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Looking for some fun ideas for this lockdown Easter? Four days at home can be quite a lot to fill, especially once the eggs are eaten. And we still have a week of ‘holiday’ before schooling at home is due to restart. The kids might not be ready for formal learning, but us parents might need some activities up our sleeves – for our sanity, if nothing else.
So here’s my pick of fun Easter themed activities for families from UK museums, for the bank holiday and beyond. Take online egg hunts, complete a scavenger challenge at home, plant a garden on a plate (or an eggshell), make Easter arts and crafts from recycled materials, or print off activity sheets and colouring in. They’re FREE, fun and easy to do at home.
EASTER HUNTS AND TRAILS
Kids in Museums Spring Museum Trail
Take Kids in Museum‘s Spring Museum Trail for a chance to win a children’s activity book bundle. Follow the clues, find spring themed objects and take part in a series of fun challenges with your family. There’s three trails – for under 5s, 5-11s and over 11s. Entries close Sunday 10 May 2020.
National Trust Great Easter Scavenger Hunt
The clever peeps at National Trust have come up with ten fun challenges for families to do at home. From creating Easter bonnets to making your own rainbows with objects to finding the smells of spring, all without leaving the house. Full details about the hunt are here: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/the-great-easter-scavenger-hunt
Layers of London Egg Hunt
Layers of London have hidden 6 eggs in their historic records at locations with Easter related names – get looking on http://layersoflondon.org/map Email layersoflondon@london.ac.uk with links to the records before Tuesday 15 April 2020 for the chance to win a prize!
Mr Toad at Home at the River and Rowing Museum
Find ten Easter Eggs hiding on The River and Rowing Museum website for your chance to win a prize. Or download one of their Easter crafts – there’s a hatching egg card, a bunny ears template, a baby animal match worksheet and a ‘Grab that Rabbit’ storytime to watch.
EASTER CRAFTS AND EXPERIMENTS
Decorate Spring Eggs with Tate Kids
Elevate a humble egg into a work of art with this Tate Kids Decorate Spring Eggs tutorial. Make speckled eggs using rice and food dye, then learn how to collage an empty egg shell. Then hide them afterwards for your own rainbow egg hunt.
Make a Chocolate Painting with Tate Kids
And turn your chocolate eggs into an art lesson with Tate Kids Make a Chocolate Painting tutorial. Learn how Jackson Pollock dripped paint onto giant canvases, and make your own Pollock-inspired slab.
Museum of English Rural Life Second Sunday Craft
Craft-a-long with the Museum of English Rural Life this Easter Sunday, 13 April 2020, between 11.00 and 13.00. Join them on Facebook, Twitter, or their website to try their Easter crafts using old greetings card, and a recipe to bake an eggless cake in a cup.
Try the Stupid Egg trick with Science Museum
Inertia and friction – not only two words to describe lockdown, but also the scientific principles behind this egg-speriment. See if you can drop eggs into glasses without touching them with this ‘Stupid Egg’ trick. And if risking rare-as-hens’-teeth eggs sounds stupid, you can use juggling balls instead. One of the many easy, fun ‘Kitchen Science‘ experiments from the Science Museum.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Southbank Centre How to…
The Southbank Centre is a sure bet for families most school holidays – and this year is no exception! They’ve worked with creative artists to make a series of how to guides for families to enjoy at home. Click here to learn how to beatbox, create an eco-mobile, grow a mini garden in egg shells, or create your own mini forest.
Plant a Plot on a Plate with Chelsea Physic Garden
Join Chelsea Physic Garden in their first ever miniature gardening competition – no outdoor space required. Instead use a plate, no larger than 35cm and your creativity to create a garden or mini landscape. There’s two categories for children – aged 5-9 and 10-15. Enter by 18 May 2020 for the chance to win gardening goodies and a year’s membership.
British Motor Museum Easter Holiday Lockdown Activities
Go car-azy with the British Motor Museum‘s great selection of kid friendly activities. See if you can fool the rest of the family with the fake bake ‘apple pie’, make a MINI car out of egg boxes, plus there’s a quiz, wordsearch and colouring competition. Activities run online until 26 April 2020.
EASY EASTER PRINTABLES
Because sometimes we just want to hit ‘print’.
Colour in this beautiful Easter Egg made by local artist Nina Gore for Valentines Mansion & Gardens.
Learn how Easter is celebrated differently, and see if you can guess which country each custom is from with Shire Hall Historic Courthouse free Easter Around the World activity sheet.
Discover Ireland’s quirkiest Easter traditions, draw your own proclamation and host an Easter ‘Rising’ Cake Dance Competition with EPIC The Irish Migration Museum‘s Easter Rising History-at-Home pack, ages 8+.
Brooklands Museum have an Easter ready to race colouring in sheet.
Add some colour to an angel inspired by Mary Watt’s chapel, and draw her a friend.
If you’ve found this post useful, please take a second to share it with your friends and followers. Pop it in your parenting WhatsApp groups, share to a Facebook page, or add to your Instagram stories. As well as helping other parents find fun things to do with their kids, it lets me know the time I put into writing these guides isn’t wasted.
What will you get up to this lockdown Easter? Comment below, or come tell me over on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. I absolutely love hearing what you get up.
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