My three year-old absolutely loved this activity! You know it’s a hit when they immediately ask to do it again! In fact, his older siblings wanted in on it too. But, can you blame them? I mean, what could be more fun than combining an Easter egg hunt with sensory play? If you are a mom or a preschool teacher who is looking for Easter sensory activities other than an Easter sensory bin, I have some fun Easter sensory play ideas for you!
These Easter sensory activities do not take a lot of time to prepare and only require a handful of different materials that you probably already have around your home. So they are low-prep, low-stress, and they give your children a novel and fun activity to keep things interesting! Young kids will love these Easter themed sensory activities. They are the perfect way to change up your routine with your busy toddler or preschooler this Easter season!
Why Do an Easter Sensory Activity?
The benefits of sensory play are numerous. Sensory exploration is like nourishment for the brain. It helps young children develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and build language and vocabulary. In short – sensory activities help children develop healthy bodies and healthy brains!
Sensory experiences are part of every day life, but if our children aren’t spending a lot of time in the wild outdoors, they might not be getting as much variety as they could. We can add more variety to our child’s sensory diet by creating interesting sensory experiences. Easter sensory activities are a fun way to switch things up a bit and introduce some new elements. Children love novelty – it keeps them interested and engaged. So grab some plastic Easter eggs and let’s get started with a sensory Easter egg hunt!
How to do A Sensory Easter Egg Hunt
This Easter sensory activity is pretty simple to prepare and execute – and so much fun!
Materials You will need:
- Plastic eggs
- Various sensory materials – below is a great list of suggestions, but you can use whatever you would like! Just look for items with different textures, bright colors, and items that make interesting sounds. For this Easter sensory activity, you want to find items that will fit in plastic Easter eggs. You’ll want to make sure that some of the items are things that will make an interesting sound when you shake the plastic eggs. Here are some possibilities to get you started:
- Pom poms
- Scraps of tissue paper
- Dry beans
- Grains of uncooked rice
- Shaving cream
- A little bit of cornstarch
- Jingle bells
- A piece of loofah
- A piece of natural sponge
- Sand
- A feather
- Slime
- Silly putty
- Play doh
- A piece of sandpaper
- A wood chip
- Tree bark
- A rock
- Hydrated water beads
- A piece of foam
- A packing peanut
- A cotton ball
- A piece of wool
- Fuzzy fabric
- A piece of felt
- A piece of burlap
- A piece of soft fleece
- A piece of silk or other smooth and slippery fabric
- Shredded paper
- A pipe cleaner
- Easter grass
Instructions for the Sensory Easter Egg Hunt Easter Sensory Activity
- Put one of the sensory items in each of the plastic eggs.
- Show your child or children the plastic eggs and tell them you are going to hide the eggs and they are going to find them.
- Hide the eggs around your house or in the yard. You will want to make sure the eggs are “hidden” in plain sight so that little ones will be able to find them.
- Let your child hunt for the sensory eggs and gather them up. For extra fun you can let them gather the eggs into an Easter basket!
- When all the eggs have been gathered, it’s time to explore the sensory materials!
- The following are some suggestions on how to do this – you do not need to do all of these steps. Do the ones that you think your child will enjoy. Cater to your child’s interest and attention span.
- Before your child opens an egg, have her shake it. Listen to the sound it makes. How does it sound? Does it sound like something soft or hard? Something small or big? Ask her if she can guess what is inside.
- Allow your child to open the egg. You might want to put the plastic eggs in an egg carton first to avoid spilling the contents of the eggs. If you have sand, cornstarch, or other messy sensory items this is especially important.
- When your child opens the eggs, have him touch what is inside.
- I had my kids close their eyes while I put the item in their hand so they could guess what it was.
- Talk about the item.
- What color is it?
- What shape is it?
- How does it feel?
- Is it soft or hard?
- Is it bumpy or rough or smooth?
- Allow your child to hold the items in his hands. Let him rub the sand and the cornstarch between his fingers. Let him squish the play doh and the slime. Let your child be the guide. Don’t rush him. Follow his lead. Let his little hands explore and enjoy the sensory experience as long as he wants. He will let you know when he is ready to move on!
Note: I think this goes without saying, but adult supervision is required for this activity. At least if you are using items that should not go in your child’s mouth or are a choking hazard, such as dry beans, jingle bells, water beads, slime, etc.. If you want your child to do this activity a little more independently while you supervise from a distance (and try to get something done!), I think that could work – just be 100% sure that nothing you put in the eggs is hazardous to your child in any way.
Now for an even more fun Easter sensory activity – an EDIBLE sensory Easter egg hunt!
How to do an Edible Sensory Easter Egg Hunt
This Easter activity is much like the one above, except everything in this sensory Easter activity is edible! An edible sensory activity is great way to engage the sense of taste and smell, so kids get to experience all five senses! I think it’s the best way to do a sensory Easter egg hunt, especially with toddlers, because you know little kids want to put everything in their mouth anyway! Below are some ideas for items to put in your Easter eggs for an awesome edible sensory Easter egg hunt.
Note: before you do this Easter sensory activity, be sure to WASH THE PLASTIC EASTER EGGS!!! They can have factory residue on them, including lead. Yikes! I always wash any plastic eggs that will touch food, and there is sometimes a black residue that comes off of them, which is … concerning. So wash the eggs!
Sensory Materials for Edible Sensory Easter Eggs
You can put anything edible in your sensory Easter eggs – the sky is the limit! Look for food items that have particularly pronounced or interesting textures. Here is a list of ideas to get you started:
- Hard boiled eggs (you probably want to slice or dice them so they fit in the plastic eggs)
- Kiwi – you will probably have to cut it to fit in the plastic eggs, but be sure to keep the skin on! That is one of the most interesting parts of the kiwi!
- Avocado – a piece with the skin
- Jello – jigglers or just regular, either way!
- Pudding
- Whipped cream
- Jam
- Orange – you’ll have to cut this too, but be sure to keep the peel on! It’s so fun to touch!
- Grapes
- Walnut with the shell on
- Almond with the shell on
- Raisins
- Dates
- Cooked spaghetti
- Blackberries
- Peanut with the shell on – be careful with this one with toddlers – peanuts are kind of chokey
- Pretzels
- Marshmallows
- Salt
- Sugar
- Seaweed
- Fruit leather
- Yogurt melts
- Yogurt covered raisins
- Jelly beans
- Valentine conversation hearts
Instructions for the Edible Easter Egg Hunt
You will do this Easter sensory activity just like the sensory Easter egg hunt above, except this time the kiddos can eat the contents of the eggs! Here is how this might look:
- Fill the edible sensory Easter eggs
- Hide them for your child
- Let your child gather up the eggs
- Now it’s time to explore what is inside! This Easter sensory activity has potential to get pretty messy, depending on what you put in the eggs. You might want to do this part of the activity at a table covered with a washable or disposable tablecloth and have the kids wear smocks.
- Shake the eggs to listen to the sounds that the contents make
- Talk about the sound
- Ask your child to guess what is inside
- Open the eggs
- Smell, touch, squish, and feel the sensory items. If you want to, you can do this part of the activity with eyes closed so the children can really focus on what they are experiencing through their senses. That also allows they to try guessing what the sensory materials are.
- Ask your child to guess what the item is, then open their eyes.
- Talk about the texture and color of each item
- Talk about the smell
- Give it a taste! Talk about sweet, sour, salty, etc..
That’s it! I hope you and your child enjoyed these Easter sensory activities!
Thank you for visiting! Please come visit again soon!
You might also enjoy this blog post for more hands-on play that you can do with sensory Easter eggs!
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