15 Easy Easter Play Ideas for Kids
- Danica - Our Playful Learning Journey
- Apr 9
- 8 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
Looking for something simple to help enjoy the Easter season? Try one of these fun ideas at home!
Let's enjoy the special time before Easter with some simple play ideas! Keep reading to find some inspiration ...
These Easter play ideas for kids are all things that we have done over the years at home in the lead up to Easter. We now have a little collection of Easter themed play items that we use each year including the following:
Easter playdough stamps
Easter playdough/cookie cutters
Mini bunnies, chicks and carrots
Easter themed books (we add a couple each year)
Plastic Easter eggs - great for so many things!
You don't need to start out with a big collection of items. Slowly add 1 or 2 things each year and before you know it you will have a beautiful collection of items for Easter play! We have done the same for Christmas and have a little box of treasures now for the Christmas season too.
When looking back at these play ideas I found that we often do the same types of play on repeat. There are several examples of chickpeas + eggs play ideas set up in slightly different ways. The same with rainbow rice and eggs. A great reminder that when you find something that works - it's okay to repeat it again!
*IMPORTANT: All these play ideas are for children ages 3+ as they contain small parts which are a choking hazard. All play was supervised by an adult. Adult supervision is recommended. It is your responsibility to determine if these ideas are suitable for your child/ren.
15 Fun Easter Play Ideas for Kids
Magic Sand with Easter Stamps
This is really easy to set up and is a fun way to play with your Easter stamps too! The stamps make cute imprints in the sand. Easter cookie cutters will work with the sand too to make Easter shaped cut outs.
You will need:
Container/s (ours are from Kmart Australia in the kitchen section)
Magic or kinetic sand (ours is coloured magic sand from Kmart Australia)
Easter stamps or cutters to use in the sand
Mat or similar underneath to catch the spills (this one is from Rudie Nudie mats)
Easter Themed Sensory Tray
This is a simple, but fun Easter play tray. Use what you have already. Add in a dry sensory base + some plastic easter eggs to fill and you will have a fun tray.
You will need:
Chickpeas (uncoloured - you can colour these if you would like)
Plastic easter eggs
A container or tray ( we used the Inspire My Play PlayTRAY)
Optional extras ...
Jewels
Bunnies, chicks and carrots from Tara's Treasures
Mini coloured chicks from a discount store
Heart spoon - Papoose brand
This is really fun for filling the plastic eggs with the treasures, hiding the chicks and filling the eggs with chickpeas to make shakers.
Easter Books + Playdough
This is a very simple Easter themed set up. We use some Easter books + playdough and playdough stamps/cutters.
My kids also added in some gems (Grimms large gems) and buttons (from Officeworks Australia) to decorate their playdough with.
Lots of fun was had creating playdough Easter eggs and decorating them with the colourful loose parts!
Playdough is also great for making easter nests!
This is another example of an Easter playdough set up from another year. Here we used a muffin tray to keep the gems and jewels in to decorate the playdough with.
Easter Rainbow Rice Sensory Play Tray
Set up this colourful tray with some rainbow rice and eggs. Let your child/ren explore how they wish. They might like to colour sort, fill the bowls with rice or use the tray for imaginative pretend cooking.
Rainbow rice (coloured with food colouring. You can also use paint)
Grapat Nest bowls (any bowls will do)
Freckled Frog Rainbow Eggs from the Rainbow Egg Nests set
Tray (ours is from Kmart)
Add a rug underneath to catch any spills. This can then be tipped back in the tray at the end.
Wooden spoons - Wild Mountain Child
Easter Rainbow Rice Sensory Play Tray
This tray is very similar to the above one, only this time we added in some things from the kitchen - a muffin tray and measuring scoops.
You will need:
Muffin tray
Plastic Easter eggs
Wooden eggs (from Freckled Frog Rainbow Egg and Nests set) optional
Chicks
Rainbow rice
Large tray and/or mat to catch the spills
Tip: Keep rainbow rice play for days when you already need to vacuum the floors, so clean up isn't any extra work for you. Otherwise take this one outside to help make the clean up easier. I have found even with the mat underneath, there always seems to be some rice that escapes!
Lots of fun was had scooping, pouring, filling and shaking the eggs.
Easter Sensory Tray with Lentils
Another fun sensory tray for Easter - this time using lentils! The Grapat Lola tubes are perfect for filling and adding in the little carrots for this tray.
We used:
Grapat Lola tubes
Mini carrots from Big W
Grapat mandala purple eggs
Brown lentils (keep for a very long time if stored in an air tight container after play)
Scoop
Tray
Wooden bunny (Ostheimer) (optional - add in any bunny you have or leave it out)
Easter Play Tray with Chicks and Mini Nests
This is a simple but sweet play idea using mini nests and some chicks.
