Lesson Plans Toddlers and Preschoolers: E is for Easter

Circle/Quiet Time: Concepts to share with your child or class this week include bunnies, ducks, and chicks. Easter is a celebration of new life and newborn animals are usually associated with this holiday. During circle time is the perfect opportunity to include the songs, books and finger plays below.

Science Activity: Hard boil eggs and talk to your children about the concepts of hot, boiling, and steam. Use this opportunity to show how the heat will boil the insides of the egg. The most interesting part about boiling an egg is (if you are lucky) the shell won't crack and it is like magic for the kids that the hard egg is inside with the shell on the outside.

Snack: Easter Egg Bagels: Slice and toast plain bagels. You can reinforce the concepts of hot and cold with this delicious snack activity. The heat of the warmed bagel and the cold of cream cheese is a good way to teach contrasts. Tint cream cheese with a little bit of food coloring. I like to use all of them. But mixing the cream cheese with a few drops of food coloring you get some great Easter colored cheese. Give the children their halves of a bagel and allow them to use spread the colored cream cheese on bagel for snack. This is a great colors reinforcement activity also.

Concepts: Colors, hot and cold

Gross Motor:

The Bunny Hop: Have some fun with your children hopping around the room or outside. Or you can draw hop scotch squares onto the ground outside with chalk and practice hopping and counting at the same time. Afterwards let your children color the sidewalk and driveway with the colored chalk.

Tunnels, such as those that can be used indoors or outdoors are perfect for this week's gross motor activity. Hide and crawl through the tunnels like rabbits do. Don't have the vinyl or plastic tunnel at your house of childcare; use your imagination and a tunneled slide as an alternative.

Baby duck/chick flap: Flap arms and quack like a duck, or cheep like a chick while walking around outside or inside.

Art/Fine Motor: