Easter Excitement

Seeing as Easter is my favorite holiday, as I might have mentioned a few dozen times in the past... This year I'm totally excited about it because Elijah has reached that wonderful age where he wants to do crafty things. We usually do a few of the usuals, dying eggs and an Easter egg hunt, but this year I thought we could do a few extras, as well. I was surfing around the web for some ideas and I found one that I really liked, then I came up with two of my own.

I thought, since I am somewhat ahead of the game thinking up ideas, I would tell you all, in case you would like to join along. My plan is to do a craft/activity each week, up until Easter. So here's the layout:

April 2 or 3 - Cross on a hill - From Danielle's Place

You Need:

Two popsicle sticks hot glued into a cross
A 2-inch styrofoam ball, cut in half
Glue Gun with hot glue
Green paint
Paintbrush
Flower stickers
Optional 1" x 6" purple cloth

Have the child paint the half of the styrofoam ball green (like grass) and put flower stickers on it. I think I will have Elijah paint the half a ball green earlier in the day, then set it aside to dry, then that evening let him put the flower stickers on it... That's the plan anyway. Afterward I'm going to glue the popsicle sticks together, push the cross into the half a ball and glue it in place.The optional purple cloth should be draped over the cross and glued in place.

April 9 or 10 - Cottonball Sheep

You Need:

Sheep outline printed out on or cut out of heavy white cardstock
Optional die cutting machine
Cottonballs or pom poms (depending on if you want an all white or multicolored sheep)
Glue - either Elmers or glue stick
Black marker or pen to draw in eyes/nose/ears, etc. If it wasn't already printed out.

Because I don't have a die cutting machine with a sheep shape that I like, I am going to use this sheep shape and print it out on heavy white cardstock. I'm going to cut it out and I plan on squeezing some glue onto the main portion of the sheep, all over, and letting Elijah go to town on putting down cotton balls.

Afterward, which is completely optional, I plan on gluing it to a piece of cardstock (8.5 x 11) and writing a verse or saying about sheep underneath... Like "Jesus is the shepherd and we are the sheep" or something along those lines.

April 16 or 17 - Painted faces, bellies and other extremities

You Need:

Face/body paint
Paintbrushes
Body parts to paint on

This is more of a fun thing to do as opposed to a project. Things are kind of up in the air about how this will go, but all I know at this point is that I am going to paint my pregnant belly like an Easter egg with a crack in it. We might paint Elijah's face like a bunny, cause we have play bunny ears to accessorize it. Otherwise I might just ask what he would like to have painted on him and see if Joe or I can work it out.

April 22 - Easter Egg dying (even though I'm pretty sure everyone knows how to do this, I'll lay it out anyway)

You Need:

Hard boiled white eggs (cooled)
A dying kit
Plastic cups (clear, if possible)
Vinegar
Water

Mix up the different colors in different cups as directed on the back of the dying kit. If the kit comes with the wax crayons, then let you child (if he or she wants to) scribble or draw on the egg. I'm guessing if it doesn't come with it you could use a white candle to draw on it. Anyway, then stick the eggs, one at a time in the dye of choice. If you choose to use more than one color, make sure the egg is somewhat dry before you put it in the second dye and so on. After it is dyed to your satisfaction, put it on the drying tray. Continue until you run out of eggs.

April 23 or 24 - Easter Egg Hunt

I'm pretty positive that everyone knows how to do an Easter egg hunt. We don't use the ones we dye... those are for eating or playing with. I buy the cheap-o plastic Easter eggs from the dollar store or Walmart. The first year we did this I filled them with animal crackers, since Elijah was only about 14 months old. Last year we didn't do one, but if we did, I wasn't going to put anything in the eggs. This year I don't think I am either. Elijah just enjoys finding the eggs, for right now.

So that's the plan. Sorry this is such short notice, seeing as I plan to start tomorrow or Sunday, but that doesn't mean you have to do yours on the weekend (if you choose to join along), these are so simple they can be done anytime. I will be posting pictures of our projects and activities as they are completed, so stay tuned. :-)