Ways to Use Plastic Easter Eggs in Learning Activities

With Easter upon us you might have an excess of plastic eggs in the classroom or at home. The good news is there are tons of different learning activities you can do with these simple plastic pieces. One year we made maracas with eggs and plastic forks, and also played with sound by filling them with random things and shaking them.

But there are lots of other options for learning activities using plastic eggs. Check out these ideas for math, reading, STEM, art and more! These egg-citing ideas might just send you to the store for more eggs.

Use eggs as stamps to make an art project (Buggy and Buddy). Or make egg-shaped bath bombs (Mom Foodie).

Do color matching with the plastic eggs and an egg container (Sunny Day Family).

Add glow sticks and noise makers to make glow in the dark shaker eggs (Happily Ever Mom).

Fill them with action prompts and have kids pick an egg (or hunt for eggs) and do the action (Playdough to Plato).

Make magnetic eggs to play with and learn about magnetism (Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls).

See how many open egg pieces you can stack into a tower (The Resourceful Mama).

Use these free printables to make an Easter egg hunt into a sight word learning activity (In My World). Or make a sigth word “scrambled egg” hunt (This Reading Mama).

Grab some tiny things that will fit in your eggs and practice one to one correspondence (Playground Parkbench, via NutureStore).

Use eggs and an egg tray to practice math facts, or write the question on one half of the egg and the answer on the other and match them up (Mrs. Wheeler First). Or play a math facts egg toss game (Fun Learning for Kids).

Match analog time to the numbers on different parts of the egg (Mom to 2 Posh Little Divas).

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Easter Themed Learning Activities

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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