Baby Time: Ideas for Easter Baskets for Babies

Looking for ideas for creating an Easter Baskets for your baby? Here are some baby friendly ideas that are hands on, healthy and will inspire your baby's imagination.  A few ideas are even handmade that you could put together easily with fabric scraps from home. 

As you're picking out basket consider picking a basket that your baby or toddler can easily carry around when it has eggs inside of it.  Little hands love putting eggs in and out of baskets and it's great for their fine motor and gross motor skills.  Easter buckets can be fun too and you can explore with sand and water too once you're done. 

What Can I Fill a Baby's Easter Eggs With?

• An Egg Can Be Just an Egg

Truthfully don't feel like you have to fill them. Then will enjoy just playing with the eggs. My older daughter first learned to throw with plastic eggs, they were light and easy to hold and she loved playing the egg game with them. At the time she was 7 months old and loved just sitting and throwing them. Now my youngest daughter is 15 months and she loves trying to open them and discover things, every age is different. If you are concerned with them coming open, just tape them closed.

• Make Egg Shakers

You could always fill them with something too and seal them closed to make music.  Consider items like rice, beans or beads.  Just make sure that they are sealed closed to any choking hazards.  Electrical tape seems to do that job the best. 



• Scarves
• Finger Puppets
• Bubbles (tiny wedding ones, much easier for little mouths to learn with)
• Bunny Finger Puppet Inspired by our Spring Pinterest Board
• Chick Bean Bags Inspired by our Spring Pinterest Board
• Eggs filled with finger foods like cereal, goldfish, Puffs, Raisens (instead of Sugary Items) 

What Can I Fill a Baby's Easter Basket With?

 

Spring Animal Puppets or Felt Eggs for encouraging Imaginary Play

 

For younger babies you can Make a Personalized Onsie with fabric Applique or a Homemade Tag Blanket

 

Fill their basket with one or two toys that can be played with again and again

Here's a post about Making Your Own Personalized Photo Blocks for their basket.
Your could do family members or spring photos!

We have a tradition that we always get a Easter Book in our Basket.
Here are some fun Easter Books for your baby or toddlers. 

Click here for More Easter Crafts and Books for Babies & Toddlers

We hope that these ideas have made creating an Easter basket for your baby or toddler a little bit easier and provide hours of fun together with your baby.  We'd love to see how your easter basket turns out and what was your child's favorite item.  Email us at theeducatorsspinonit@gmail.com, share on our facebook page, or share in the comments below. 

 Happy Easter from The Educators' Spin On It

Baby Time: Easter Activities, Crafts and Books

Easter is just around the corner.  Here are some fun Hands On Activities, Crafts, Books and Sign Language for your Baby or Toddler to enjoy for Easter!  Don't wait bring out the eggs and bunnies now for hours of fun! 

Easter Activities

 

• Eggs Exploration- Let them explore the eggs, make sure to tape them them closed if you have very young ones.  My daughter is 15 Months Old so she like to open the eggs and discover things inside.  We put a scarf in this egg and finger puppets in another.  The larger eggs are easier to put things into.    Here's my daughter at 4 months having a little egg fun. I can't believe how quickly they grow. 

 

• Egg Hunt- Set the eggs around the room and have your child search for them



• Fill the Basket-Empty the Basket- They LOVE filling a basket or bucket with eggs and carrying it around and then dumping it out, hours of fun and teaches them how to clean up
• Spring Puppets and Finger Puppets- Encourage them to begin to play imaginary play, make sure you are modeling how it's done, they need to learn from someone.   



• Bunny Fun-Start playing make believe with your little ones, grab a item to represent a carrot and feed the bunny together.  Let the bunny hop around the room too.  They love it. 
• Sorting Spring Animals- We discovered that we have different kinds of chicks and bunnies and created piles with them with big sister. 



