Easter crafts and activities for kids

If you’re looking for ways to entertain the kids this Easter, these easy-to-follow crafts and activities, devised by experts, are perfect. Get creative at the kitchen table for hours of screen-free fun. 

Prefer to get out of the house? Visit a John Lewis store where we’re running a Play-Doh treasure hunt every day from 25 March until 14 April. Simply come in and we’ll kit you out with clues and activity sheets before rewarding anyone who takes part with a Play-Doh treat.

‘You can make your own Easter headpiece using materials found around the house and in the recycling bin, including foil wrappers, cardboard, cereal boxes and magazines,’ says Millie Butler-Hiorns, manager and tutor at The Fashion School, which runs creative workshops for kids and teens. Then all you need is glue and scissors to complete Millie’s design.

1. Find a hat that you would like to add your ears onto (a stiff hat is best). 

2. Find a length of ribbon or make a narrow strip out of card (about half an inch to 1 inch wide).

3. Fold that in half and place at the front, then tie it around your hat. Mark the spot on the ribbon or paper band where you want your ears to be, then put the band to one side.

4. Draw two ear shapes on a piece of cardboard and cut them out. 

5. Decorate the ears with magazine scraps. Find colours and textures you like and collage them on to the cardboard. Consider collaging the front and back. Tidy up the edges with scissors. 

6. Now glue the ears into place on the spots on the band that you marked earlier and attach the band to the hat.

Easter egg hunts are a joy for children of all ages and are super simple to set up – all you need is a basket and a bag of chocs. Hide your treats while the kids are asleep and to make it a little harder for older children, create a proper treasure hunt with clues.

We have a downloadable Easter egg colouring sheet and cut-out Easter eggs that you can print out at home – perfect for egg hunts. ‘A fun idea for an Easter egg hunt at home could be a bigger treasure hunt,’ says Molly Baker, Partner & Assistant Buyer, Toys.

‘Children could spend time the week before making an Easter basket to collect their treasure in, an Easter hat [see above] or a cape to wear to complete the mission. For younger children, try a teddy bears’ picnic where the children can make invitations, party decorations and costumes for their toys.’

Expert crafter Ruth Oliver from The Make Arcade on how to make pompoms with just a fork and yarn. 

You will need Yarn, fork, scissors, card (a cereal box is ideal), glue, paints/colouring pencils. 

1. Take the fork and wrap the yarn around the outside of the prongs. Make sure you leave a gap at the top and bottom of the prongs. Go round about 15-20 times. 

2. Cut a length of yarn and thread it through the middle gap of the fork prongs at the top and bottom of the wrapped yarn and tie it tightly around the middle of the wrapped yarn.

3. Slide the wrapped yarn off the fork and snip through the loops to create a pompom.

4. Draw a bunny shape on the card and cut it out. Colour in or paint to decorate and glue on the pompom for the tail.

5. Make a few bunnies, punch some holes around their neck area and thread onto the yarn to make a garland.

Kids will love making these biscuits – they’re a fun alternative to decorating chocolate eggs. 

CHICK BISCUITS

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 9-10 minutes
Makes: 24

Ingredients
250g plain flour
½ tsp Cook’s Homebaking Bicarbonate Of Soda
2 tsp ground ginger
100g Stork vegetable spread
1 Waitrose British Blacktail Medium Free Range Egg
2 tbsp golden syrup
300g icing sugar
Gel food colouring 

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Line two large baking trays with parchment.

2. Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger in a large bowl. Add the Stork and rub in with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Mix the egg and syrup, pour this into the flour and mix to a soft dough. Place on to a floured surface and roll out to 0.5cm thick. Using a 6cm round cutter, cut out 24 biscuits and place on the lined trays, leaving space between them. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

4. Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl and add 2-3 tbsp water until you get a smooth mixture that is thick but just pourable. Add the gel food colouring and decorate however you fancy. 

With sustainability at the forefront, independent label Wool And The Gang has helped bring knitting and crochet back in fashion and now’s the time to get the kids involved. Doing knitting and crochet will encourage them to slow down and focus, in turn reducing stress and improving dexterity. 

The Wool And The Gang team have given us a free Ruby the Rabbit crochet pattern for you to make. It’ll take about four hours and is probably best suited to those with some previous crochet experience.

You will need
Ball of Shiny Happy Cotton yarn
Ruby the Rabbit pattern
4.5mm crochet hook
Sewing needle

Time to make
4 hours

1 ball of yarn makes two rabbits

Completed this kit will help you to master Magic loop, chain stitch, single crochet increasing, single crochet decrease, slip stitch and whip stitch.