Spring and Easter Inspiration - 30 Great Ideas for Families

Tulip Garden Image, thanks to Shutterstock

Hip, hip hooray Spring is finally arriving. There are gorgeous yellow daffodils all over my house, the sun has been out more days than not this week and Easter is only five weeks away. Spring is my favourite season of the year, the days get longer, it’s sunny without being too hot and I just adore seeing the cherry blossom everywhere.

It, therefore, seems perfect to share this round-up of Spring and Easter inspiration from loads of amazing bloggers. Read on....

Crafts

1.  Fancy some fun with Easter crafts with the kids, then Cat has nine great ones for you, including chick bookmark corners and paper bunny ornaments.

2.  Make your own Easter Egg Sun catchers from Hodge Podge Days

3.  If you need to craft your little one a costume for some Easter celebrations, then what about a donkey costume to remind you of Palm Sunday.

4.  How to make a complete Easter tree for under a tenner. I love any excuse to have a decorated tree even when it is not Christmas.

Explaining Easter to very young children

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Something which happened the other day made me think of what the concept of Easter meant to me as a very young child.

Part of my job involves writing content and articles for a company which makes arts and crafts for young kids. There is a definite seasonal element to the crafts so each March I find myself writing a lot of Easter-related content; often about bunny rabbits and chicks and other colourful Easter symbols which are great fun for young hands to make.

Which is what I found myself doing last weekend when my five-year-old nephew Charlie wandered into my study. He asked what I was doing and when I told him he had another question.
“What exactly is Easter?”

Easter Play Idea - Growth in Jesus or New Life!

Here is a nice simple idea for a Christian or Easter play activity.  For a family who is not comfortable with the Christian faith you could center this activity around Easter time and the concept of new life with the focus being on lambs and chicks
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About a month ago the kids and I went to Messy Church at our local Anglican Church and one of the activities we did was to grow a bean. Look what happens in a month with a bit of nurturing...

The logic is that we are all a little single, solitary bean and when we are nurtured and fed spiritually we will take root in Jesus and our faith will start to grown and eventually bear fruit.  Children, especially small children like my 3 year old twins love to understand concepts from a real and visual viewpoint and watching this bean grow we have been able to have some great little chats about growth with Jesus.

You will need a clean jam jar, with the label removed so you can watch the beans grow, some kitchen roll, a piece of cardboard and a bean - we used a kidney bean.

Take the cardboard and put the kitchen roll sheet around it, wrap into a tubular shape and insert into the jam jar.  Then wedge one or more beans between the glass and the kitchen roll.  The cardboard is holding the beans in place so they do not slip.

Every couple of days run a bit of water into the bottom of the jam jar, the kitchen roll will absorb this and ensure the bean stays moist and starts to sprout.  Enjoy watching it take root and start to sprout from all angels, then once it has got to a good size, you can transfer it outside and wait for the gorgeous fruits of your labour to arrive.

We hope you enjoy!  Mich x