Easter Holidays: Fun and free activities to do

What to do in the Easter holidays

Are you struggling with finding things to do for the Easter holidays?

With a glorious two weeks of holidays, it can be easy to let them fly by as we sit indulging in our chocolate Easter Eggs but there is so much to do in Yorkshire as well as free activities to try with the whole family. 

We mix up our holidays with days out and then relaxed ‘free days’ at home. 

Our treat this Easter is to jump aboard the Seaside Express on the North Yorkshire Moor Railway from Pickering to Whitby. 

We’ve also got a pre-Easter treat at Leeds Grand Theatre as we will be reviewing School of Rock as well. 

Our accessible reporter Dan can find it challenging when his groups stop for the break, so he has found some free ideas:

1. Bake some Easter goodies – as well as learning cooking skills, kids will also enjoy trying their own treats out, or you could hold a mini bake-off with friends, kids can vote for which they like best or even swap . You can also hold a bake sale if you find yourself baking more than you can eat

1. Get sporty – Some of the best Easter activities for children involve sports, games and other outdoor activities. With all those Easter treats around, the holidays are a great time to work off some extra energy. Playing sports doesn’t have to mean joining a club or buying equipment – there’s plenty you can do that’s fun, active, and totally free!

1. Create an obstacle course in the garden and hold races with prizes for the winner, or invent a ball game that involves the whole family. Favourites like football and tennis are also great if you have the space and the equipment. Play a few games over the holiday and keep score, and congratulate the winner at the end

1. Let kids creativity shine with crafts, From painting boiled eggs to making masks, your imagination is the limit when it comes to making Easter-themed goodies. You don’t have to stick to a theme – take things further by making robots or castles out of cardboard boxes and egg cartons, there are plenty of ways to turn everyday rubbish into crafty creations.

1. Spring clean – then have a sale!

1. Encourage the kids to clear out their bedrooms and help with shared family spaces by holding a sale at the end of the holiday. Take your unwanted items to a car boot sale, or hold a sale with friends, and reap the benefits of a cleaner house as well as some extra pocket money. Make spring cleaning more fun with music, speed competitions, or a reward at the end, like a fun Easter treat.

1. If you’re still stuck for ideas, choose Easter activities for kids that will also make a difference to the community. Check out local noticeboards or scour the web to find opportunities to volunteer locally. Need inspiration? Spring is a great time to help clear woodland spaces, and at the same time you’ll learn all about wildlife and your local area. Volunteering is a great way to spend time as a family, whether you’re trimming back trees or litter picking in your local area. Find a volunteer organisation near you and start doing something new today.

1. Have a day out- nearby city, museum or theme park are all good places to have a day out

1. Hold a Easter egg hunt – this is still a old classic as you can hide eggs round the house or garden, and get kids to try and find them. Alternatively, you can design some clues which lead to a egg at the end.
2. Explore great outdoors- take advantage of the sun? And have a picnic and play games like I spy along the way. 

1. Try a new hobby or skill- try learning an unusual skill e.g handstand, get them cooking (with adult supervision), or knitting

1. Put on a show

Why not challenge the kids to write and perform their very own play? It’s a great way to keep them occupied while you enjoy some time to yourself, and they’ll love performing for you at the end of the day. Find a space where they can create their very own ‘stage’, and encourage them to create props from things like cardboard boxes. Combine this Easter activity with a fun prop-making craft session so they can make the most of their creations.

Reference – Drayton manor.co.uk

1. Use up odd socks by making an Easter bunny sock puppet.  Use buttons or cut out pieces of paper or card for eyes and a nose and hey presto!  You have all you need to create your own Easter bunny puppet show.

1. Make Easter cards.  You can use scraps of paper, old birthday and Christmas cards, magazines etc. 

1. Have an evening abroad!  Choose a country, say Italy for example.  Spend the afternoon making Italian flag placemats and table decorations.  Look up on the internet how to say a few Italian words like hello, goodbye, please and thank you.  Get the kids involved making an Italian dinner like pizza or pasta and enjoy.  There are so many countries to choose from it’s a great way to encourage the children to experiment with new foods and languages. 

