Favorite Easter Picture Books

We love visiting the library and picking out picture books for each for each holiday. Below are a few of our favorite Easter picture books that we picked up at the library this year. Some are secular, and others are religious, but they were all fun books with great values and good stories. Happy Easter and Happy Reading!

Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco
This Russian tale is of Babushka who cares for a wounded goose during the winter. She also spends all winter painstakingly painting eggs for the spring, but when the goose accidentally breaks all of the precious eggs that Babushka had painted, the goose magically gives Babushka even more beautiful eggs in return.

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes  by Dubose Heyward/Marjorie Flack
This is a classic book about a little girl bunny who longs to be the Easter Bunny, but she is told she never could do it because she isn't as big and strong as the male Jack Rabbits. She grows up to be a mother of 21 little bunnies and she shows everyone that as a mother she is strong, fast, and clever enough to be an Easter Bunny. Most important, she shows she has a heart caring and brave enough to be the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Story  by Brian Wildsmith
This book has the true story of Easter told from the point of view of a donkey. The illustrations are big and beautiful, and it can be a good supplement to reading the Easter story from the Bible.

The Legend of the Easter Egg  by Lori Walburg
This is a sequel to one of our favorite Christmas books The Legend of the Candy Cane.  It is a bit more sad--as it tells how a brother has to leave his family for a few weeks while his sister is quarantined because of sickness. But through the book, he discovers the joy of spring, of the true Easter story, and the new hope that Easter brings. I love how the symbolism of the egg is shared. After reading this book, our own egg dyeing seemed to take on a bit more meaning.

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale by Angela Elwell Hunt/Tim Jonke.
This book tells how three trees imagine the great things that they want to do. None of their dreams happen as they plan, but instead they find even greater joy because they all play a part in the life of Jesus Christ. One tree ends up being the manger, another is a fishing boat, and the third is the cross. We love the message of this book and we read this book at both Christmas and Easter.

The Easter Egg by Jan Brett
If you are a fan of Jan Brett's detailed and beautiful illustrations then you will enjoy this Easter themed book in which a bunny searches for the perfect way to make an Easter egg. In the end, the bunny helps out mother Robin by guarding a real live egg. My kids loved all the varieties of eggs shown in this book--wooden, chocolate, painted, mechanical, etc.

Easter Parade  by Irving Berlin/Lisa McCue
This is an illustrated version of the classic Easter Parade song. Different animals are shown dressed up and parading around in the book. It is a short and fun book for young kids. We also always like to have our own "Easter Parade" around our house while marching to the song. (We got our version of the book from the local library--it does look like it's out of print so if you want to buy it, you'll have to get a used copy).

Do you have any other favorite Easter picture books? We'd love to hear your comments below? Also, don't forget to check out all of our Easter activity ideas here.

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Easter Fun: Peep Wars!

When my husband first told me about "peep wars" he used to have at Easter time, it was a foreign concept to me. I grew up with mostly sisters, and we just didn't play the same way that brothers do. But now that I am a mom of two boys, I know that they never turn down an opportunity to have a little friendly competition. So now we let our boys do their own "peep wars" with our candy peeps that we get at Easter time.

To play, each competitor places a toothpick "sword" in the front of his peep. You then place the peeps facing each other on a plate and microwave the peep for thirty seconds. The marshmallows expand, and the winner is the one with the peep that is speared the least or the peep that remains the most intact and upright at the end. (Judging is very subjective).

It's silly and simple--but a lot of fun for young boys :)

Has anyone else heard of "peep wars" or this something bizarre that my husband's family made up? What other silly or fun Easter traditions do you have?

Don't forget to check out all of our Easter ideas here!

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5 tips to making Easter Egg hunts more enjoyable for everyone!

1.  Color Coordinate: A fun idea to ease your Easter morning is to request that the Easter Bunny color coordinates your Easter baskets!  Each child puts their baskets out the night before. The next morning, whatever color of grass, tissue or crinkly paper is in their basket, is also the color of plastic eggs they can gather around the house.

This makes for a fun activity for the kids to each find their own eggs in their own time without worrying that child who takes their time and enjoys the moment will miss out on finding more than just a couple of eggs.  My kids love it!

2. Community or Cousin Egg Hunt: You don't have to only attend city egg hunts with thousands of kids.  We love more intimate neighborhood, cousin or cul-de-sac egg hunts.  Have every family bring a dozen filled plastic eggs per child they are bringing.  Then the parents each hide the eggs they brought in the designated hunt area.  The kids get to run out and find a certain amount of eggs.  This makes it fun for everyone and a lot simpler to organize!


3.  Alternatives to Candy: Hide money in eggs or even small erasers, bouncy balls, and small trinkets to avoid too much candy. We usually hide coins, even gold dollars, which makes it fun to see what you've earned.  One year, my in-laws hid dollar bills for the adults and then a select number of 10s and 20s.  It was a fun surprise, but warning it gets a little competitive with adults!

4.   Headstart for the Youngsters: Give the younger kids a head start so they don't get trampled over and so they can get the easier eggs up front.  I've also seen where areas are roped off for certain age groups.

5.  Throw in some prizes to shake it up a bit: Have a grand prize egg, make it golden or unique in some sort of way.  I have also seen where you put a slip of paper inside certain eggs that says "redeem for a prize".  Then you can have a prize table where there are various larger prizes from the dollar store for the child to choose from.

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Easter Bunny Treats for Home or Class Parties!

My kids loved making these cute Easter bunny treats.  They are great for a family party, Easter dinner dessert or class spring and Easter parties.

Supplies needed:

Pink Snowballs (get these ahead of time!).  

If you can't find them at the grocery store, you can always look at gas stations.

Pull and Peel Licorice

Jelly Beans

M & Ms

White Cardstock Paper

Pink Crayon

Scissors

Directions:

1. Cut bunny ear shapes out of the white cardstock paper

2. Fill in the bunny ears with pink crayon

3. Poke bunny ears into the pink snowball to look like ears 

4. Cut pull in peel into 6 equal strands (I cut 3-4 strands out of one length of a pull and peel)

5. Press 6 pull and peel pieces into snowball to look like whiskers

6. Press jelly bean (pink is cute, but others work too) into the center of the snowball for a nose.

7. Press 2 M & Ms in the snowball for eyes.  You could use other round pink candy as well.

See all of our Easter ideas here!

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Tips for Dyeing Easter Eggs

We look forward to dyeing our own Easter eggs each year. Here are some tips for fun with egg dyeing!

Recipes

Sometimes I need to look up the simplest things online such as how to hard boil eggs, so if there are any others out there like me, here's how to hard boil eggs and make egg dye:

HARD BOILED EGGS

Ingredients:

eggs
cold water
1/2 t. salt
1 T vinegar (optional)

Instructions:
1. Put the eggs in a single layer in a saucepan and cover with at least an inch or two of COLD water (Starting with cold water helps keep the eggs from cracking). Adding a a half teaspoon of salt can prevent cracking and make eggs easier to peel and a tablespoon of vinegar will prevent egg whites from running out of eggs that might crack--but it might also affect the taste if you plan on eating your eggs after you dye them.

2. Bring the eggs to a boil. As soon as water starts to boil, reduce the heat to low on the burner. Let simmer for one minute

3. After one minute, remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit for 10-12 minutes. You can check for doneness by sacrificing one egg and cutting it open. If it isn't done, cook the other eggs a minute or two longer. Depending on your pan and the number of eggs, the cooking time can vary by a couple of minutes.

4. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and put in a bowl of ice water. Once cooled, strain water from eggs.

EASTER EGG DYE

Ingredients (per color):
1/2 c. hot water
1 t. vinegar
abt. 10 drops food coloring

Instructions:
Boil water and combine 1/2 c. boiling water, 1 t. vinegar and about 10 drops food coloring for each batch of dye.

Tips for Dyeing Eggs

We sometimes pour our dye in different colored cups, but last year, we used an extra large muffin pan for our egg dye and it worked great. We did our egg dyeing outside so I didn't have to worry about staining the carpet. My kids loved dipping the eggs and making their own creations.

For some variations on traditional egg dyeing, you could try some of the following:

• Use a white crayon to draw designs on some eggs before dyeing. Then dye the eggs as normal. When you dye the eggs the wax on the crayon will prevent the dye from sticking to those parts on so will create a fun effect.
• You could also create a similar resistance design by putting masking tape or small stickers on the eggs before dyeing. Then carefully peel off stickers or masking tape when dye is dry and the parts that were covered with stickers will be white.
• Create a tye dye effect by mixing 1 T olive oil with dye and gently rolling the egg in the mixture. Let it dry on a paper towel. Once dry, you can roll it in another color if desired.
• Cover your egg with rubber bands in a striped or criss-cross pattern. Then dye eggs. Take off the rubber bands after dyeing eggs and you will have a striped egg!
• For glittery eggs, first dye the eggs and let them dry. Then, use a paintbrush to apply glue to the egg and sprinkle glitter on top of the glue.
• Consider hard boiling brown eggs instead of white eggs. When you dye them you will have a richer, more earthy set set of colored eggs.

