Easter Archives - Page 2 of 3

Cool Math for Kids- Easter Egg Learning

April 4, 2014 By Deirdre

Simply adding shapes to a paper egg can open the door for exploring several math concepts. That is why this post is called Cool Math for Kids- Easter Egg Learning. We actually covered several math skills in this crafty math activity.

It all started with a cutting a simple egg shape from construction paper. I selected a bold blue color of paper for this cool math for kids activity, but a piece of white paper would have been just as good. I cut the shapes for this activity ahead of time. In hindsight I could have had JDaniel cut out the shapes himself.

I asked JDaniel to create rows of patterned shapes on the egg. If you want your children to have a more opened ended activity, you could have them glue the shapes anywhere they wanted to on the egg. Layering of the shapes is fine too. If you choose to do this activity that way, you may need to remind them to keep some of each shape showing. You will want to be able to see each of the shapes in the creation to count them later. If they can’t see the shapes, this won’t end of being cool math for kids. It would be a cute Easter egg craft.

When all of the shapes had been arranged and rearranged, we glued into place. If you want to reuse the shapes to do this activity again and again, you may not want to glue the shapes down. You can actually move to the next math activity without the shapes glued down.

With the shapes in place have your child or children record on a piece of paper or a shape chart the number of squares, circles, triangles and ovals that were used to decorate the egg. If the shapes have been layered over each other, you may want to help them remember which shapes are layered underneath the shapes they can see. An oval and a circle may look very similar. A square and a rectangle may look similar too.

We glued our egg and shape counting chart to a large piece of construction paper to hang up. You could do that too. You could also glue the egg and the number chart into a math journal. You could also just hang up the egg.

We spent time talking about shapes on the egg after we had glued it down.

I asked these cool math for kids questions:

Which shape did you use the most?

Which shape did you use the least?

How many circles and ovals were used?

How many shapes were used on the egg?

Starting to use math vocabulary words into our conversation as well as a number of math skills help build a strong math foundation.

If you are looking for some other Easter themed activities, you may want to check out my Easter board on Pinterest.

Stories for Kids About Eggs

March 30, 2014 By Deirdre

Why a collection of stories for kids about eggs? My son seems to go through stages where he wants to read books about one subject or theme. The latest theme is Dr. Seuss. We celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday just before his sixth birthday and JDaniel has been interested in reading each and every one of his books. I have loved exploring them along with him but thought it might be time to explore a new theme. Using the book Green Eggs and Ham as the impetus. I charted a course towards stories for kids about eggs. Easter is coming up soon and one of the themes of Easter is eggs. It seemed like a great theme to explore.

I jumped onto the library website to see what books they offered with an egg theme and looked through the books that have boxed up from my old classroom library to search for some too. What I found was a wide assortment of stories for kids about eggs! Many don’t have anything to do with Easter. They are just fun books about eggs that I think kids will love.

This post contains affiliate links.

First the Egg is an amazing book that looks at what came first the chicken or the egg. It also looks at other life cycles and sequences with beautifully die-cut pages. JDaniel will love that the book is Theodor Seuss Geisel’s Honor Book.

The Golden Egg Book (Big Little Golden Book) by Margaret Wise Brown is a favorite from my childhood. A bunny finds an egg and wonders what it contains. By the end of the book, he discovers the egg contains someone who will become a friend.

Green Eggs and Ham is the book that I used to divert us from our exploration of Dr. Seuss. I thought it needed to be included on this list.

The Egg Tree is a Caldecott-winning book about creating an egg tree. A little girl finds old eggs created by her grandmother while searching her grandmother’s house with her brother for eggs. Those eggs become part wonderful egg tree.

Duck & Goose is a really fun book about a duck and goose. They both come across what they think is an egg. They both think it should be theirs to care for. During the story, they learn to work together and they learn that it contains something they hadn’t planned on at all.

The Talking Eggs is a wonderful version of Cinderella. There is an unkind mother and sister along with a sweet hard-working one. When the two sisters come across an old lady with special eggs. Their natures affect the way they interact with the older lady and the eggs. You will love the picture in this Caldecott Honor book.

Rechenka’s Eggs (Paperstar)tells the tale of a kind older lady who takes in a goose that needs tending to. When the goose knocks over the dyes the lady had planned to make her annual collection of awarding winning eggs, the lady is dismayed. Then something wonderful happens! The goose creates beautiful eggs for the lady to share.

