10 Fun Family Activities for Easter

Take the kids to an Easter egg hunt. Often, churches have them, your kids' daycare may have one, or even your kids' school in the yard. Look at your local community pages on Facebook and see if you can find out who is having one. Who doesn’t love searching for eggs full of goodies?

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Gather the family around and watch a movie about Easter. The Passion of the Christ is the first film that comes to my mind because it is a heart-wrenching depiction of what Jesus went through. However, this movie is not for children because of its ‘R’ rating. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest watching it ahead of time to make an informed decision about whether you think it’s appropriate for your older teenagers. Caution: it depicts intense, raw emotions and brutal violence.

Other movies about Jesus’s life that are family-friendly include The Miracle Maker (2000/Rated G), Jesus of Nazareth (1997/Rated G-this is actually a six-hour miniseries so that you can watch it through the Easter season), and Son of God (2014/Rated G). Let’s not forget about the traditional Easter movie The Ten Commandments and a more kid-friendly film surrounding the life of Moses (G), The Prince of Egypt (PG).

Other fun movies to watch include Peter Rabbit (PG), It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (G), Veggie Tales: 'Twas the Night Before Easter (G), and Hop (PG).

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Candy, such as homemade peanut butter eggs, coconut eggs, pastel-colored gum drops, and molded chocolate candies. Candy making is an art and a great way to teach your older kids something new. Because candy making typically happens on the stove, this isn't an activity for young children; however, they can help package the candies in gift boxes for friends and neighbors.

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Gather the kids and bake some Easter treats. Cupcakes with fluffy frosting and fun decorations. A sheet cake that looks like a garden. Bunny bait trail mix. Jello jiggler cutouts. If you have old-school jello jiggler egg molds, break those out to make 3D eggs. For even more fun, bake something special for the Easter bunny, like carrot cake bars or carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. After he eats them, he could leave a trail of jelly beans from the plate to the Easter baskets to show he was there.

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Attend an Easter parade or two. Kids will love watching the floats as they go by and, of course, running to get candy when it’s thrown.

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Invite your kid's friends over for an Easter egg hunt in your yard. Plan a massive Easter egg hunt with their parents and split the cost. Other things to add to eggs instead of candy include:

Toddlers: Mini bubbles, Duplo blocks, soft headbands, bath toys, wooden blocks, and sensory play items.

For older kids: Finger puppets, Hot Wheels cars, crayons, stickers, tattoos, bubble gum, crayons, stickers, Barbie accessories (folded-up clothes, shoes, hair brushes), coins, superhero figures, etc.

Teens and Tweens: Lip balm, nail polish, small nail file, mini hand cream, face masks (pampering and protection), USB drive, gift cards, movie tickets, concert tickets, earbuds, and money.

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Take the kids to the store and let them pick out the flowers they would like to grow and get some pots, soil, a watering can, and other planting supplies. If you have a garden at home, you will have everything you need besides seeds.

Gather as a family and plant flowers together. This is a great way to teach kids how plants grow and how to keep their flowers alive.

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Let the kids pick out their Easter baskets and get supplies to decorate them with, like pastel-colored curling ribbon, stickers, beads, and decals with glue, paper and markers, fabric scraps, buttons, etc. You could even tie some blown-up balloons for an added festive touch.

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Once again, break out the art supplies and let the kids make homemade Easter cards. I recommend getting a package of card stock because it’s thicker than construction paper and won’t tear as easily. It comes in white and multi-colored. Then, gather crayons, markers, colored pencils, beads, buttons, glitter, paint, etc.

You could even make some puff paint to use outside to jazz things up. However, if you’re going to write a message on the inside, do that first before you paint the front. Then you won’t squish the paint when you open the card to write a message.

Plan to do this activity two weeks before Easter so your cards will have time to reach their recipients if you are sending them across the country.

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Look in your area and see if there is a rabbit rescue and volunteer. Rabbits are fantastic animals, and they all have their personalities. My husband and I have owned two of them and they are my second favorite animal.

You will learn a lot while visiting and volunteering at a rabbit rescue. Rabbits are unique animals with unique needs and come in all sizes and breeds. Our rabbit Boots was all black with white feet and a white patch on his chest. He was as soft as velvet and very sweet and easygoing.

Abby, our second rabbit, was a sable color with black ears and a tuft of hair on her head. The vet thought she was part lion-head, part Angora. She was sweet, smart, and had a lot of ‘rabbitude’ as I called it. When she was mad, you’d know it, and when our cat Colin would reach through her playpen and bop her on the nose, she would stick it right back out there like, “Try it again, buddy.” By the way, he never used his claws. My point is that both rabbits had different personalities but were super lovable.

I do not recommend giving pets for any holiday, and if you would like to get a rabbit, do a lot of research beforehand. Some things are unique about them, such as doing best in pairs, and most of their diet should be hay. They are also easy to clean up after because their droppings are pellets, and some rabbits are litter box trained. However, you can’t use regular cat litter with rabbits. We used a paper litter called Yesterday’s News with Abby. Needless to say, a rabbit rescue will provide a learning experience and tons of cuteness.

There are all kinds of activities you can do as a family to celebrate Easter. Choose one or two activities and start planning what you want to do today.

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