Easter is such an exciting time of year, with the sun (hopefully!) appearing, spring flowers coming into bloom and signs of new life all around us. As a class provider, Easter provides the perfect opportunity to devise a memorable springtime experience for your little chicks and bunnies!
So whether you’re running an Easter-themed music class, sensory adventure, toddler yoga session or playgroup activity, we’re here to help you plan an engaging class full of fun and discovery.
First things first: be sure to list your class on Happity and use the Easter category, to allow lots of parents to find it! (There’s more information about categories here).
Now let’s dive in:
1. Set the scene with themed decorations
If you have space and are allowed to decorate your venue, think about setting the scene for your session with some pastel-coloured balloons, bunting with bunnies, Easter egg garlands, or maybe a few cute chicks scattered about.
Remember, decorations don’t have to be complicated or expensive. Just a few (homemade) Easter-themed props can go a long way towards creating a fun atmosphere. You could even let the little ones help decorate the room (within reason, of course)! After all, toddlers love to get involved, and it’s an extra opportunity for them to practice those fine motor skills.
2. Easter Sensory Play ideas
Babies and toddlers are naturally curious and explore the world through their senses, so why not incorporate some Easter-themed sensory play activities into your classes? Sensory play is great for children’s cognitive development and fine motor skills, and can even help them regulate their emotions. Here are a few fun spring-inspired ideas to get you started:
Easter egg filling & emptying: get a bunch of plastic (or even better, cardboard) Easter eggs and fill them with small toys or textured materials like rice, fabric or pom-poms. Let your little ones explore the eggs by opening and closing them, feeling the contents and practising their hand-eye coordination.
Bunny / chick texture hunt: try placing materials with different textures around the room (like soft cotton balls, rough sandpaper or squishy rubber toys) and let the toddlers feel them. Perfect for engaging all the senses!
3. Incorporate Easter-themed songs and yoga poses
Easter-themed songs and nursery rhymes are a lovely way to get your little ones engaged and moving. Babies and toddlers love music, and using fun, bunny and chick-themed songs can help boost their language skills and develop their sense of sound and rhythm.
Music groups and Sing & Sign classes: ‘Hop Little Bunnies’ is a gift here! Not forgetting ‘Old MacDonald’, ‘Five little ducks went swimming one day’ or ‘Chick chick chicken’ for some more animal fun.
If it’s a kids’ yoga or movement class you run, why not bring in some animal-themed poses for parents to do with their little ones? Try Bunny Pose (Sasangasana), a fun yet calming yoga pose that kids of all ages benefit from:
- Invite little ones to come into Child’s Pose, sitting back on their heels and resting their foreheads on the mat
- Guide them to interlace their fingers behind their backs and stretch their arms up behind them
- Children can relax here, imagining themselves nestled cosy in their burrows, as they reach their bunny ears up towards the sky
- Alternatively, they can keep their arms wrapped around their sides and voila — Easter egg pose!
4. Easter Egg Hunt
The classic Easter egg hunt — every child’s favourite! Of course, as we’re talking about very young ones, avoid anything too elaborate or competitive and focus on everyone exploring and having fun.
For babies and toddlers, why not hide some colourful toy eggs or paper shapes (or even shaky eggs, for an added musical dimension) around the room and encourage them to explore and discover them by crawling or walking (with help from their grown ups, of course). Don’t forget to add in some sensory surprises too — think pom-poms, rattles or soft fabric.
For older children, you could make the egg hunt a little more interactive by adding simple clues or hiding eggs in places they can easily reach.
NB Easter eggs don’t have to be filled with sweets! Small toys, stickers or even little fruit snacks can make for fun and safe surprises for little ones. * NB be sure to check for allergies if you are serving snacks in your classes.
5. Craft Time: Bunny Ears & Egg Decorating
Crafty activities always go down well with toddlers. For Easter, you could set up a craft station where the kids can make their own bunny ears with simple materials (think paper plates, markers, stickers, glitter, etc). Make sure parents get involved to supervise any tricky parts like cutting and gluing.
Another great option is Easter egg decorating. Set up a little arts and crafts area with non-toxic paints, sponges and paper Easter egg cutouts for the kids to colour and decorate (or you could use hard-boiled eggs for the older tots). Toddlers love getting messy, so don’t be afraid to let their imaginations run wild!
If you’re working with babies, try giving them pre-made cardboard eggs to feel, tap or decorate with non-toxic crayons.
If you’re up for something a little more adventurous, you could even have a ‘decorate your own Easter egg’ snack station where kids can add edible decorations!
For Easter-themed snacks, platters of fruit and vegetables cut into mini Easter shapes are a nice healthy (and vegan-friendly) alternative to chocolate.
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Have fun! And let us know what you get up to by tagging us on social media (@happityapp) when you share class images or Instagram stories (always ensure you have photo consent from parents or carers of any children featured before sharing).
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