Spring is here and my niece is coming to visit.  I am really excited.  I love to hike. I love to be in nature.  Not all 2nd graders think it’s fun to walk five miles 🙂   In case the weather is bad, or I wear her out, I’ve found 5 Easter recipes and crafts we can do.

Photo credit: bengrey via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

We were sent the book The Artful Year by Jean Van’t Hul to review.  All of the Easter recipes and crafts shared below come from this book.  I am only listing the ideas and summaries of how to make them, as I don’t want to violate the copyright.  You should get the book!

5 Easter Recipes Ideas

 

• Bird’s Nest Cookies:  This recipe uses a basic cookie dough recipe.  Each ball of dough is dipped in an “egg wash” then rolled in coconut to form the nest for the eggs.  The eggs are store bought candy.  I would suggest using Sunspire Sundrops instead of those with artificial colorings.  Food dyes have been linked to many health problems in children.
• Herbal Vinegar:  This is one of the easiest Easter recipes.  All you do is loosely pack jars with herbs, fill with white balsamic vinegar, then cover with parchment paper and seal with a jar ring.  Let sit for one to two weeks.
• Greek Easter Bread:  This recipe looks amazing!   It is a braided bread. To make it, you heat up cinnamon, anise, orange peel, and bay leaf in 1/2 cup of water.  Steep and strain.  Next, heat just over a cup of milk and a stick of butter until melted. Stir in 4.5 teaspoons of yeast, 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and let sit for 30 minutes.  Add 3 beaten eggs, the water, 1 cup sugar, and a teaspoon of salt.  Add 6 more cups of flour and knead for 10 minutes. Let rise in an oiled, covered bowl for two hours.  Punch down and knead again.  Divide into six pieces, form ropes, then braid.  Brush with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Place hard-boiled, dyed eggs in the ends of the braids.  Back for 45 minutes at 350.  

 

• Spring Greens Salad: I love how Van’t Hul suggests involving children in salad preparation. It is true they will snack on the ingredients while they make the salad.   The freshness of spring salads welcomes the new season. Peas, arugula, carrots, radishes, spinach, etc. all start to become locally available in the spring. We have arugula in our greenhouse!  Yum!
• Crock-Pot Millet Porridge:  Every child knows the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears but few have experienced porridge.  Spring mornings can be cold (we have snow on the ground!), and there’s nothing better than a slow-cooked breakfast ready when you wake up.  Simply combine 1 cup of millet, 4 cups of water, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of butter in your slow cooker.  Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.  I can’t wait to make this!

5 Easter Egg Craft Ideas

• Melted-Crayon Easter Eggs:  I’ve tried using crayons with my own children when dyeing eggs, but it turns out I was doing it wrong.  It is best if the crayons are applied to a hot egg.  Remove the egg after hard boiling and place back into the egg carton for children to safely draw on. The crayons melt as you draw. Then dye the eggs.
• Holey Easter Eggs:  These decorated Easter eggs look so cool!   I remember boxes and boxes of these little stickers in our school supply room.  Using the circle stickers designed to reinforce holes in 3 holes punched paper, apply to hard boiled eggs.  Then dye.  Simple and so cool!

• Bleeding-Tissue Paper Eggs:  This is another simple, great idea from The Artful Year.  Simply tear pieces of colored tissue paper.  Coat a hard boiled egg with a mixture of white vinegar and water, then place the tissue paper pieces on the egg.  Paint more vinegar/water on top.  Let dry, then remove the paper.
• Stained Glass Easter Eggs:  Use a sharpie to draw pictures on hard boiled eggs.  Mix a small amount of white glue and tempera paint together.  Fill in the spaces around the sharpie with the glue mixture.
• Glitter Eggs:  Who doesn’t love glitter?  As a preschool teacher, we used glitter a lot.  It was always in my hair!  To decorate Easter eggs with glitter, simply paint a design on hard boiled eggs with white glue.  Then sprinkle with glitter.

We don’t eat our Easter eggs if their decoration involves toxic ingredients.  There are natural dye kits and recipes available.

The Artful Year contains over 175 family activities including:

  • Arts and crafts, using the materials, colors, and themes of the season
• Decorations to make as a family
• Favorite seasonal recipes that are fun for children to help make (and eat)
• Ideas for celebrating the holidays together
• Suggested reading lists of children’s picture books about the seasons and holidays

Not all of the ideas are eco-friendly, but they are inspiring and creative.  The book has a very easy and inspiring layout with lots of pictures.