Have fun dyeing eggs and celebrating this holiday...And see all of our Easter ideas here!

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10 Easter Activities for Kids that Focus on the True Meaning of Easter

Though we do hide Easter baskets and dye eggs and enjoy all of the springtime fun that comes with the secular aspects of the holiday, It is also very important to me that I help my kids focus on the true meaning of Easter--the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Here are a few things we have done to try to focus on Christ at Easter time. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so a couple of these activities reflect my particular beliefs, but most of these activities would be appropriate for any Christian, regardless of your denomination.

(Above is a picture of my son by a beautiful statue of the resurrected Christ at the Los Angeles Temple Visitors' Center)

10 Ways to Celebrate Easter with a Focus on Christ

1. Use "Resurrection Eggs" to tell the true story of Easter. It's easy to fill plastic eggs with symbols and scriptures that tell the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These are the eggs I made, though this countdown to Easter is another nice variation.

2. Count the days down until Easter with nightly devotionals about Jesus. Last year we used this 30-day countdown to Easter from Chocolate on my Cranium. This uses the document The Living Christ--a testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ as written by leaders in my church--as a jumping off point for nightly devotionals about Jesus leading up to Easter.

3. Watch a short video about the true story of Easter such as the following:

4. Tell the Easter story. I sometimes use paintings or other images to help re-tell the story in my own words. My kids also enjoy some picture book versions of the Easter story. One book that we like is The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale by Angela Elwell Hunt and Tim Jonke. It tells how three trees imagine the great things that they want to do. None of their dreams happen as they plan, but instead they find even greater joy because they all play a part in the life of Jesus Christ. One tree ends up being the manger, another is a fishing boat, and the third is the cross. This is a gentle way to talk about the Easter story to children through the story of the trees.

5. Along those same lines, during the week before Easter read with your family directly from the scriptures each day about the events that happened in the last week of the Savior's life:

• Friday or Saturday: The anointing described by John (John 12:1–11)
• Palm Sunday: Triumphal Entry; cleansing of the temple (Matthew 21:1–17; Mark: 11:1–11; Luke 19:28–46; John 12:12–19)
• Monday: Cursing of the fig tree; cleansing of the temple in Mark; teaching in the temple (Matthew 21:18–22:14; Mark 11:12–19; Luke 19:47–20:18; John 12:20–36)
• Tuesday: Lessons from the fig tree; the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 22:15–25:46; Mark 11:20–13:37; Luke 20:19–21:38; John 12:37–50)
• Wednesday: Plot to kill Jesus; the anointing described by Mark and Matthew; Judas agrees to betray Jesus (Matthew 26:1–16; Mark 14:1–11; Luke 22:1–6)
• Thursday: The Last Supper; Gethsemane; betrayal and arrest; Jesus before the Jewish authorities (Matthew 26:17–26:75; Mark 14:12–72; Luke 22:7–71; John 13:1–18:27)
• Good Friday: Jesus in the hands of the Romans; the Crucifixion; the burial (Matthew 27:1–61; Mark 15:1–47; Luke 23:1–56; John 18:28–19:42)
• Saturday: Jesus in the Spirit World (Matthew 27:62–66; 3 Nephi 9–10; 1 Peter 3:18–4:6; D&C 138)
• Easter Sunday: The Resurrection (Matthew 28:1–15; Mark 16:1–14; Luke 24:1–49; John 20:1–23

(This list comes from my New Testament professor from college, who wrote a great article here about preparing for Easter).

6. Count Down to Easter by using some of these 8 Days of Easter Advent Activities such making blocks to tell the Easter story, doing a small active service, and doing crafts to remind us of Jesus's love for us and our love for him.

7. Make "Resurrection Rolls". These have marshmallows inside them that melt while the rolls cook, leaving an empty center--just like an empty tomb.

8. The Easter lily is a beautiful symbol of purity. I love these handprint lilies from the Iowa Farmer's Wife. We made some like this last year, and they made a perfect little centerpiece for our little family's Easter dinner.

9. Sing or listen to music about Christ. I love this song sung by a children's choir that includes my beautiful nieces:

10. If you are like me, and you still love filling those Easter baskets but you don't want to be caught up with that on Easter Sunday, consider doing the "Easter Bunny" activities on Saturday rather than Sunday. That way you can have all the fun of a basket and egg hunt, and enjoy new toys and treats on Saturday. Then you can reserve Sunday as a special day for attending church, praying, fasting, and focusing on the true meaning of Easter without all of the other distractions.

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