1. Make use of your local library.  It’s free to join and you can borrow multiple books at a time.  For a small fee you can also borrow DVD’s and music CD’s. 

Make a pasta picture.  A small pot of glue and a bag of dried pasta shapes can be bought very cheaply and can produce amazingly creative results. 

1. Have a picnic.  Prepare your lunch, lay down a blanket and enjoy your day out.  If it is raining or cold, you can have an indoor picnic instead! 

1. Memory Minute – Place ten small household items on a tray or table, cover with a tea-towel.  For example, a button, keys, a cotton bud, a fork etc.  Show the items for about thirty seconds then re-cover.  Each child has a minute to write down as many items as they can.  Smaller children can reel them off and you can write them for them.  The best memory wins. 

1. Bat and Ball keepy-uppy – Use a soft indoor friendly ball, sponge balls are ideal.  Each child takes turns with the bat to see how many taps they can keep the ball in the air. 

1. Precision Roll – Find a long clear space on the floor.  Place a tin from the cupboard at one end of the room, kids at the other.  Each child has one chance to roll the ball as near to the tin as possible.  Use a tape measure to record the distance for each child, closest wins. 

1. Egg Collage – give each child a piece of paper and draw a big egg shape outline on it.  With a pot of paste and scraps of material or ribbon they can make their own creative picture.  For ribbon scraps raid your wardrobe and snip off all those ribbon hangers in the shoulders of tops and jumpers that often don’t seem to serve a purpose and usually end up getting in the way.  Have a small prize for the best one or the best one in each age group so everyone gets to be a winner. 

1. Mini egg challenge – Make up a small race track or obstacle course on the floor or table.  Give each child four chocolate mini eggs of the same colour and a straw.  Let each one have a turn at blowing down the straw to guide each egg in turn to the end of the course.  You could use your watch to time how long it takes for all their eggs to get “home”.  To make it even more of a challenge you could tie their hands behind their backs with a scarf so they are not tempted to use them to cheat.

1. Easter decorations – Use paints or felt tips to decorate some eggs (you can use hard boiled or blow some if you prefer).  To do these, make small holes each end and then blow the contents into a bowl – you can use this for scrambled eggs or omelettes for tea.  As it’s a good idea to rinse the eggs out and leave them to dry you might like to do this the day before the planned activity.  Keep the egg box to stand them in and it’s also useful to put them in when they are drying off after being decorated.  Suggest faces with glasses, hair, beards, etc. or zig-zag patterns or just let the children’s imaginations run riot.  

When they’re done they can be used on a plate as a decoration – perhaps with a couple of chicks on top (these are really cheap to buy in card shops or similar or make your own with yellow wool) or you could get a small twiggy branch from the garden or elsewhere and stand it in a vase and hang your eggs on with cotton or ribbon. 

1. Jokes – most children love telling jokes (often the same one over and over again, and it’s not always funny!)  Sit down with them and think up words to do with Easter – eggs, bunnies, lambs, chicks, etc., – and see if they can make up jokes or rhymes.  Here’s a few to get you started:

• How does the Easter bunny stay fit?  EGGS-ercise or HARE-robics!
• Why shouldn’t you tell an Easter egg a joke?  It might crack up!
• What kind of books do bunnies like?  Ones with hoppy endings!

Reference – https://www.familylives.org.uk/advice/your-family/holidays/easter-holidays-fun-for-families

1. Easter Egg Bingo

1. SUNNY DAY FAMILY

Mix and match different tops and bottoms of plastic Easter Eggs, and use the resulting combos to come up with a Bingo board. First one to get five in a row wins!

1. Egg Bowling

KID FRIENDLY THINGS TO DO

If you have a smooth, flat surface in your house or patio, you can try rolling eggs in a traditional bowling game and try to knock down empty water bottles. Or you can go for a game of precision, challenging players to see if they can get closest to a marker (in this case, the plain, white egg).

Reference – https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/easter-ideas/g4154/easter-games/

Have you got any other ideas?

