The Incredible (NON) Edible EASTER EGG
My favorite thing about Easter is this:
I anxiously anticipate their arrival in the local Walmart, Sheetz and Giant. And as soon as I spot them, I treat myself to several until they leave the shelves for another year. DELISH!
My second favorite thing about Easter season is EASTER EGGS: the incredible, (non) edible PLASTIC egg! What makes them so incredible? Not only do kids hunt them, excitedly discovering the hidden treasures they possess, but they can also be used for all types of #PLAY! Here are a few of the ways I’m using these inexpensive, year-round “toys” for fun and purposeful PLAY!
My 1 yr old loves taking them in and out of the bucket, opening them and trying to close them. And of course mouthing them is a must! She thinks, “Maybe they are edible…a girl has to try!” During her play I narrate open/shut, in/out to help her understand some early positional concepts.
My 4 yr old is working on upper and lower case letters so I have written his name in upper case letters on the tops of the eggs and lower case on the bottoms. I break them all apart and he has to match the upper to the lower case letter. I use the eggs to show him whether in upper or lower case letters they all spell his name. *He is insistent that when I write his name in all upper case letters it is WRONG!* Hoping this exercise helps!
For my 7 yr old I have put a tiny treasure in each egg: a miniature animal, a marble, a tissue, etc. She has to use the items found in each egg to come up with a creative story or draw a picture to illustrate a story about the items. She is working on counting coins in school, so I also hide eggs that contain different combinations of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. When she finds the egg she has to count the money inside.
And of course for my speech therapy kids I am putting pictures of target words in eggs and having them go on a word/Easter egg hunt. Also, for kids working on color recognition/matching, we are finding items to put in the eggs that coordinates with the color of each egg. These activities are also great to work on signs open/close, in/out, and colors! Also to work on early concepts, I hide the eggs and give the kids clues on their location to work on comprehension of positional words: the egg is under the car, the egg is in the mailbox, the egg is behind the book, etc.
These are one of my favorite ways to get children to interact more purposefully through exploration, problem solving and play! Also consider the focus of having to find them for a child with limited attention, and the immediate reinforcement provided for a child with low frustration tolerance.We have lost the art of the scavenger hunt as well- Imagine the adventure of a child having to find the first one and read a clue to find the second one, so on.. to a fun play pay off- such as a favorite activity. I recommend them year round for a variety of activities, they are an easy way to get a big payoff for small cost!
I have a lot of plastic eggs (left over from my working days). H. (9 mos.) is working hard putting the eggs in her shopping cart and taking them out. She licks them, shakes them, and throws them down. She loves them in the bath. Oh and she sometimes shares one with the dog!
Chrissy, I love the scavenger hunt idea! And Aunt Les, we will be having an Easter egg bath tonight…great idea!