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12 Easter Holiday Activities for Kids at Home
12 Easter holiday activities for kids aged 3 to 8, sorted by who's at home that day, plus an egg hunt where every clue is a number to find and do.
Only the long weekend of the Easter holidays has everyone at home. For the rest of the fortnight, the Easter holiday activities for kids that work are the ones that fit who's in charge that day. Here are twelve for ages 3 to 8, in three groups: the long weekend, a day with a grandparent, and a working day when they need to get on without you. Most cost nothing.
How do you match the ideas to who's at home?
The Easter holidays are the spring school break, often about two weeks, with dates set locally. In England and Wales, GOV.UK's school term dates finder gives your council's dates from your postcode.
Pick the group that matches the day, then any item in it. Most of these Easter break activities for kids work in a garden, a flat or a grandparent's front room. Each group has something that gets them moving, because school PE and playtime stop. The NHS says three- and four-year-olds should be active for at least 180 minutes a day, and the NHS guidance for 5 to 18 year-olds is an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity a day across the week.
What can the family do over the Easter weekend?
The long weekend is the one stretch when most of the family is home together. Easter Sunday moves each year, so check the date. GOV.UK's bank holidays page lists Good Friday across the UK and Easter Monday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not in Scotland.
1. Decorate hard-boiled eggs
A grown-up boils the eggs and lets them cool. Then it's felt tips, a drop of food colouring in water, or stickers. Say: "Give yours a face." At 3, they colour while you hold the egg steady. Keep the best ones for rolling. Age 3 and up.
2. The number hunt
This one is ours. Hide five cards round the house, each showing a pose number and a picture of the next hiding place. Your child finds a card, does that pose for five breaths on a mat with 15 numbered poses, then runs to the place in the picture. Set-up below. Age 3 and up.
3. Roll the eggs down a slope
Take the decorated eggs to a garden bank or a park hill. Say: "Ready, steady, roll." Furthest roll wins, or the one that stays in one piece. At 7 and 8, they can measure the distance in strides and keep the scores. Age 3 and up.
4. French cricket after tea
The clocks go forward on the last Sunday in March, so by the Easter holidays there's usually more daylight in the evening. One person bats with their feet still; everyone else bowls at their legs with a soft ball. Any bat or racket works. At 3, they bowl. Age 3 and up.
What can kids do on a day with a grandparent?
If you're the grandparent minding them on a Wednesday, these four are for you. Each one has a job your grandchild can do and a job you can do sitting down.
5. A cereal-box Easter bonnet, then a parade
Cut a band from a cereal box, staple it into a ring, and decorate it with whatever's in the drawer: paper flowers, ribbon, cotton wool chicks. Then a parade round the garden or the hall, with music. At 3, they stick and you cut. Age 3 and up.
6. Chocolate cornflake nests
The grown-up melts the chocolate. Your grandchild stirs in the cornflakes, spoons the mix into paper cases and adds a few small eggs on top. No oven needed. A three-year-old can do all of it except the melting. Leave them to set in the fridge. Age 3 and up.
7. Egg-and-spoon heats
A potato on a spoon at 3, a hard-boiled egg at 5, and a slalom round a row of shoes at 7 and 8. Say: "No thumbs on the egg." The grandparent starts each heat and judges the finish, from a chair if they like. Age 3 and up.
8. "What was Easter like when you were small?"
The grandparent tells it, with old photos if there are any: what they ate, what they wore, what they got. Your grandchild draws one thing from the story to keep. It's the quiet one of the four. Age 3 and up.
What can kids do while you work?
Some Easter holiday days you're at a desk or on a call, and they need to get on alone. These four take five minutes to set up and then run without you. If the afternoon ends with a film, that's fine too.
9. Paper aeroplane test flights
Fold three different designs, fly each one from the same line, and mark where it lands with a sock. Say: "Which one wins, and why?" At 5 and up they can do it alone. At 3 to 4, fold the planes with them before your call starts. Age 3 and up.
10. Egg maths
Tip out the chocolate eggs. A three-year-old sorts them by colour, a five-year-old counts them, and a seven- or eight-year-old shares them fairly between the family and works out what's left over. Then they all go back in the tin, uneaten, which is the hardest part. Age 3 and up.
