12 Creative Easter craft ideas to use in your classroom
In this guide
- The benefits of incorporating crafts into learning
- Simple, paper-based Easter crafts for younger students
- Fun and engaging egg decorating activities
- Easter themed classroom decorations made by students
- Using recycled materials for eco-friendly Easter crafts
Easter is a great time of year to spark creativity and joy in your students. In many parts of the world, the weather is starting to warm up, the plants and flowers are coming to life, and we also feel as if we are waking from our winter slumber ready to make and do new things!
If you work in a Christian school, as I have for many years, Easter is also a very important time in the church calendar, arguably the most important celebration for Christian people! For many students, taking part in Easter themed lessons and activities is an important part of their religious traditions, reinforcing their beliefs and reminding them of their faith.
The benefits of incorporating crafts into learning
As well as being fun, craft activities are a great opportunity to support the development of key skills in young learners; and for older learners, taking time out of a busy school schedule to get creative can be relaxing, and great for calming the mind.
If you need any more convincing, here are some of the benefits I have seen my students reap whilst taking part in craft activities:
Enhances creativity
Crafting offers students the opportunity to ‘think outside the box’. It allows students the opportunity to express themselves in a way that has a tangible outcome.
There has been a lot of focus recently in the world of education about the Four C’s of 21st Century Learning, and creativity is one of them!
Fine motor skills
Many craft activities require students to cut, glue, stick and draw, all skills that are incredibly important if they are to be able to access the full curriculum later on!
In my experience, asking students to merely practise these skills is not met well, but by engaging them in fun craft activities they are honing these skills without even realising!
Supporting cognitive development
Crafting often requires students to plan, make decisions and think critically. Taking part in these sorts of activities can support cognitive development which is going to be beneficial overall for a student’s academic achievements.
Promotes teamwork
Most craft activities can be undertaken in pairs or in small groups. So if your students need to work on their collaboration skills, setting them a task of creating something together is a great way to work on this all important soft skill.
Provides a break from routine
Taking part in craft activities can be a welcome break in the busy school schedules.
Making time to slow down and take part in something fun and relaxing is a great way to promote relaxation and reduce stress.
I also love sending these lessons taking time to just chat with my students! You can often learn so much about them through organic chats over a craft!
Simple, paper-based Easter crafts for younger students
In my experience with younger learners, you want to keep the craft really simple, low on resources, but with a cute outcome! Paper-based crafts are an easy and cheap way to go!
1) Easter egg collages
A collage craft is something I always incorporate at least a few times a year, as it is so easy to prepare for, and the outcomes are unique to each child! They get to express themselves artistically with collage; there really is no wrong way to do it!
Each student will need an outline of an egg. It is up to you whether you leave this blank, or perhaps the egg could have a pattern for the students to utilise. (This may also work well if you have been learning about repeated patterns in maths!)
As well as the outline of the egg, students will need collage materials, cut up tissue paper, sequins, glitter, felt, pompoms, whatever you have available to you! Some teachers prefer to limit resources to try and keep things ‘neater’ but I love to give students full creative ownership!
Students then simply need to glue their chosen collage materials onto their egg.
You may decide to encourage them to stick to a pattern or a certain colour palette, that is up to you!
Finished eggs will make a great Easter display in your classroom, or students can take the home to stick in their window to decorate their homes.
2) Bunny ear headbands
Is there anything cuter than seeing a whole class of students hop around wearing bunny ears?! I don’t think so!
Once you have made these bunny ears why not create a bunny dance, and incorporate some PE into your day!
To make the ears, each student will need a strip of card that has been measured to fit around the top of their head like a headband. When you staple this, it’s a good idea to do so so that the end if the staples are facing outwards so as not to scratch their heads!
Then, give students an outline of some bunny ears to decorate. They could colour them in, or maybe even use cotton wool to stick onto them to make them fluffy! Then, simply cut out the ears and attach them to the headbands.
Let the cuteness commence!