You will need:
Silk or material to use on the base of the tray ( we used the mini rainbow silk from Sarah's Silks)
Mini nests (ours were from Kmart Australia)
Mini felt chicks (Tara's Treasures)
Optional extras:
Plastic eggs
Mini Grapat mandala coloured eggs
Easter Themed Toy Shelf for Kids
Adding some Easter themed toys to the play space is an easy way to invite some Easter themed play. It doesn't need to be complicated. Keep it simple and let your kids decide how they wish to play.
We used:
Top shelf - Mini basket of felt chicks
3rd shelf from bottom - Small world shelf with mini pipe-cleaner bunny ears for the Grapat Nins
2nd shelf from bottom - Plastic eggs in a basket, felt bunnies + carrots (Tara's Treasures) + Grapat Nin with bunny ears + Grapat Nest Bowls + Grapat mandala rainbow eggs, large wooden bunnies (Let Them Play toys)
Easter Egg Ball Run
The chickpeas make a beautiful sound in this ball run as they slide down the tubes!
You can make this as simple or complicated as you like. Challenge the kids to build their own and solve problems as they come up e.g. when things get stuck or the ball run breaks. I think this idea was originally inspired by @rainbow.construction on Instagram. The Grapat mandala eggs will work too.
We used:
Chickpeas
Coloured wooden eggs (Freckled Frog Rainbow Eggs)
Magnetic tiles + ball run tubes (ours are Connetix brand)
Wooden scoops
Loose Parts Easter Eggs
This play idea was inspired by @jen.ma.bu on Instagram. You simply put out some loose parts for your kids to create Easter egg shapes. You can do this with any loose parts that you already have e.g. shells, flowers, leaves, buttons, pom poms etc. You could even draw some eggs shapes on paper for them to fill.
We used
Grapat mandala pieces
Bauspiel lucite cubes + window blocks
Grimms rainbow semi circles
Let Them Play flowers and leaves
Papoose gems blocks
Easter Sensory Tray - Chickpeas + Eggs
The perfect tray for colour sorting, or just enjoying filling the bowls with the chickpeas.
We used:
Grapat Free Play Box
Freckled Frog Rainbow Egg and Nests
Scoops
Chickpeas (and some tissue paper confetti pieces)
Easter Art
These simple art ideas are all made using the Easter Themed Free Printable Colouring & Craft Pages for Kids. Below are some of the fun ways we have used them over the years:
White crayon resist art + watercolour paints
Draw pattens onto the designs using white crayon. Paint over the top with watercolour paints to reveal the magic patterns!
Watercolour painting
Metallic watercolour paint makes pretty shimmery paintings! This little palette is Micador brand - metallic colours.
Easter Bunny Stick Puppets
You can create cute little puppets using the blank rabbit outline and some popsticks. Simply cut out and decorate the rabbits + tape to a popstick to make cute little Easter puppets.
Mini Easter Sensory Trays
This could be set up as either mini trays or in a big tray for children to play with. Filling the plastic Easter eggs is fun + making them into shakers.
You will need:
Plastic Fillable Easter eggs
Chickpeas
Tools e.g. - Squeezy tongs, wooden tongs
Little Easter chicks
These Easter themed colour matching pictures are a fun way to play with colourful loose parts (such as lucite cubes, Grapat mandala, gems or buttons).
Playfilled Motherhood subscribers can download this printable at the bottom of this blog post. It is also available in the printable shop here.
There are also these fun maths number games included - roll the dice (or use a number spinner) and cover the number rolled with a lucite cube, grapat mandala piece, counters or similar.
Numbers included: 1-6, 2-12 (use 2 dice and add the numbers together) and a doubles game board (roll the dice and double it).
Easter Themed Small World Play
This is a simple way to make your exisiting toys Easter themed! We made little Easter bunny ears for our Grapat Nins by twisting pipecleaners. So easy to make and really fun for the kids to play with. I'm not sure where this idea originally came from (if you know please let me know). We have done this for a few years now and the kids always enjoy it!
These could be made for other toys too.
*Tip - make sure that no wire bits of the pipe cleaners are sticking out as they are sharp!
15 Fun Easter Play Ideas for Kids
Easter play is lots of fun!
Remember you don't need a big collection of Easter items to make fun play experiences for your children - build up a collection of items to use for Easter play over time.
Plastic fillable eggs are fantastic for lots of different Easter play ideas. Using items you already have and adding in something Easter themed is a great way to create an exciting play invitation.
Playdough, simple sensory trays and easy art ideas are also all fun ways to engage your child in some Easter fun in the weeks/days leading up to Easter.
I hope you found some inspiration for Easter play.
Please share this blog post with someone else who might like it too!
Until next time, let's make it fun and playful!
Danica
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