An Extraordinary Egg is a little like the story of Duck and Goose. This time three frogs find an egg that they believe is a chicken’s egg. When it hatches, they learn that many animals hatch from eggs. This story for children about an egg is from Leo Lionni. He is a favorite of mine.
The Easter Egg Farm is such a fun book. It just had to be part of a collection of stories for kids about eggs. The story it tells is of a group of hens that are working to create enough eggs for an egg hunt. One hen name Pauline has trouble laying eggs. She has trouble with the pressure of laying eggs. When she does lay an egg, it is super unique. This is a really fun book.

Hank Finds an Egg is a wordless book that shares how Hank works at getting a fallen egg back into its nest. A librarian at our local library shared this book with me. We loved getting to make up our own stories as we looked at the book’s pictures. It also gave us the opportunity to talk about the setting, characters, problems, and solutions in our own words.

The Easter Egg is written by one of JDaniel’s favorite authors Jan Brett. This wonderful story shares how a bunny named Hopi finds a wonderful colored egg to give to the Easter bunny.

I hope you find one or two in this collection of a dozen stories for kids about eggs that you are interested in sharing with the children in your life.

Did I miss one of your favorites? Share the name of your story for kids about eggs in a comment below.

Cool Science Experiments- Making Spider Eggs

March 29, 2014 By Deirdre

This cool science experiment for kids that creates a spider web on a cooked egg has that wow effect that kids really enjoy. This experiment definitely fills children with wonder. JDaniel kept turning the egg over and over to check out the web effect.

While you could probably use a variety of different fruits or dyes to create the spider web effect on, we used blueberries. They happen to fruit that we buy a lot of at my house. (They are a favorite.) In fact, I had to hide the blueberries we used for this experiment in the freezer. The large container I had purchased of them was disappearing very quickly.

Before creating spider web eggs with your children, you may want to read a book that features spiders. Here are some of my favorite books about spiders.

Links below are affiliate links.

How do you make spider web eggs?

The first thing we had to do was gather all the ingredients or science supplies. We took several eggs out of the fridge and placed them in a saucepan. Then we added enough water to the saucepan to cover the eggs. Finally, we added a cup of frozen blueberries. I don’t think you would have to use frozen blueberries. Ours were frozen because they had been hidden in the freezer.

With all the ingredients in the saucepan, you are now ready to boil them. We let ours boil for about 10 minutes.

Then we took the eggs out of the water and blueberry mixture. The eggs were then rinsed off with warm water. After rinsing the eggs, we lightly cracked them on the counter. Even with trying to crack them lightly we ended up with some big cracks.

The now cracked eggs were placed back into the water and blueberry mixture. We let them sit in the blue liquid for about three hours. You may want to experiment with the time at your house. The longer they are in the darker the web may be on your eggs.

When the egg sitting time was up, we removed the shell from the eggs. Viola! The interior of most of the eggs had a spider web effect. Some of the eggs ended up with big bluish purple spots. We guessed that that was due to the thinness of some of the shells. The blueberry color had probably soaked through the shell during the boil.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, this cool science experiment for kids has a wow effect. JDaniel keeps turning the eggs around and around to check out the spider web pattern.

After observing the physical changes to the outside egg, we talked about all the physical changes that had happened inside the egg. We ended up having a good science discussion and a really cool snack.

Other cool science experiments featuring eggs:

Spinning Eggs (This post has a printable recording sheet.)

Floating or Sinking Eggs ( This post has a printable recording sheet.)

If you are interested in doing more cool science experiments with kids, you may want to explore my Early Learning- Science Activities Pinterest board.

Science Experiment for Kids- Floating or Sinking Eggs

March 22, 2014 By Deirdre

It is egg experiment time at my house. Maybe it is Easter and the desire to dye eggs that lead us down the path of experimenting with eggs. This is the first of a series of posts on science experiments for kids that focuses on eggs. Each experiment we do will have a printable instruction/ recording sheet.

This particular experiment tests out whether adding salt to a glass of water will help the egg float or if it will sink to the bottom. That is why we called this science experiment for kids Egg Experiment: Sinking or Floating Eggs.

We started the experiment by gathering together the materials list on the instruction sheet. It didn’t take long there are only four items needed to do this experiment.

Here is what we did:

We added warm water to tall clear drinking glass. ( You could use a clear jar or bowl in place of a glass.) We went with tall glass to make sure that we would be able to easily see the egg floating if it did indeed float. Having a lot of water in the glass would help us do that.