What to do in the Easter holidays

Are you struggling with finding things to do for the Easter holidays?

With a glorious two weeks of holidays, it can be easy to let them fly by as we sit indulging in our chocolate Easter Eggs but there is so much to do in Yorkshire as well as free activities to try with the whole family. 

We mix up our holidays with days out and then relaxed ‘free days’ at home. 

Our treat this Easter is to jump aboard the Seaside Express on the North Yorkshire Moor Railway from Pickering to Whitby. 

We’ve also got a pre-Easter treat at Leeds Grand Theatre as we will be reviewing School of Rock as well. 

Our accessible reporter Dan can find it challenging when his groups stop for the break, so he has found some free ideas:

1. Bake some Easter goodies – as well as learning cooking skills, kids will also enjoy trying their own treats out, or you could hold a mini bake-off with friends, kids can vote for which they like best or even swap . You can also hold a bake sale if you find yourself baking more than you can eat

1. Get sporty – Some of the best Easter activities for children involve sports, games and other outdoor activities. With all those Easter treats around, the holidays are a great time to work off some extra energy. Playing sports doesn’t have to mean joining a club or buying equipment – there’s plenty you can do that’s fun, active, and totally free!

1. Create an obstacle course in the garden and hold races with prizes for the winner, or invent a ball game that involves the whole family. Favourites like football and tennis are also great if you have the space and the equipment. Play a few games over the holiday and keep score, and congratulate the winner at the end

1. Let kids creativity shine with crafts, From painting boiled eggs to making masks, your imagination is the limit when it comes to making Easter-themed goodies. You don’t have to stick to a theme – take things further by making robots or castles out of cardboard boxes and egg cartons, there are plenty of ways to turn everyday rubbish into crafty creations.

1. Spring clean – then have a sale!

1. Encourage the kids to clear out their bedrooms and help with shared family spaces by holding a sale at the end of the holiday. Take your unwanted items to a car boot sale, or hold a sale with friends, and reap the benefits of a cleaner house as well as some extra pocket money. Make spring cleaning more fun with music, speed competitions, or a reward at the end, like a fun Easter treat.

1. If you’re still stuck for ideas, choose Easter activities for kids that will also make a difference to the community. Check out local noticeboards or scour the web to find opportunities to volunteer locally. Need inspiration? Spring is a great time to help clear woodland spaces, and at the same time you’ll learn all about wildlife and your local area. Volunteering is a great way to spend time as a family, whether you’re trimming back trees or litter picking in your local area. Find a volunteer organisation near you and start doing something new today.

1. Have a day out- nearby city, museum or theme park are all good places to have a day out

1. Hold a Easter egg hunt – this is still a old classic as you can hide eggs round the house or garden, and get kids to try and find them. Alternatively, you can design some clues which lead to a egg at the end.
2. Explore great outdoors- take advantage of the sun? And have a picnic and play games like I spy along the way. 

1. Try a new hobby or skill- try learning an unusual skill e.g handstand, get them cooking (with adult supervision), or knitting

1. Put on a show

Why not challenge the kids to write and perform their very own play? It’s a great way to keep them occupied while you enjoy some time to yourself, and they’ll love performing for you at the end of the day. Find a space where they can create their very own ‘stage’, and encourage them to create props from things like cardboard boxes. Combine this Easter activity with a fun prop-making craft session so they can make the most of their creations.

Reference – Drayton manor.co.uk

1. Use up odd socks by making an Easter bunny sock puppet.  Use buttons or cut out pieces of paper or card for eyes and a nose and hey presto!  You have all you need to create your own Easter bunny puppet show.

1. Make Easter cards.  You can use scraps of paper, old birthday and Christmas cards, magazines etc. 

1. Have an evening abroad!  Choose a country, say Italy for example.  Spend the afternoon making Italian flag placemats and table decorations.  Look up on the internet how to say a few Italian words like hello, goodbye, please and thank you.  Get the kids involved making an Italian dinner like pizza or pasta and enjoy.  There are so many countries to choose from it’s a great way to encourage the children to experiment with new foods and languages. 