11. Sock bunny puppets
Take an odd sock, draw eyes with a felt tip, and tie off two ears at the toe end with hair bands. Your child makes a whole family of them, then puts on a show for you at teatime. At 3 to 4, you tie and they draw. Age 3 and up.
12. The rematch hunt
Now the older child hides the eggs, or paper tokens, and draws new number clues for a younger sibling, using the cards from the weekend. Once they've seen it done, a seven- or eight-year-old can run it while you're on a call. Age 5 and up to hide; 3 and up to hunt.
How do you set up an Easter egg hunt with number clues?
Most Easter egg hunt ideas for kids need a reader. This one needs a number. Make five cards, one per hiding place. Each card shows a pose number and a picture of where the next card is. Your child finds a card, does the pose with that number for five breaths, then goes to the place in the picture. The last card's picture shows where the eggs are.
On the Sun Salutation mat, use 1 (mouse), 3 (cat), 13 (eagle), 14 (tree) and 15 (dancer). Eagle, tree and dancer are balances, so hold a three-year-old's hand for those. No mat? Draw the pose on the card instead. Find 3, make the cat, five breaths, off to the boots.
- At 3 to 4: picture clues only, hiding places at their height and in plain sight, with a grown-up walking round with them.
- At 5 to 6: a number and one written word, such as "sofa" or "boots".
- At 7 and 8: they write the clues for each other, or for a younger one (item 12).
If under-threes are joining in, keep small toys out of the eggs: the NHS says children aged 1 to 5 often put objects in their mouth. The eggs don't have to be chocolate either. Paper tokens they swap at the end work as well.
How do you plan Easter activities for kids at home across two weeks?
Two planned things a day is plenty; the rest is play. Two illustrative fortnights:
- A four-year-old: the weekend is eggs, the number hunt and egg rolling, with you. Grandparent days are the bonnet and nests, where they need a grown-up's hands. On working days, sock puppets and egg sorting, set up before your first call.
- A seven-year-old: the same weekend, then they run French cricket on a grandparent day, and on working days they do egg maths, aeroplanes and the rematch hunt for a younger cousin, mostly alone.
The same two-a-day shape works for the shorter breaks, with ideas in half term activities at home, and for the long one, in summer holiday activities for kids at home.
Make the last clue lead somewhere. If you're after an Easter present that isn't chocolate, make the final card's picture show where a mat is hidden, then use it properly for the rematch in week two. Minding them over the holidays? It's 800 g with a carry strap, so it travels to Grandma's, and it's full length, so there's room for you too. Two or more mats are 10 per cent off for siblings or cousins. Our children's yoga mats are £34.99 each, with free UK delivery and 30-day returns.
What if they won't follow a plan?
Then let them pick from the group for the day, rather than following the list. Some children won't be led by a plan, and a day doing nothing much in the middle of a fortnight is fine.
If it pours, our rainy day activities for kids are sorted by age, and there are screen-free activities for ages 3 to 8 for the rest of the year.
Frequently asked questions
When are the Easter holidays?
Schools set their own dates, so check locally: in England and Wales, GOV.UK's school term dates finder takes you to your council's dates from your postcode. Easter Sunday moves each year, and the holidays usually sit around it. Good Friday and Easter Monday, the bank holidays, are listed on GOV.UK's bank holidays page.
Is Easter Monday a bank holiday in Scotland?
No. GOV.UK lists Good Friday as a bank holiday in Scotland, but not Easter Monday. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, both Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays, so the bank holiday weekend is a day shorter in Scotland.
What Easter activities suit preschoolers?
Most Easter activities for preschoolers need a grown-up's hands for one step and a child's for the rest. Decorating eggs, cornflake nests, a cereal-box bonnet, egg-and-spoon with a potato and the number hunt with picture clues all work at 3 and 4, with you doing the boiling, melting and cutting.
What free Easter activities can you do at home?
Eight of the twelve need only what's already in the house: the number hunt, French cricket, the cereal-box bonnet, egg-and-spoon with a potato, the story swap with a grandparent, paper aeroplanes, sock puppets and the rematch hunt with paper tokens. The other four need eggs, chocolate or cornflakes.