• Cookie Cutter Playtime- Using cookie cutters to explore the shapes of spring, we use a metal bowl to keep them in for extra sound fun too.
• Egg Sounds- Put rice or beads inside of eggs and seal closed, makes great shakers for music time



• Make Felt Eggs- Using felt eggs let them explore the shapes big, small & different colors.  This was a great activity to get siblings playing together too. 
• Make a Bird Nest -Using the leftover scrapes from your felt eggs you can create a next and give your child a basket to create the nest in and a container to store the nest time. 

Learning Spring Sign Language
Here's a great chance to learn some new signs with your baby.  I found a few that relate to Spring, hope you enjoy exploring spring with your baby!

• Flower
• Grass
• Egg
• Bunny
• Easter 
• Egg
• Sheep

Easter Crafts

• Painting Egg Shape with Finger Paint- Just cut out an egg shape and allow your child to use finger paint all over the egg. 
• Stamp Painting with Spring Cookie Cutters-  Using cookie cutters, dip them into paint and encourage them to stamp onto paper.  Here's an example
• Bunny Handprint Card or T-Shirt- You can create a little bunny by painting their palm and two fingers for a T-shirt or a card.  Here's an example 
• Tot School Easter Crafts for older toddlers  

Easter Baskets
Ideas for Baskets for Babies and Toddlers

Easter Photo Ideas
Using Flowers and Props for Photo Fun

Read Board Books About Easter & Spring & Spring Animals

Here are some of our favorites at our house that we've collected through the years with kids.  We always give a book in our Easter baskets.  It's a way we remember year after  year our Easter baskets.  

                

~ I helped you with your shopping and linked to Amazon for you ~

 Happy Easter from The Educators' Spin On It

   

Love Books: The Easter Egg by Jan Brett

We just finished reading The Easter Egg by Jan Brett and talked about selfless acts for others, just like Hoppy in the story did.  My daughter and I came up with an idea to help us remember ways to do this.  Let's Make a Wreath of Eggs with Selfless Acts inside them just like Hoppi does in the story.  Although he really wanted to decorate eggs too, like all the other characters, so let's have some fun decorating eggs too!  Here's the book we're reading...

March Virtual Book Club for Kids: Hosted by Toddler Approved

The Easter Egg by Jan Brett

If you haven't read the book you can check out this online version too, my daughter really enjoyed listening to the narrator discuss Hoppi and the choices he has to make in the story. 

Now it's time to make our Easter Egg Wreath! 

  

Grab a few sheets of construction paper and create eggs by folding the paper and then cutting on an egg shape, making sure to keep on side folded so it can open.  Then inside of the egg write your ideas about selfless acts.  Hoppi in the story protected a baby bird's egg while the Mommy was away and missed out on decorating the Easter eggs.  His heart was his true gift. 

Then on the front of the egg decorate it anyway you want too. We used crayons but you could also use paint or glitter or sequins, whatever you heart desires to make the prettiest eggs ever! Then attach the eggs to the wreath and hang up to remind us of all the Selfless Acts of Kindness we can do for others.

 

Take Action

Here's a note my daughter wrote to her teacher as one of her Selfless Acts she thought of.  We're making Bunny Bread to bring to our neighbors and friends next week.  I can't wait to see what else she's inspired to do for others. 

Making authors become real people and role models is a great way to inspire future story writers.  Here is Jan Bret herself talking about how she illustrates stories and comes up with ideas.  Jan Brett has such a hands on way on how she creates her Easter Egg Book, the kids will love this video. 

Resources for Bunny Activities

Easter Coloring Sheets from Jan Brett
More The Easter Egg Activities from No Twiddle Twaddle

 Draw a Bunny

Want to know how she draws a bunny?  Take an Art Lesson from Jan Brett herself on thus VIDEO. 

Write your Own Bunny Story

Want to make your own Hoppi?

Hop on over to Little Hands that Cook with Books to make BUNNY BREAD

Books, Songs, Crafts and Recipes all about BUNNIES

Now it is your turn, come show us what you created as you read and explored Jan Brett's book

Welcome to the March Virtual Book Club Blog Hop hosted by Toddler Approved! Come link up your Virtual Book Club posts below and then feel free to click on other links and see what everyone else came up with. Bloggers love comments, so if you have a moment, make sure to stop by a few of the posts and take a second to share what you like about the idea!