3) Rainbow cross artwork
If any of your students are Christian, or indeed if you have been learning about Christianity in RE, Easter is the perfect time to get craft involving the Cross.
For this activity, each student will need a large piece of paper, and a cross, cut out from cardstock. The students should place the cross in the middle of their paper, perhaps using a tiny dab of glue to hold it down (they will need to remove the cross later so be careful here!)
Then, using wax crayons, students should start from the centre of the cross and draw lines outwards, kind of like rays of the sun. If you can encourage the students to stick to three complementary colours, it has a really great final effect! Continue drawing the rays all around the cross, spreading out right to the edges of your paper. Use all three colours, and then you can go around the cross again to fill any gaps.
Once your students are happy with their ‘ray’ designs, take the cross off!
If it has stayed in place, you should be left with an outline of a cross surrounded by rays.
Fun and engaging egg decorating activities
4) Painted eggs
For this craft, I have found it best to hard boil the eggs, as they are a bit more sturdy than if you try to remove the yolk and white from the inside!
The idea is for the students to paint an egg! They could paint it in a pattern or perhaps paint a tiny springtime scene on the egg.
For older students, you could set the challenge of painting the egg to look like a person!
In the past, I have held egg painting competitions, with varying themes such as famous people, bible characters, or even animals! Students love an element of competition for a task, you could even widen this competition out to your whole school and award prizes for each age group!
5) Egg dying
Egg dying is so much fun, and the results can be really beautiful!
To dye the eggs, you will need to add some boiling water to a bowl or glass, then add two teaspoons of vinegar. Then add 10-12 drops of food coloring, depending on your desired shade.
Then simply lower the eggs in the mixture, and leave them until they have turned the color you were hoping for! The eggs can then be used to create a window display, or, you could even use them for an Easter Egg hunt!
6) Chocolate egg icing competition
For something a little different, that your students are sure to love, why not have a chocolate egg decorating competition! Students could work independently, or in pairs.
Give each pair a chocolate egg, and some writing icing in tubes. You could also use sprinkles, edible glitter, or anything else that springs to mind!
You could set a theme for the competition, or allow your students the freedom to create what they feel! Either way, they are sure to have so much fun, especially with the anticipation of eating their egg at the end!
I have not tried this activity before, but I think I’m definitely going to give it a go this year!
Easter themed classroom decorations made by students
7) Flower garlands
This is a fantastic collaborative activity, as the whole class needs to work together to achieve it!
To make the garland, every student needs to get to work making flowers out of paper, then attach them together to create a garland! It can be really effective to stick to a pastel color palette here, or if you prefer bright and beautiful go ahead!
In order for the flowers to attach, each one needs to be made with a leaf either side that curls around. These can then be hooked together, creating a garland that could eventually adorn your classroom from one side to the next!
8) Stained glass windows
This is a great activity that can work with students of any age. In fact, I have just completed these with 5-7 year olds in an RE lesson!
In advance, you will need to print out the image that you would like represented in the stained glass windows. I went with an image of Jesus ascending to heaven, but you could do a cross, or perhaps a spring-time scene! The image should be simple, a bit like a page from a colouring book.
Place the image inside a laminating sheet. The students should then trace the lines of the image using a permanent marker. They can then remove the image from the inside, they won’t need this anymore.
Using small pieces of tissue paper, students then need to decorate the inside of the laminating sheet. Be careful to not use too much glue, and although they should aim to cover the whole area, too much overlapping might cause a jam in the laminator later!
When they are finished and the glue is dry, run the sheets through the laminator!
The finished craft should be quite effective, especially when the sun shines through the window!
9) Watercolour spring animals
Easter time is also the time that new life is springing forth from the earth. Why not celebrate that with some watercolour painting!
- If your students are older, or more capable artistically, instead of drawing their chosen springtime animals perhaps they could paint?
- If you are working with younger students, you can print some outlines of spring time animals ahead of time.
