Easter Crafts and Activities 2014
We had an unconventional Easter this year.
One of my best friends had to have surgery just before the holiday and I offered to help out with their two daughters for a few days.
My hubby stayed home to get some projects done around the house, and although I could have used some help with three kids, I’m so very glad he stayed home.
Because of the travel during the holiday, some blogging challenges, and the social media boot camp beta group I’m part of, our crafting for the Easter holiday was limited.
Additionally, the weather was cooperating last week, so we got to sneak in quite a bit of outdoors fun. I think playing outside will always win over crafting indoors.
Click on “Read More” to see the fun, the crafts and what Jeff is cooking up for us!
As I mentioned, the hubsters stayed home to work on a few projects. One of those projects: I’m getting a new screen door, ya’ll! I cannot wait because it’s just too nice here for the 3 or 4 months a year where it’s not pouring down rain. I want to enjoy as much of the Pacific North West’s fresh air as possible.
When we got the new windows, doors and siding last year, there was NO WAY Jeff was going to put something over that beautiful, new door. He got over it.
Um, okay that’s not true. He got tired of hearing me talk about a screen door.
But either way: Yay! We’re gettin’ a new screen door! And I won’t have to worry about putting a baby gate up to corral the toddler who wants to play in the dirt in the flower pots on the front porch. Double-yay!
Can you tell I’m excited about this new door? It’s weird but I didn’t think I’d miss having a screen door until it was gone.
No-Sew Bashful Bunny Wall Art
Because of our non-traditional Easter, the crafting for the holiday was minimal.
One of our more popular posts, The “No Sew” Bashful Bunny, was put together long before Easter. It is a very simple craft that can be done in almost no time and breaks up well in case you’re, you know – chasing around kids all day.
My kind of crafting.
Click on the link above or the picture to review the ridiculously easy tutorial.
There are only a few supplies required, and it is inexpensive and easily customized to whatever decorative theme you’re using. I plan on recreating this adorable little guy next year in different fabrics.
There were quite a few people who reached out to me to say they used this little cutie as a hanging decoration for their door instead of a wreath. Neat trick, right? I might even use it that way next year, too!
Felt Carrot Treat Bag
Another very quick craft I put together was a felt carrot ‘treat bag.’ We aren’t giving our daughter candy yet, so I used it to hold a sidewalk chalk holder and chalk.
I used the tutorial I found here and obviously changed it quite a bit to accommodate what I had on hand.
This only took about 10 minutes, including hunting down the felt and setting up the sewing machine. Like I said, it was a very quick craft.
It would be great for packaged candies for older kids, toothbrushes (were we the only ones that got those in our baskets?), or a game with small pieces.
Sleeping Bunny Softies / Stuffed Animals
The last bit of Easter fun I put together were three ‘sleeping bunny’ softies / stuffed animals. Every Easter basket, in my humble opinion, should include something homemade.
I was only going to make one but I then realized it would most likely start a toddler / preschooler war of epic proportions. And I just couldn’t deal with one of those.
Again.
So I made three and coordinated the fabrics to best fit each little girl. Each bunny also received a little ribbon bow tied around their neck and a very fluffy cotton tail, courtesy of some left over white pom poms.
If you’re only going to make one, I’d say count on about 30 minutes to cut the fabric pieces, embroider the face, sew on the cotton tail and stitch it up using the sewing machine. The stuffing and hand sewing closed will depend on your bunny, but because I am absolute crap at hand sewing, it only took me a few minutes for each bunny.
My least favorite part of making stuffed animals is stuffing them. I have no doubt I get temporary carpal tunnel while shoving as much batting into those little devils as can fit.
I don’t know why, but it always gives me pain – I’m actually having phantom pain as I type this…
To make these, I used this tutorial and because I’m a glutton for punishment, I also changed it up quite a bit. Punishment or not, the girls liked their stuffed bunnies so it was worth it.
That was it for the adult crafts, and the kid stuff was even faster. We colored quite a bit of Easter and spring pages, painted with water colors and even had a mini egg hunt here at the house before going to join our friends.
Paper Plate Easter Basket
One rainy day before we left, Elise wanted to paint. I quickly whipped up one of those paper plate Easter baskets we made in primary school and she had a blast making it very colorful.
She got to practice some scissoring on the grass and some gluing when attaching the sticks.
Do you see the red tulips with the green base? Those are made from little wooden ghosts we got from a thrift store.
Yeah, just call us crafty.
The bunny puppet was her favorite part of this exercise and he’s still in her toy rotation, so I’d say they are pretty durable when made from cardboard.
Easter sensory rice
The nugget loves her sensory bins and still likes to scoop, dump, sort and spread out rice the best.
For this bin, I colored the rice using pastels and scented it lightly with a lemon essential oil.
In this one, she got to enjoy playing with a couple pastel dinosaur-shaped erasers, pink jewels, some pompoms, odds and ends from our craft stash, and a set of miniature Easter erasers.
These bins last quite a while around here, but I’m always after new ideas for the next one. Rice is my favorite medium for the bins because it is inexpensive, easy to color and quick to clean up. What do you put in your sensory bins? What do you use as your primary medium?
I’ll have a family post coming soon so that the grand parents can get their fill of the little cutie. That one will highlight our trip to the tulip festival (complete with photo documentation of the dreaded two year old’s tantrum while we were all stuck in the car for 4 hours), the Easter basket unveiling, dyeing eggs and an egg hunt.
Not to be missed: Elise thanking Grandma for her lederhosen: it’s video, people and it’s adorable.
Thanks for sticking with me for this extra long post, but because of the social media boot camp I’m doing, I got so far behind documenting our fun. I know that after this April camp is done, we’ll be back to our normal routine.
Meet the Creator
Hi there, I’m Sarah Nenni-Daher. I’m a crafty gal and always have at least 14 projects going at once. I am a crafter, designer, DIYer, and pattern maker. I share my creations here and in the Ruffles and Rain Boots® Shop.
Here at Ruffles and Rain Boots®, you’ll find DIY gnomes, crafts, gifts, cupcakes, laser crafts, and so much more. I love sharing video tutorials over on YouTube and chatting with other crafters in my Facebook groups. We’d love to have you!