I actually love Easter – the new flowers, the warmer weather and the long bank holiday weekends mainly – but also the special events and fun days that are created for little ones too. I can’t wait this year to take Raffy and Ada out and about for fun activities and Easter egg hunts. If you’re wanting to somewhat keep an eye on your little one’s sugar intakes or feel they are too young to have lots of added sugar, then I wanted to write this blog for you, with some ideas and suggestions to help make Easter fun and exciting without worrying about how much sugar is going in.
I have put together 22 fun Easter ideas with a mix of food and non food related activities that your kids will love!
So if you are concerned about how much sugar your child will consume over Easter, I have put together some non-food ideas together to help make Easter with the family more than just the chocolate!
Non food fun Easter ideas
Here are some Non food fun Easter ideas:
- Bunny paw prints – Put some bunny paw prints around the garden for little ones to follow.
- Easter basket making
- Easter Bonnet making
- National Trust Easter Egg Hunts
- Letter matching with Easter words
- Easter puzzle in an egg
- Hidden eggs in a box – A tray/box filled with shredded paper with eggs/toys to find (esp if horrible weather)
- Bluebell walks
- Decorate the house with the kids – Easter style
- Hide and seek – Inside games can be so great for kids too – hiding things around the house, or playing hide and seek to celebrate having time off as a family.
- Try making rabbit masks
- Make Easter bunny masks
- Painting eggshells in different ways such as using pom poms, or make them into dinosaur eggs.
- Making Easter cards for friends and family
- Finding treasure – Outside the weather should be warmer so activities outside such as catch, or finding treasure
- Check out local events – Find out what’s going on locally and join in Easter egg hunts, local markets, plays and other exciting events.
- Use sticker books with Easter themes and give these as presents to babies or toddlers.
Food related Easter ideas
If you’re unsure about giving your little one chocolate this year, check out my blog with the details on what, when and how to offer chocolate to little ones.
Here are some food related Easter ideas:
18. Carrot themed baking – Easter is a time to focus on SOOOO much more than sweets and chocolate eggs. There is plenty of delicious food available, such as carrot hot cross buns, carrots (rabbit fodder)
19. Make oatcakes foods together – I’ve been doing some baking with Raffy recently and although this isn’t really possible for younger babies, it’s such a good way to get older babies involved. Try out my oatcake recipe and add some cinnamon or mixed spices to give them a good Easter twang.
20. Easter food fun in the garden – my plan this year is to bake some Easter biscuits for Raffy, cut them into little chick, rabbit and egg shapes and offer these to him as easter treats alongside oatcakes with a lemony yogurt dip and also some homemade dark chocolate easter eggs.
21. Outdoor picnics – Easter themed! Here are some simple Easter recipes you can make.
22. Make chocolate Easter eggs at home – one of my favourite childhood Easter memories is making Easter eggs at home with my dad. We melted chocolate, spread it into egg templates and popped them in the fridge. Find the full recipe and instructions here.
What a Nutritionist does at Easter
This year I plan to give Raffy & Ada an Easter Egg hunt where they will roam around the garden looking for mini chicks that I’ve placed around for them to find. Each one will come with a sticker that they will collect and add to a piece of paper with a drawing we made on.
At the end (I’ll let them collect 10 or so), once they have collected them all, I’m planning on giving them a little basket filled with a couple of toys, a homemade Easter egg and a few of my Easter Biscuits.
I’m also planning on doing some cooking with them this Easter and getting out and about at some family friendly events with them as much as possible.
Feel free to send me more ideas of what you’ve been doing this Easter with little ones. Remember, I’m not suggesting for one minute that children can’t have chocolate, just that there are also other ways to celebrate and I’m offering plenty of alternatives for anyone who is looking to minimise children’s sugar intake at this time of year!