We then carefully placed the uncooked eggs in the glasses. We were careful for two reasons. The first reason was that the eggs were uncooked. The second reason was that we didn’t want to displace too much water. (Yes, this turned into a lesson on how objects like hands take up space and can push water up.)

The egg in the unsalty water floated to the bottom and sat there. The egg placed in the salty water bobbed a little and then hung in the water. It just floated happily in the cup.

We took time to talk about how the salt had changed the water and why this change made the egg float. We each tried to tap the egg and see if tapping it would cause it to descend into the water. The egg went down a little, but then it rose again.

Why not add some of the salt water to the clear water glass we decided. Some of the clear water was poured from the clear water glass and we replaced it with some of the salty water. (I had read this might work.) It didn’t make the egg in the clear glass start floating.

We were left with several questions when we finished this activity.

If we added more salt to the salty glass, would the egg float higher?
If we had more salt in the salty glass then added that water to the clear glass, would the egg have floated?
Would a cooked egg float if placed in salt water?

These questions will be answered on another day. Instead of exploring them we decided to work on the bottom of the activity sheet instead. JDaniel and I composed a sentence orally describing the activity and he wrote it down. Then he drew a picture illustrating what had happened during the experiment.

Click on the links below to get your own copies of the Egg Experiment: Sinking or Floating Eggs sheets.

Science Experiment for Kids- Floating or Sinking Eggs

We will continue our science experiments for kids focusing on eggs series next week. I hope you will stop by and check out our next activity.

Easter Game- Egg Toss Bottles

March 14, 2014 By Deirdre

This is a sponsored post.

JDaniel and I had the opportunity to go to JoAnn’s Fabrics and Crafts to hunt for treasures. We searched up and down every aisle and found way too many amazing things. I was just looking for the material needed to make an Easter Game with Egg Toss Bottles . JDaniel wanted to see what they had beyond my supply list. He loved the giant foam mattresses that seemed to reach the ceiling. The holiday related supplies also called to him. It was just as hard for me to focus on my supply list.

We eventually ended up looking through the array of washi tape to find designs that looked like Easter. It took quite a while to decide with designs. There were so many great choices. Deciding on what colors were really the most Easter like really helped.

The next item on my list was plastic Easter eggs. I thought it would be really easy to decide which ones to take home. JDaniel loved the giant eggs, but it was decided that they wouldn’t fit inside the plastic juice bottles that we were going to use to catch the eggs. Maybe the Easter bunny will have to sneak back to JoAnn’s and get him one of those.

It was hard to leave our time of window shopping, but beautiful warm sun was calling to JDaniel to come play in it. I was excited about heading home to put together the egg toss catchers.

While JDaniel played in our backyard, I sat in a folding chair and removed the bottom area of both juice bottles. When that was done, I started wrapping the washi tape around the juice bottles. The bottles were a little challenging to wrap. They had a lot of ridges and curves. I have never crafted with washi tape before and was surprised by how easy it was to pull up and move on the bottle when it looked a little wonky (not straight) to me. It is now my favorite kind of tape!

When the egg toss catchers were done, I asked JDaniel to play catch with me. It turns out that I am not very good at catching eggs being tossed at me. Thank goodness we used plastic eggs.

If you would like to find the washi tape or tie dyed eggs we used for this Easter game or egg toss activity or craft supplies for a wonderful idea of your own , you need to visit JoAnn’s Fabrics and Craft.

Disclaimer: I was sent a gift card to buy the materials to complete this craft ideas.

Muffin Tin Monday- Easter Lamb

April 9, 2012 By Deirdre

When I think I Easter, it isn’t the bunny that comes to mind, but the lamb. My mom used to make lamb cakes for Easter when I was growing up and lambs have remained my favorite symbol of Easter. Below you will find my lamb lunch and if you visit Rainbows Within Reach you will find a lamb I made for a guest post there made of egg cartons. I hope you enjoy both of them.

Yesterday I shared a rooster crowing, “Jesus has risen.” Today the lamb is responding by saying,” He has risen indeed!”

I don’t normally serve Cheerios on bread with olives, but they came to gather to make a really cute lamb.

The ground is covered with celery and pickle grass with jelly beans hidden in it.

Every meal must have cheese in it if JDaniel is helping plan it. The sun is the cheese element in this meal and it has shredded cheese rays along with mandarin orange pieces!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter!

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday!

Egg Carton Easter Celebration Centerpiece

April 8, 2012 By Deirdre

The Tinker Lab is hosting an Egg Carton Creative Challenge starting on the 9th. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to create an Easter centerpiece.