If possible, head outside to complete this painting! There is nothing more relaxing than getting creative and listening to the birds as you paint away!
I have also found in my experience that a student’s capacity to concentrate for extended periods of time increases the more time that you spend outside! So why not take an afternoon outside to relax and paint.
When you have a whole springtime menagerie painted and dried, why not cut them out and create a springtime animal scene on your classroom door! Students will love seeing their work displayed and it will make you smile every time you head in and out of your classroom!
Using recycled materials for eco-friendly Easter crafts
10) Egg carton Easter flower wreath
This craft activity is so effective and so cute, you’ll want to keep it up way past Easter!
Even better, it is made from egg cartons! Encourage your student to save their egg cartons for a couple of weeks before you plan to create this wreath.
To make the wreath, you will first need to cut the ‘cup’ part out of your egg cartons. Each one of these will become a flower. Depending on the size of your wreath, you will need around 30 ‘flowers’ per wreath. After you cut them away from the box, try to shape the edges to make them the ‘petals’ of a flower.
Then, using any other colours you choose, paint each flower! It can be effective to stick to just a few colours per wreath, but again, creative license can be left to your students if you prefer! Finish the painting off by painting a yellow or orange dot on the inside of the cup.
The easiest way to make the wreath would be to have a hoop cut out of recycled cardboard, ready painted in your chosen colour. Now the egg carton flowers simply need to be glued on! (Try to pack them tightly together.)
Finally, attach a loop of ribbon to the top of your wreath, and you can then hang it on your door or your classroom wall! Tell me you don’t want to take this home?!
11) Cardboard tube bunnies
What primary school teacher doesn’t hoard cardboard tubes?! If you don’t happen to have a box full in a cupboard, send out a message to your school community to collect them prior to this activity.
It’s simple to turn a cardboard tube into a bunny, or any animal for that matter!
Simply paint the tube your chosen colour, perhaps adding polka dots or stripes for an extra springtime feel. Then, add googly eyes, (or eyes made from recycled cardboard if you’re avoiding plastic) and pipe cleaner whiskers!
For the final touch, cut out some cute bunny ears from a spare tube or some recycled card. Stick them to your bunny, and then use a marker pen to draw a smile with trademark bunny teeth!
12) Recycled newspaper paper-mache eggs
Paper-mache is a great craft that encourages students to have patience, as it takes quite a while! Ideally, you will space this craft out over a couple of days, to allow the eggs time to dry before you paint and glaze them.
Group your students into pairs, and give them each a balloon to blow up, quite small so that it is as egg-shaped as possible!
Mix a cup of all-purpose flour with 1 and a half cups of warm water and mix it together to make a paste. I have found it to be most successful for the students if this paste is then poured into a large tray that they can easily submerge their paper strips in.
Tear newspapers into strips, about 3-4cm wide. These strips then need to be dipped into the paste, and then spread out around the balloon. repeat this over and over, overlapping slightly, until the entire balloon has been covered in two to three layers.
Leave the eggs to dry completely, and then pierce through the paper and pop the balloons inside. Now the students are ready to paint! You could encourage block colours, or perhaps stripes or polka dots, or maybe even decorated with spring time animals if your students have great painting skills!
For the final touch, use a layer of PVA glue mixed with a little water to create a glaze. This ensures the paint doesn’t flake off, and gives the eggs a nice shine.
These fun Easter craft activities will offer your students the opportunity to have a lot of fun and express themselves creatively, whilst learning and practicing valuable skills. Whether you’re making simple paper crafts, decorating eggs, or creating eco-friendly projects, these activities are sure to bring joy to your classroom.
Remember that crafting is not just about the final product, but about the process of exploring, creating, and having fun! Enjoy the Easter season with your students and create lasting memories through these fun, festive craft activities!
Ruth Litchfield
Educator & Education Content Creator
Ruth is an experienced primary school educator of over a decade, and an Educational Content Creator. She specialises in creating fun and engaging activities that require minimal resources and cover multiple curriculum areas.
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