It is ‘Easter’ week for #april_play which I am co-hosting on Instagram. My son really enjoyed an activity we did in ‘April Showers’ week when we made “Fizzy Rainclouds” by mixing baking powder with grated blue chalk and then dropping vinegar onto it to watch the fizzing reaction. I therefore decided to try the experiment again with an Easter twist!!!

The equipment needed for this activity was:

• Activity space – tuff tray/activity mat.
• Old clothes/aprons.
• Coloured chalk.
• Cheese grater.
• Plastic bowls.
• Spoons.
• Baking powder.
• Plastic eggs you can open and fill.
• Egg box.
• Vinegar (I used white vinegar).
• Water sprayer.
• Other decorations – I put out some cardboard eggs.

Prior to starting the activity I grated up some of the large outdoor chalks and then mixed this with baking powder (roughly half & half). I put this ‘fizzy powder’ into plastic eggs of the corresponding colours. I had white eggs too so for these I just put in plain baking powder. I poured white vinegar into a water sprayer and put this and the eggs on our tuff tray and the activity was ready!

I asked my son what he thought was in the eggs? He replied “lets hatch them and see!” It was lovely to see the delight on his face when all the different colours came pouring out!! He decided to make little piles on the cardboard eggs I had put out and enjoyed mixing the colours up with his hands and the ‘egg shells’.

Once he had poured all the ‘fizzy powder’ out I gave him the water sprayer (one of his favourite things) and encouraged him to spray the powder to see what happened. Initially he did not spray enough on but once he got going and saw the fizzing you could see he remembered and got really into it!

Obviously once he’d saturated all the ‘fizzy powder’ there was a request for “more please mama”. Luckily I had prepared extra as I knew this would happen!! My son then spooned/poured more ‘fizzy powder’ onto the piles and he continued spraying.

He explored things with his hands and feet too and decided at the end he wanted to make a ‘waterfall’. This comprised of pouring all of the remaining vinegar out –  this caused much delight and ALOT of fizzing!!! Go to our Instagram account to see video of this!!!

After my son had finished he decided he wanted to help wash up and he enjoyed playing with all the plastic eggs in the sink for a bit whist I cleaned up the majority of the mess!! Don’t forget to check out #april_play and all of these fabulous accounts!!!

With Easter just around the corner we needed to be ready with an Easter basket for our Easter Egg hunt! We found a lovely card bunny Easter basket at our local pound store so we were excited to bring it to life with lots of nice colours!

Equipment;

For the painting bit;

– Plastic activity mat/old towel.
– Old clothes/aprons.
– Lots of different coloured paints (water-based, non-toxic).
– Card Easter Basket.
– Mark-making tools – we used paint brushes, cotton-wool balls, Pom-Poms, Toilet rolls & paint rollers.
– Pots/paper plates for the paints.
– Wipes.

For the Decoration bit;

– Permanent marker pen.
– Googley eyes.
– Double sided sticky tape.
– ‘Easter Grass’

Step 1: Preparation.

I set this activity out on the floor to give us more space. I put the paints, mark-making tools and basket on the activity mat and had lots of wipes on stand by! I also got all of my bath things ready as I felt this one could be messy!

Step 2: Mark-making, messy time!

First I let my son squeeze out all of the paints into the pots/onto the paper plates. He then chose which mark-making tools to use and I just let him get on with it.

He enjoyed the freedom of being able to use whatever he liked, he also ‘ordered’ me to do some painting too, so I had to oblige! He liked layering the paints and then stamping with the toilet roll on top.

Step 3: More Eggs-perimentation!

My son really liked the stamping with the toilet rolls, which I had tried to mould into an egg shape. So after we had covered the Easter basket in paint he used this on some extra sheets of card to make some more picture. He also used his favourite mark-making tool at this point……his hands!

Step 4: Tidy, tidy, tidy up!

This activity did get quite messy especially as he wanted me to join in so I was also covered in paint! We wiped down our hands, shut the kitchen door and went and had a bath. I then came down and tidied the paint brushes and put the pictures and basket to dry.

