Chicks, Eggs, and Baskets at Easter!

Easter came and went quickly, but it sure brought it's fair share of fun and learning!

Below is just some of what we were involved in this April celebration.

Crafted Baby Chicks With Egg Cartons

I feel the bunnies get a little too much credit for the eggs at Easter time. I mean, it is after all the chickens (hens) we get the eggs from. So we decided to give some attention to our feathered friends. Springtime means new beginnings, including the hatching of baby chicks. Using recycled egg cartons, we designed our own baby chicks. They turned out very cute! However, if we were to do it again, I would offer a variety of colors to paint them with. Baby chicks are not always yellow. We found out that baby chickens can be brown, black, white, or even multi--colored!

Ate Tomato and Cheese Chicks for Snack

We also honored the chicks with a snack that resembled them! A parent brought in the supplies to make these darling snacks and the children assembled them. This was simple but fun, all you need is cherry tomatoes, cubes of cheddar cheese, carrot stick beaks, and black peppercorn eyes, all on a toothpick.

Used the "Oval" Metal Inset to Make Eggs

The "Metal Inset" work has been available in our classroom all year. New interest in these materials came, however, after our special volunteer, Mrs. Mary, demonstrated (at circle time last month) the procedure of tracing the inside and outside of a circle.

It was only suiting that we traced the "oval" metal inset around Easter time, since it looks like an egg. The children even colored in their oval tracing, as if it were a decorated Easter egg!

Played a Question and Direction Game

Inside these eggs, written on a small piece of paper, was either a question or direction. The children took turns choosing an egg which they then had to respond to. The questions were on topics we learned throughout the year like, "What were the two types of caterpillars we found this year?" (Saddleback Caterpillar & Wooly Bear Caterpillar). Some of the directions also tested the childrens' knowledge, like "Name two presidents", while other directions included body movements like, "Do your silliest dance", and "Do ten jump and jacks". To add to this challenge, the children were asked to decide whether the eggs they chose contained a question or a direction. This game was just such a huge hit with the children! And I enjoyed it too! It was a fun way to evaluate the child's readiness and recollection.

Used Our Hearing to Match Different Sounds in Plastic Eggs

This was a sound discrimination game with which the children matched pairs of eggs that made the same sound. Items inside the eggs included rice, paper clips, sand, and dried beans and they all sounded different when the children shook the eggs. I appreciated how the children, without being asked, would describe the sounds they were making by shaking the eggs. Clever words like "soft", "quiet", "scratchy", and "big" are examples of the children's descriptions. Although this activity is a lot like the Montessori "sound cylinders" we've had on our shelf all year, the egg-theme produced a whole lot more interest!

Dyed Hard Boiled Eggs

We kept the egg decorating pretty simple this year, which worked out perfectly. The dye wasn't very strong (just a couple drops of food coloring and white vinegar), so the eggs were not changing color very quickly. This forced the children to leave their egg behind in the colored bath. We asked the children to get to work while their egg did it's thing. I was expecting resistance and thought I would need to break up a pack of children just passing time watching the eggs sit  in the bowls. But what was interesting was the children did get to focused work, even though there was such a tempting distraction near by! When they completed their task, they remembered to return to check on their egg. It turned out to be an orderly method of getting everyone involved, taking turns, and practicing concentration and time management. And beautifully colored eggs came from this experiment!

Made Personalized Egg Salad to Put in Bread Baskets

We had planned to make egg salad with the hard-boiled eggs we dyed earlier in the week. What made it more fun and festive were these cute little bread baskets a parent made as part of her child's snack week contribution!

To make the egg salad, the children first had to peel the eggs.

Even the toddlers liked participating in this step in the process!

The next step in the process was equally as fun.

The children put a peeled egg or two in a cup and mashed it up with a spoon. We had a variety of ingredients the children could add, like mayonnaise, mustard, and pickled relish; and the child stirred up their own personal egg salad!

Once the egg salad was mixed, the children scooped it into the tiny bread baskets, ate, and enjoyed!

And of Course... We Hunted for Eggs!

There is just something about searching for that hidden egg and finding it! The children were super excited as they perused the playground for those colorful, prize filled, plastic eggs. As I watched the young ones scrambling, I caught myself smiling, and looked up to notice the other teachers were smiling too. Like I said, there is just something about the "hunt" that can fill a heart with joy... I just can't put my finger on it...

What I didn't capture on camera were the loving moments that followed all the hunting. Tears of joy come to my eyes, still, when I thought back on what I am about to describe. These children are proof that consideration and sharing can over power self-centered actions and greed!

**Once convinced there were no more eggs on the playground to be found, the children sat down to begin opening all the plastic eggs (to see what was in inside). There were all kinds of neat items inside these eggs filled by the parents- stickers, stamps, jewelry, and even a tiny little toy compasses (that I just adored). The children were showing off their prizes to one another when some of the older girls noticed that their younger friends had considerably less eggs in their basket then they had. This of course is to be expected, since the older children can move at a quicker pace and are more mission-oriented. I had even witnessed some young ones taking their time opening each egg as they found them. It seemed those children were satisfied with their strategy but it didn't get them a whole lot of eggs… Well when those girls noticed the difference between the amount of eggs they had versus what others had, they decided to distribute the wealth. This filled my heart with joy! The happiness that came from both the giver and receiver was nothing short of beautiful. Out of all the memories made this Easter, I think this was my favorite. 

These children at iMontessori School 

truly know the meaning of sharing!