1. Make use of your local library.  It’s free to join and you can borrow multiple books at a time.  For a small fee you can also borrow DVD’s and music CD’s. 

Make a pasta picture.  A small pot of glue and a bag of dried pasta shapes can be bought very cheaply and can produce amazingly creative results. 

1. Have a picnic.  Prepare your lunch, lay down a blanket and enjoy your day out.  If it is raining or cold, you can have an indoor picnic instead! 

1. Memory Minute – Place ten small household items on a tray or table, cover with a tea-towel.  For example, a button, keys, a cotton bud, a fork etc.  Show the items for about thirty seconds then re-cover.  Each child has a minute to write down as many items as they can.  Smaller children can reel them off and you can write them for them.  The best memory wins. 

1. Bat and Ball keepy-uppy – Use a soft indoor friendly ball, sponge balls are ideal.  Each child takes turns with the bat to see how many taps they can keep the ball in the air. 

1. Precision Roll – Find a long clear space on the floor.  Place a tin from the cupboard at one end of the room, kids at the other.  Each child has one chance to roll the ball as near to the tin as possible.  Use a tape measure to record the distance for each child, closest wins. 

1. Egg Collage – give each child a piece of paper and draw a big egg shape outline on it.  With a pot of paste and scraps of material or ribbon they can make their own creative picture.  For ribbon scraps raid your wardrobe and snip off all those ribbon hangers in the shoulders of tops and jumpers that often don’t seem to serve a purpose and usually end up getting in the way.  Have a small prize for the best one or the best one in each age group so everyone gets to be a winner. 

1. Mini egg challenge – Make up a small race track or obstacle course on the floor or table.  Give each child four chocolate mini eggs of the same colour and a straw.  Let each one have a turn at blowing down the straw to guide each egg in turn to the end of the course.  You could use your watch to time how long it takes for all their eggs to get “home”.  To make it even more of a challenge you could tie their hands behind their backs with a scarf so they are not tempted to use them to cheat.

1. Easter decorations – Use paints or felt tips to decorate some eggs (you can use hard boiled or blow some if you prefer).  To do these, make small holes each end and then blow the contents into a bowl – you can use this for scrambled eggs or omelettes for tea.  As it’s a good idea to rinse the eggs out and leave them to dry you might like to do this the day before the planned activity.  Keep the egg box to stand them in and it’s also useful to put them in when they are drying off after being decorated.  Suggest faces with glasses, hair, beards, etc. or zig-zag patterns or just let the children’s imaginations run riot.  

When they’re done they can be used on a plate as a decoration – perhaps with a couple of chicks on top (these are really cheap to buy in card shops or similar or make your own with yellow wool) or you could get a small twiggy branch from the garden or elsewhere and stand it in a vase and hang your eggs on with cotton or ribbon. 

1. Jokes – most children love telling jokes (often the same one over and over again, and it’s not always funny!)  Sit down with them and think up words to do with Easter – eggs, bunnies, lambs, chicks, etc., – and see if they can make up jokes or rhymes.  Here’s a few to get you started:

• How does the Easter bunny stay fit?  EGGS-ercise or HARE-robics!
• Why shouldn’t you tell an Easter egg a joke?  It might crack up!
• What kind of books do bunnies like?  Ones with hoppy endings!

Reference – https://www.familylives.org.uk/advice/your-family/holidays/easter-holidays-fun-for-families

1. Easter Egg Bingo

1. SUNNY DAY FAMILY

Mix and match different tops and bottoms of plastic Easter Eggs, and use the resulting combos to come up with a Bingo board. First one to get five in a row wins!

1. Egg Bowling

KID FRIENDLY THINGS TO DO

If you have a smooth, flat surface in your house or patio, you can try rolling eggs in a traditional bowling game and try to knock down empty water bottles. Or you can go for a game of precision, challenging players to see if they can get closest to a marker (in this case, the plain, white egg).

Reference – https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/easter-ideas/g4154/easter-games/

Have you got any other ideas?