Originally, I was going to use the book The Night Before Easter by Natasha Wing, but I wanted to make sure I didn't offend any parents with an Easter theme so I made sure most of my focus was on bunnies and I picked the funny, action-packed picture book Warning! Do Not Touch! by Tim Warnes instead. This book does not disappoint and my group really enjoyed this one. It's also the perfect length for a program where you want to do one story that is not too long and not too short. The kids all laughed when the alligator in the story is referred to as the "Lumpy-Bumpy Thing."
For our first craft, we made Easter egg baskets. I used card stock and printed a basket template on them. The kids glued brown strips of construction paper onto the basket and dipped oval shaped brushes (potato scrubbers) in blue, purple, pink, and yellow paint and pressed them onto their paper to make eggs. This craft worked out well and was a bonus that I had the potato scrubbers from a previous craft to use instead of having to go out and buy sponges.
For our final craft, we painted bunnies. I had cutout bunnies out of tan construction paper and bought some Easter cookie cutters. The kids dipped their cookie cutters in paint and pressed them onto the bunny to make designs. They also used their fingers or paint brushes and glued a cotton ball on his bottom to make a cute, fluffy tail. All of the bunnies looked unique and the kids had a good time using paint twice.
I had a sensory bin filled with different colored Easter grass and plastic eggs at the bottom. It was a mini egg hunt and they each found an egg with a sticker inside, however; most of the group had left by then.
I had such a nice turnout that I had to scramble and make a few more crafts last minute, but everything worked out. I prepared 25 crafts even though I have 15 registered, but I knew some bring siblings and I had a few drop-ins. The more the merrier! I plan on making sure I have 30 crafts available for next time. It was such a busy, fun time that I didn't realize until afterwards that I forgot to do our bean bag song. The group didn't seem to miss it this time and the longer book made up for that anyway.
Overall, we had such a fun time and the kids did a great job listening to the story and completing their artwork. I'm thinking I'll be keeping this theme for Toddler Art and of course for my Drop-In and Get Crafty program.
Happy Easter!
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