Just in case you don’t know, it’s a long weekend this weekend – 4 whole days!
We are all spending much more time at home at the moment and may be starting to run out of things to keep ourselves and our family entertained.
We challenged the Charterhouse team to come up with ideas for fun activities to do with children this weekend. We’ve really gone back into our memories to think of the things that used to entertain us as children, before iPads and iPhones, and some new ideas too.
So here we go – this is the Charterhouse Must Have Top 10 List of things to do over the Easter weekend. Whilst the focus is on keeping children entertained, we have a sneaky suspicion that adults will enjoy these activities just as much too!
Send us your pictures – we’d love to see the results!
EASTER TREE
The only other time we all usually spend so much time at home is Christmas, so why not get the tree out again and this time decorate it in an Easter theme. Or create a new tree from something in the garden. You can make Easter decorations and even wrap up Easter eggs for under the tree. Country Living has some great examples – https://www.countryliving.com/diy-crafts/g26498744/easter-tree/
EGG DECORATING
This is a really fun thing to do, especially if you all have boiled eggs for breakfast the next day. You don’t even need to take the egg out of the shell (but this is best if you plan to use the eggs on a tree or have particularly heavy-handed children!) Why not design an egg for each member of the family? There really is no end to how creative you can get. Martha Stewart has put together a slideshow of the best ever egg decorating tips to help – https://www.marthastewart.com/275369/decorating-easter-eggs
CRESS HEADS
A great use for eggshells! Crack the egg at the top so that you end up with an empty shell and plant with cress seeds or even grass. Draw faces on the eggs and watch them grow hair over the next few days. Giving children something to take care of and grow is a great idea for lockdown and will give them a real feeling of responsibility. Here’s a great step by step to make sure your eggs ends up with hair. https://www.kidsdogardening.com/growing-cress-heads-with-children/
EASTER MASKS
Don’t throw away your empty boxes. You can use boxes to make masks – you could even hold an Easter Tea Party when you are all done. Bunny masks are one of the easiest things to create and there’s a wealth of sources online where you can even download and print templates. Check out the free printable Easter masks from The Crafting Chicks – https://thecraftingchicks.com/free-printable-easter-masks/
EASTER BONNETS
Some of our team remember back to primary school and the Easter bonnet competition – we are sure some of you do too. If you’ve used this time to clean out your wardrobe, then maybe you have a couple of hats to spare? If you don’t then making a hat from an old box is super simple. Challenge your children to make their best bonnet – use things from the garden, decorated eggs; anything goes! Here’s some great ideas to get you started – https://blog.partydelights.co.uk/how-to-make-an-easter-bonnet/
EASTER EGG HUNT
Rather than going to your local Easter Egg Hunt, why not create you own? Treasure hunts can be inside or outside in your garden and can be a really simple, 10-minute game, or you can really get creative and get your children to help and decorate make paper eggs and create a map of your house or garden. Some neighbourhoods are creating virtual Easter Egg Hunts by putting pictures of eggs in their windows – more about this below.
POTATO PRINTING
How many of us have potatoes in the kitchen that are a little past their best (it can’t just be us!). Instead of throwing them away, use them to create potato prints. Old rolls of wallpaper are really great for this – particularly if the weather is kind enough for us to be outside. You can create as many different shapes as you want to and then let your children get creative. This article from Persil is enough to get you started – https://www.persil.com/uk/dirt-is-good/arts-crafts/potato-printing-step-by-step.html
EASTER WINDOWS
You’ve probably all already taken part in painting or drawing rainbows to display in your windows, well why not create an Easter theme in your window with your painted eggs, cuddly toys and potato prints so that all the children who walk past your house when they are outside exercising with their family will see your wonderful creations.
SOCK PUPPETS
Unless you’ve already spring cleaned every area of your house, you’ve no doubt got a sock draw that has at least one random sock with no pair (no, we don’t know how that happens either). Why not use those socks and make Easter themed sock puppets? Have a search around Instagram for some inspiration if you need it – there are some fantastic examples out there!
SHADOW DRAWING
Now that the sun is shining, it’s an ideal time to make shadow drawings. This is particularly good for younger children who really want to draw something slightly more complicated. Setting up toys next to a sunny window and using the shadows to help your children create amazing drawings that they can then paint later. Easter themes, dinosaurs, dolls – there really is no end of choice. Again, Instagram is a great source of inspiration.
After such a busy day, it’s time for a bedtime story – David Walliams is releasing a free audio book every day – https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses/
So that’s the children entertained, but what about when they are all fast asleep after a day of activities. What about you? How do you entertain yourself in the evenings?
There are lots of great online offers at the moment to help us all feel connected, even if it’s in a virtual way. Here’s just a few things we have been taking part in –
Free Comedy
Cosmic Shambles are hosting comedy nights with fantastic guests including Jo Brand, Professor Brian Cox and more! – http://cosmicshambles.com/stayathome
Free Gigs
Music content site Stingray is giving free access to its 3 most popular apps, including karaoke, concerts and classical music shows – https://www.stingray.com
Free Opera & Ballet
The Royal Opera House have created #FromOurHouseToYourHouse and are showing free events on their You Tube channel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7f4eeAKd4U
Free Audio Books
Audible has made hundreds of its books free to listen to. Why not enjoy your own bedtime story? – stories.audible.com
In next week’s edition, we will be looking at wellness and what you can do to help keep yourself feeling positive and making the most of this time.
In the meantime, stay safe and have a Happy Easter.