We linked this post up to The Mommy Club at Crystal & Co.

Little Hands that Cook with Books: Bunny Bread

We are learning about Bunnies by making Bunny Bread with Little Hands that Cook with Books.  We started off with a few adorable bunny books.  If you haven't discovered Hopper, a sweet little bunny created by Marcus Pfister, you need to go check him out.  We enjoyed reading Hopper, Hopper's Easter Surprise, Hopper Hunts for Spring, Hang On Hopper and Hopper's Treetop Adventure.   

                      

Marcus Pfister brings us the adorable collection of books about Hopper

Bunny Finger Poems & Songs

Funny Ears
Here is a bunny with ears so funny
And here is his hole in the ground.
When a noise he hears, he pricks up his ears,
And jumps in his hole in the ground.

BUNNY POOKA by Jean Warren
Tune: “Hokie Pokie"

You put your bunny paw in.
You take your bunny paw out.
You put your bunny paw in
And you shake it all about.

You do the Bunny Pooka
And you hop around a lot
That’s what it’s all about!

Continue with other items to put in and take out, such as: bunny foot, bunny nose, bunny ear and bunny tail.
                                    
BUNNIES, BUNNIES by Liz Ryerson
Tune: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

Bunnies, bunnies, hop, hop, hop.
Bunnies, bunnies, hop, hop, stop.
Twitch your ears and twitch your nose.
Twitch your tail and twitch your toes.
Bunnies, bunnies, hop, hop, hop.
Bunnies, bunnies, hop, hop, stop.
(Let your children act out the song as you sing.)

Bunny Crafts

If I Were a Bunny Writing Prompt from A Cupcake For The Teacher

Create a story from the writing prompt If I Were a Bunny.  I had my daughter create her own body parts for the bunny as seen above but you could easily make a stencil for kids to trace or just precut for younger ones.  Then have them print off this prompt and write.  Then glue it all together for a little bunny fun. 

Bunny Bag from Mr. Printable

You can just print this bag or you can create a stencil from printing this Bunny Bag.  Create your own bunny bags or precut for younger ones to color and create.   We used these to make little treat bags for our neighborhood friends.  

Spool Painted Paper Bag Season Trees by JDaniel4's Mom

Hopper talks about how is fur will change in the season so it's a opportunity to learn about seasons too.  This is how JDaniel4's Mom used Hopper's Easter Surprise  with her son by creating Spool Painted Paper Bag Season Trees.
. 

Virtual Book Club for The Easter Egg by Jan Brett

Resource of Ideas for Egg and Bunny Activities related to the story 

Let's Get Cooking! 

BUNNY BREAD Roundup! 

I know I wanted to find something similar to our Teddy Bear Bread and Heart Breadsticks which have been such a big hit.  We found some adorable Bunny Bread recipes that I Pinned on our Cooking with Kids Board.  Pinterest can be such a great source of resources for Moms , Grandparents or Teachers.  Check out how many different ways you can create a bunny! 

1.  2.  3.

1. Maple Wheat Bunny Rolls by Lunch Fit for a Kid
2. Bunny Bread by Munchkin Munchies
3. Cinnamon Bunny by Recipe Link

4.   5.    6.

4. Easter Bunny Bread by Taste of Home
5. Bunny Biscuits by Taste of Home
6. Bunny Bread by Mama's Little Muse

7.

7. Cinnabunny from Betty Crocker

Have fun making your own Bunny Bread with your little ones.  We sang our bunny songs and made our bunny & writing while our bread cooked.  Then we enjoyed eating them as we read a few more Hopper Books.  Email us or Post on Facebook which Bunny you made with your little ones.  Happy Cooking! 

We love Pinterest too! If you are sharing one of these pictures please make sure that you Pin the original source to give the creators their proper credit! 

Want more Little Hands that Cook with Book Recipes & Activity?