Pre-K Easter Theme Unit

~ Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for Easter ~

For religious Easter ideas, click here

Books

Songs

Activities

Easter Egg Hunt

I send a note home to parents asking them to send in plastic Easter eggs filled with goodies; for example, stickers, erasers, candy, plastic rings, plastic animals, or other small toys. No one is obligated to bring anything in, we use whatever amount of eggs we receive. The children decorate a white paper bag, and use it to collect their eggs during the hunt. Using the paper bag ensures that every child gets about the same amount of eggs. The children see that everyone has the same size bag, and they feel reassured that they have the same as everyone else. I make sure in advance that we have enough eggs for every child to fill their bag. We've always had plenty of eggs, but if we ever have a year where there aren't enough, I will cut the bags to make them smaller. I tell the children that when their bag is full, they are done, and I have them sit down on the grass and look at their surprises.

Egg Decorating

Papier mache eggs were purchased from a craft store (such as Hobby Lobby) and the children painted them. I like this kind of egg decorating because these eggs are less fragile than real eggs and can be saved by the children's parents. School quality tempera paints usually come in bright colors, but you can give the children some white tempera to mix with the colors to make pastels. The children always enjoy mixing paints.

Play Dough Eggs

I added plastic Easter eggs of different sizes to the play dough area. The kids enjoyed filling the eggs with play dough or making play dough baskets for the eggs.

Dramatic Play Eggs

I put a basket of plastic eggs in our Housekeeping Center and the children enjoyed hiding the eggs and finding them. I noticed they use them in a variety of ways, putting them in pots for cooking or using one-to-one correspondence to put an egg in each section of a muffin tin.

Story Retelling

[Literacy]
Choose an Easter-themed book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) Show the book to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.

Rabbit Stamping Game

[Math, Literacy]
Write a letter or numeral on each rabbit, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo daubers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an "X" over the rabbit if stamps or bingo daubers are not available.

Rabbit Game
Printable

Resources

Rabbit Game
Printable

Links