top of the house to the bottom (unless their babies, then they get clues right next to each other). When you have them in the order you want, keep this as a master list. A master list is key for a quick set up of the hunt and also for if someone gets confused during the hunt and needs a little help in course correction.
Write out (or print) the clues on paper and cut them out into strips, making sure to write the clue number lightly on the back. If you have multiple kids doing the hunt, make sure to label their first initial as well as the clue number to keep yourself from getting confused later on
Get some Easter eggs, and start stuffing the clues inside the eggs, labeling each egg with a sharpie with the first initial and clue number as well
As you stuff and label the clues, organize them into different bags according to the levels in your house. This will make it easier for you when hiding all the eggs. For me, I have 4 bags – 2nd floor, 1st floor, basement & outside.
Using your master list, go around your house and place the Easter eggs where they should be hidden. Remember that you will be working 1 clue backward from your master list – so clue 1 will be handed to your child, clue 2 egg will be placed in the place that answers riddle 1. So for example, clue 1 says “go where you keep your food cold”. That clue will be given to your child to start the hunt, clue to will go in the refrigerator, then so on and so on with the rest of the clues.
Hide the Easter basket in the place where the last clue tells them to go. Make sure that it is hidden enough so that they don’t accidently see the Easter basket when hunting for the other clues.
Hand them their first clue and send them on the hunt!!

At my house, we do the basket hunt as soon as we get home from Easter Mass. The night before, when the kids are sleeping, I will set up most of the hunt, leaving only the starting eggs and the baskets to be set. Then on Easter morning, as we are heading out for Mass, my husband will take them to the car, and when they are out the door, I will quickly go hide the Easter baskets and set the starter eggs in a bowl on the kitchen counter. When we come in the door after Mass the kids see the Easter eggs on the counter, scream in excitement, and start their hunt!!!

When they have all found their Easter baskets, we sit around and go through them, and when they are distracted, Dan sneaks out and lays out the eggs outside for the Easter egg hunt.

I hope this makes sense! Again, watch my Easter scavenger hunt video, that might clear up some questions. Happy Easter!

Lenten Countdown for Kids

Posted on 02/20/202302/19/2023 by Addie

Lent is a time for preparation, and teaching your kids about Lent from a young age will be so rewarding! In this video, I share all about our Lenten family traditions and some ideas to get your kids involved in the Lenten season. I have also made this countdown worksheet so that they have something tangible to cross off or do each day.

There are two different versions. The first is blank, and the second contains prompts. Each has a light purple box for days of fasting, and yellow boxes for Sundays when you do not have to observe the Lenten ideals. You’ll start at the arrow, and spiral in for 40 days to get to Easter. You can cross off the days as you go, use a dot marker, or color them in.

The countdown with prompts is geared toward easy tasks that kids as young as 2 should be able to complete (some with your help). If you have an older child who is giving something up or doing something extra, they could use it to mark the days that they completed their Lenten sacrifice. Adults can also use the blank one to help hold themselves accountable.

On the countdown with prompts, you will see that I have Resurrection Eggs listed for Holy Saturday. Dyeing Easter eggs is a beloved tradition for my kiddos each year, as I’m sure is for your kids too. It’s an activity I like to do before Easter so that we have them all ready to go for Easter. With this fun comes an opportunity to learn and talk about the Easter story. You can find many resources regarding Resurrection eggs if you have not heard of them. We will talk about the stories and symbols as we dye our eggs.

Enjoy this Lenten freebie! I hope that you have a blessed Lenten season.

Easter Preschool Theme

Posted on 04/26/202204/26/2022 by Addie

I don’t know why, but holiday themes are always so exciting at our house. They really just get you ready to celebrate and Easter is a BIG one at our house. Here is what we will be doing this week.

We are reviewing letters this week for my 2 year old and working on the number 16. For my newly 5 year old we will be reviewing our blends and introducing estimation.

	M	T	W	Th	F
Religion	Read Jesus is Arrested, Crucified & Risen	Comprehension questions* & Jesus is Risen sequencing	Use paint to stamp the worksheet with an aluminum foil ball	Jesus is King*	Make and do resurrection eggs or (another resource here) pick your favorite 🙂
Language (2)	Hide Easter eggs filled with miniature objects (of review letter sounds) – once found, match them to the correct letter	E is for Easter	Color by code bunny	Hide letter magnets in Easter eggs then match the magnet to the letter (print A-Z on a piece of paper to match to)	Letter matching
Language (4/5)	Blend scavenger hunt (must be subscriber to get freebie) – can do an egg hunt with this	Blend write & read (pick a couple)	Sorting blends	Write the blend/diagraph	Create diagraph eggs (could do blends too)
Math (2)	Count 16 easter eggs from the egg hunt	Peeps graphing (after count all the peeps)	Count 16 jellybeans	Easter roll & cover	Use easter erasers or jellybeans to count 16 in a 10 frame
Math (4/5)	Introduce estimation by putting different sized easter items or candies into jars	Peeps graphing (after estimate how many peeps then count)	Get a bag of jellybeans and estimate how many are in it – then practice grouping to count them	Estimate how many Easter eggs it would take to fill the bottom of a basket – then find out!	Now that you’ve done some ‘how many’ estimations.. Introduce others too like how much (liquid/volume) and how long (length) – use Easter objects!
Art/Sensory	Make Easter eggs out of playdo and decorate with sequins, buttons, pipe cleaners etc..	Balance an Easter egg on a spoon and have a race	Dye Easter eggs	Easter dot markers – could also do stamps; and make egg shakers with easter eggs and beans	Easter sensory bin – Easter grass, mini eggs, tongs, bunny figures,
Science Geography History	Fizzy Eggs*	Egg races	Dissolving jelly beans	Protect an egg and do an egg drop	Egg crystals

Comprehension Questions:

Tell me what happened in this story.

Which one of Jesus’ disciples wasn’t a friend to Jesus?

Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?

What makes this a happy story?

Jesus is King (from ABCJesus Loves Me)

Make a paper crown as a reminder that Jesus loved us enough to die on the cross and He is now the King of Heaven. Precut a strip of paper the diameter of the child’s head. Allow the child to decorate before stapling into a crown.

(Using a premade crown, ask the child to identify the object that you have on your head or in your hands.) Who would wear a crown? What does a king do? Jesus would be a great king. He’s kind and fair, and He loves us all very much. Many people wanted Jesus to become a king on earth. The people wanted Jesus to lead an army and take over the country and fight the Romans. But Jesus said no. Jesus preached peace because He knew God wanted Him to be the King of Heaven not earth. Even though He could have been king, Jesus chose to die for us so we could be forgiven.

Fizzy Eggs – In a bin but some Easter egg halves and fill with baking soda. Use food coloring and vinegar to make a fun rainbow experiment

Tag: easter