Roosters announce that morning has broken! This lovely cardboard rooster on a green carton lawn is announcing that “He has risen!” today!

Truly Easter is a celebration that Jesus has risen!

True Meaning of Easter Rocks or The Jelly Bean Prayer in Rocks

April 4, 2012 By Deirdre

Jelly Bean Prayer Rocks- Each colored rock and the word it displays shares a part of the Easter story.

I love the Jelly Bean Prayer. I found it mentioned on the 1+1+1=1. In fact, I printed out the little coloring book 1+1+1=1 has on her blog last year to share with JDaniel.

The idea is that you share the gospel with your child as you give to them the jelly beans one at a time while they learn the poem that makes up the prayer.

Red is for the blood He gave,

Green is for the grass He made,

Yellow is for the sun so bright,

Orange is for the edge of the night.

Black is for the Sin we made

White is for the Grace He Gave

Purple is for the hour of sorrow,

Pink is for the new tomorrow.

While I love the idea of using jelly beans to share the gospel with children, I didn’t want to have to give JDaniel jelly beans every time we went over the Jelly Bean Prayer.

Little boys love stones and they love to hold them. I decided to have JDaniel help me paint some stones the colors mentioned in the prayer. I later went back and wrote the message each stone conveyed in the poem on it.

This set of stones is so easy to work with. Right now it lives in a basket in our kitchen and I have pulled it out to go over the prayer during meal times a few times this week.

By the time we get to Easter Sunday JDaniel will have a real understanding of Easter and of God.

Here are some other wonderful Easter activities for kids:

Legend of the Dogwood Craft

Chalk Bunny Hopping

Experiments with Egg Parachutes

Plastic Egg Greenhouse

Plastic Egg Patterning

You will find even more Easter activities on my Easter board on Pinterest.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Muffin Tin Monday- Sneaking Carrot Lunches

April 2, 2012 By Deirdre

I am super lucky that JDaniel eats vegetables and I don’t have to sneak them into foods he likes. There are a number of moms I know that have to sneak in veggies through purees of vegetables or baby food.

With Easter right around the corner, I thought I would try creating two sneaky recipes using carrots in muffin tin meals that any bunny or child would love.

The First Lunch

The first meal contained whole grain rabbit sandwiches with cream cheese mixed with carrot baby food spread on top. JDaniel loved them. He enjoyed licking the cream cheese mixing spoon of much that I placed some into celery bites.

JDaniel is not big on celery. It is too strong for his taste. He was willing to eat it with the special cream cheese in it.

The rest of the tin contained foods rabbits would love to nibble. Strawberries, cauliflower, veggies straws, and kiwi grass were all placed in the tin.

My growing bunny loved all of them.

The Second Lunch

The second muffin sneaking carrot lunch has carrots hidden in two foods. The macaroni and cheese have carrot baby food mixed into it. The grilled cheese sandwich has shredded carrots hidden inside.

Actually, when you bite into this special grilled cheese sandwich you don’t notice the shredded carrots in it. The carrots are mixed with a small amount of mayonnaise and a 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. The shredded cheddar looks just like the shredded carrots.

I served this sandwich to JDanie and his friend Jake and they both loved it.

The meal is rounded out with a small fruit salad.

Both meals were a big hit. If you have a child that avoids carrots, you might want to try one of these sandwiches or the mac and cheese. The carrots are hidden in plain sight, but your child may not even notice they are there.

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Hopper’s Easter Surprise

March 30, 2012 By Deirdre

Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie into children’s books.

I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

- Link your activity below.

- Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. the badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

- Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

- If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

Hopper of Hopper’s Easter Surprise by Kathrin Siegenthaler and Marcus Pfister is a delightful book about an arctic hare that long to be different.

Hopper’s mom points out that he has a blue-tipped ear, but it isn’t enough for him. His mom points out that his fur will change in the summer and that isn’t enough. Then Hopper’s mom points out that he will look like the Easter bunny. That comment gets his attention.

Hopper wants all the facts he can get on the Easter bunny from his mom and seeks to find out some facts for himself.

On the way, he finds a fox that chases him, meets a friend, and tries to carry an egg the way he thinks the Bunny would.

When he brings his friend home they discover the Easter Bunny has been at Hopper’s house and delivered him an egg. Hopper and his friend fall asleep dreaming of how they will decorate the egg.

What did we do?

Spool Painted Paper Bag Season Trees

Hopper was interested in how his fur would change when the season changed. I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about the seasons and paint colors to match each of them using a spool.