All Things Easter: Activities and Healthy Treats

Easter is fast approaching for another year. We don't even have to look at the calendar to tell us though. All we need to do is look at the shelves in the supermarkets and shops, they are chocka block with blocks of chocolate! It can be such an overwhelming season, with sugar overload, the pressure of Easter egg hunts and 4 days at home with the strong potential of rain. So we have put together a list of our favourite healthy Easter treats, and some fun Easter activities for both indoors and outdoors.

Gift Giving

Easter has become a time to give gifts. Whether it is a treat from the Easter bunny, or a bunch of flowers for Mum, it doesn’t matter. It has become another occasion to celebrate with the ones we love. Some may argue that it is commercialism taking over, but the tradition of giving gifts at Easter is not a recent one.

For many, Easter is a holy time that deals with the large issues of life and death. Because it can be difficult to discuss these large issues with children in an age appropriate way, the focus tended to move to the more light-hearted aspects of new life. Eggs and chicks became symbols of this. The popularity of Easter egg hunts rose, as did gift giving as a whole.

Healthy Treats

You might not get any with avoiding chocolate eggs completely, but at least you can save them for Easter Sunday and focus on healthier treats for the rest of the weekend!

The fantastic this about these healthy treats is that you don’t even need to master fancy recipes. Just embrace the Easter theme and almost anything can become an Easter treat:

Carrot Sticks – The Easter bunny’s absolute favourite snack!

Hard-boiled or Devilled Eggs – Delicious nutritious snacks that replace the chocolate versions. You can even dress them up with cute bunny ears.

Fruit – Even fruit can be Easter-y if you cut it up and arrange it on the plate to look like a bunny or a patterned Easter egg.

Sandwiches – Instantly theme it for Easter by using a bunny shape.

Smorgasbord of Snacks – Arrange a selection of fruits, nuts, crackers and cheese into refillable Easter eggs, then line them up in an egg carton.

Pancakes – Use your favourite pancake recipe to whip up some bunny, egg or click shaped treats. Assemble multiple pancakes to form the different bunny parts, or use shaped cutters to punch the shapes out of cooked pancakes.

Fun Easter Activities

In New Zealand, Easter weekend is notorious for rain. So, be prepared with some indoor and outdoor activities. Aside from an Easter treat hunt in the garden, here are a couple of our other favourites.

If the weather decides to play nice you could try these ideas…

• Egg and Spoon races
• Kick the egg and spoon race up a notch by having an obstacle course to carry your egg and spoon across
• Egg Rolling – use hardboiled eggs to play an odd shaped game of bowls
• Have an Easter picnic with some of the healthy treats above
• Easter Egg Basket Toss: toss as many ‘eggs’ into the basket as you can

If the weather does not play nice then here are some indoor ideas

• Visit the library for some Easter themed books to read
• Decorate an ‘Easter Tree’ with home-made decorations, add to your collection each year
• Make table decorations for a special Easter meal, let the kids create placemats, table runners and a centerpiece for the table
• Bake Hot Cross Buns (here is a great recipe http://www.kidspot.co.nz/recipes-for+2151+20+Cakes-&-Baking+Hot-cross-buns.htm)

We hope you have a wonderful time with your families this Easter. Enjoy some treats and have some fun with Easter activities. We won’t tell if you scoff some chocolate!

Easter is fast approaching for another year. We don't even have to look at the calendar to tell us though. All we need to do is look at the shelves in the supermarkets and shops, they are chocka block with blocks of chocolate! It can be such an overwhelming season, with sugar overload, the pressure of Easter egg hunts and 4 days at home with the strong potential of rain. So we have put together a list of our favourite healthy Easter treats, and some fun Easter activities for both indoors and outdoors.

Gift Giving

Easter has become a time to give gifts. Whether it is a treat from the Easter bunny, or a bunch of flowers for Mum, it doesn’t matter. It has become another occasion to celebrate with the ones we love. Some may argue that it is commercialism taking over, but the tradition of giving gifts at Easter is not a recent one.

For many, Easter is a holy time that deals with the large issues of life and death. Because it can be difficult to discuss these large issues with children in an age appropriate way, the focus tended to move to the more light-hearted aspects of new life. Eggs and chicks became symbols of this. The popularity of Easter egg hunts rose, as did gift giving as a whole.

Healthy Treats

You might not get any with avoiding chocolate eggs completely, but at least you can save them for Easter Sunday and focus on healthier treats for the rest of the weekend!

The fantastic this about these healthy treats is that you don’t even need to master fancy recipes. Just embrace the Easter theme and almost anything can become an Easter treat:

Carrot Sticks – The Easter bunny’s absolute favourite snack!

Hard-boiled or Devilled Eggs – Delicious nutritious snacks that replace the chocolate versions. You can even dress them up with cute bunny ears.

Fruit – Even fruit can be Easter-y if you cut it up and arrange it on the plate to look like a bunny or a patterned Easter egg.

Sandwiches – Instantly theme it for Easter by using a bunny shape.

Smorgasbord of Snacks – Arrange a selection of fruits, nuts, crackers and cheese into refillable Easter eggs, then line them up in an egg carton.

Pancakes – Use your favourite pancake recipe to whip up some bunny, egg or click shaped treats. Assemble multiple pancakes to form the different bunny parts, or use shaped cutters to punch the shapes out of cooked pancakes.

Fun Easter Activities

In New Zealand, Easter weekend is notorious for rain. So, be prepared with some indoor and outdoor activities. Aside from an Easter treat hunt in the garden, here are a couple of our other favourites.

If the weather decides to play nice you could try these ideas…

• Egg and Spoon races
• Kick the egg and spoon race up a notch by having an obstacle course to carry your egg and spoon across
• Egg Rolling – use hardboiled eggs to play an odd shaped game of bowls
• Have an Easter picnic with some of the healthy treats above
• Easter Egg Basket Toss: toss as many ‘eggs’ into the basket as you can

If the weather does not play nice then here are some indoor ideas

• Visit the library for some Easter themed books to read
• Decorate an ‘Easter Tree’ with home-made decorations, add to your collection each year
• Make table decorations for a special Easter meal, let the kids create placemats, table runners and a centerpiece for the table
• Bake Hot Cross Buns (here is a great recipe)
• Make Easter Cards
• Play Bunny, Bunny, RABBIT! - If your kids have plenty of energy to burn, this is an Easter variation on duck, duck Goose game: Sit the kids down in a circle, and select one child to be “it”. The “it” child walks around the outside of the circle patting each player on the head and saying “bunny” until they want to say “RABBIT”. Both the “it” child and the RABBIT must hop around the circle trying to reach the vacant spot. Whoever doesn’t make it to the spot in time is then “it”.

We hope you have a wonderful time with your families this Easter. Enjoy some treats and have some fun with Easter activities. We won’t tell if you scoff some chocolate!