Step 5: Decorating the bunny basket.

I used a permanent marker pen to give our bunny a face and ears. I then used double sided sticky tape on the googley eyes so my son could stick them on. We filled the basket with easter grass so we were then ready to collect eggs on Sunday!

We hope you all have a very Happy Easter and don’t forget to share any of your MAMA creations on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!!

With Easter rapidly approaching we decided to get into all things Easter Eggs and Bunnies – in a messy way of course! We were lucky enough to be sent some lovely Easter-themed art supplies by Granny and we were eager to try them out!

Equipment;

For the Painting bit;

– Activity mat/old towel.
– Old clothes/aprons.
– Different coloured paints (water-based, non toxic).
– Pre-made 3D card Easter eggs.
– Shoe box.
– Sticky tape.
– Pots to use as egg cups/stands (I had an old kiwi fruit holder which was perfect).
– Paint brushes.
– Sheets of card.
– Bunny shaped card/decorations.
– Wipes.

For the decoration bit;

– PVA glue.
– Pot for glue.
– Brush.
– Felt tip pens/permanent markers.
– Easter themed stickers.
– Googley eyes (I used double sided sticky tape on the back so it was easier for my son to then stick on).

For Displaying;

– Easter Basket.
– Easter grass/shredded paper.
– Easter chicks.

Step 1: Preparation.

I set this activity up on the floor as I felt it gave more room for the squeezing of paint and experimenting afterwards but you could do it at the table if you prefer. Put the activity mat and towels on the floor, set out your paints, shoe box, 3D card Easter eggs and sticky tape.

Step 2: Squeezing & Shaking!

Firstly my son chose different coloured paints and squeezed them into the shoe box one at a time. He then dropped one of the 3D card Easter eggs into the box and rolled it around a bit.

We then taped the lid on and he shook the shoe box in all directions! We had a bit of music on in the background so it turned into a bit of a dance party! We then opened the box to find a painted egg – now the first time we did this I think we may have shaken the box a bit too much as it had turned into more of an overall brown colour rather than vibrant marbled colours. So for our second attempt we didn’t shake as long and the colours looked more marbled and vibrant! (We wiped down the box in between attempts).

With our third egg my son wanted to squeeze paint straight onto it rather than shaking again. This was nice and messy. He then created some lovely patterns by using a paint brush to mix the layers in a bit! We also decided to liven up our first brownish ‘shaken egg’ by squeezing some more paint onto it as well -this worked really nicely and as it gave it a brighter appearance. So the lesson learnt form this activity was if in doubt add more paint!!

Step 3: Experimenting time!

In our parcel of supplies from Granny we had some little card rabbit cut outs and we’d also bought a little wooden rabbit decoration. As there was lots of nice marbled paint left in the shoe box we did some printing onto the card rabbits and painting onto the wooden decoration. My son also enjoyed mixing all the left over paint into a big painty mess!

Step 4: Tidy, tidy, tidy up!

We put out painted eggs onto little pots/cardboard trays and the card rabbits onto pieces of coloured card to dry. I hung the wooden decoration up as it was painted on both sides!

All reusable items were then out into soak, excess paint wiped up and then it was bath time! I cleaned everything properly later on.

With regards to the eggs once dried at one end I turned them over so the other side could dry too and not stick to the pots.

Step 5: Decoration time.

With the ‘shaken’ and painted Easter eggs I put on a layer of PVA glue to the top half, then let this dry, turned it over and did the bottom half. This gave them a shiny appearance. I then displayed them with some ‘Easter grass’ and baby chicks in a basket as our easter table centre piece.

With the card rabbits we used felt tip pens/permanent markers, googley eyes and Easter themed stickers to produce a lovely Easter picture to display as well as Easter cards to send to family.

We also decorated our wooden decoration with google eyes and wrote “SOME BUNNY LOVES YOU” onto his tummy. He has then been displayed proudly in the living room!

We hope you all have a very Happy Easter and enjoy getting messy and making memories!!!Please share any MAMA activities you get up to and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!!