Easter Games and Activities for Grandkids

I love Easter! It’s the first holiday of the year where you just might get good enough weather to go outside to celebrate. However, even if it’s rainy or snowy around your neck of the woods, you can still enjoy several Easter games and activities with your Grandkids.

At our house, we enjoy both the religious and secular celebrations of Easter. We always reserve the Saturday before Easter to hold our annual NanaPapa Easter Egg Hunt at our house. Then on Sunday, we focus our attention on the religious celebrations of the season with more Christ-centered Easter Traditions.

Below, you will find a little bit of both religious and secular ideas to celebrate with your grandkids. We have included ideas for adapting these Easter games and activities for long distance grandchildren or close by grandchildren who you cannot be with on the holiday.

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Easter Story Resurrection Eggs

Of all the Easter games and activities, this one is probably the easiest to DIY and holds the attention of the children the best. The main idea is to just tell the Easter story with small items that represent different parts of the events leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

I have found different versions of this activity online. However, I have my own version that includes questions to ask your grandkids as you go. I like to have them think a little bit about what’s happening in the Easter story rather than just tell it to them. This will really vary depending on the age and attention span of the kids.

You can do this activity in a variety of ways. Here’s my version: I like to hide the eggs around the room in obvious places. Before we sit down, I ask my grandkids to find all the eggs and line them up in order on the floor in front of us. Then, I just have the kids take turns opening the eggs (in order). I will usually ask them to take out the item from the egg and show it to everyone and tell us what they think the item represents. Then we read the scripture that is in the egg and discuss the question.

You can download the printable of scriptures and questions down below in the Easter Games and Activities packet. (It’s at the end of this page right next to the black “Download Now” button. Don’t worry. . .you’ll get there. )

To Adapt For Long Distance Grandkids:

Send the numbered plastic eggs in an egg carton. Be sure to put the small items and scripture papers in each egg before sending. Arrange a time when you can be on a video chat call with your grandkids. Have the kids open the eggs and read the scriptures and questions with them.

Surprise Easter Egg Hunt

One of our time-honored Easter games and activities is our annual Easter Egg Hunt at Nana and Papa’s house. We have a large yard in front and back so it makes things fun and a bit challenging. However, there are times when we are not able to coordinate all of the kids coming to our house. So, here is a way to bring the egg hunting fun to the kids. Of course, the grandkids need to live close enough for you to get to their house.

This idea can be really fun if you can pull it off secretly. The idea is to hide eggs (plastic w/treats inside or real ones or both!) in your grandchildren’s yard. After you do, leave them a note telling them how many eggs to find. I like my note to include that I love them even though I cannot be with them.

In the packet of fun Easter Games and Activities (scroll down to find it – it’s free and downloads instantly!), you will find a printable door hanger to use for this activity. One has the little poem on it and the other is blank for you to fill in your own note.

Easter Box Surprise

Care packages are certainly not a new thing. However, have you ever done one for Easter? If you have grandkids that live far away or even some that live close by, sending them surprise packages in the mail is such a treat! You can include any Easter games and activities you want to make it special for the season. Here are some suggestions for sending an Easter surprise box:

1. Find a good mailing box and line it with wrapping paper or tissue paper on the inside.
2. Put notes on the inside of the box flaps so that when the box is opened, your grandkids will see a fun note from you. (See examples below.)
3. Fill with goodies! For example:
   
   • Easter Scavenger Hunt – fill the box with Easter grass and hide toys, treats and even money in the box. Here’s a tip: If the item is even a little bit heavy, it will just fall to the bottom. So, put those items into plastic colored eggs. If the item is really light, just leave it hidden in the grass. Give the kids a list of things for them to find.
   • Spring Sunshine Box – fill the box with all things yellow! You could do lemonade drink mixes, Lemonheads candy, all yellow Skittles, a yellow whistle, a yellow frisbee, yellow sidewalk chalk, anything with yellow packaging (Lays potato chips, Burt’s Bees lip balm, M&Ms, JuicyFruit gum, you get the idea), Classic Lego sets (here’s my favorite to put in a box because it comes in a little flat yellow suitcase!), a book with a yellow cover, yellow Peeps, a yellow stuffed animal, etc. Get creative!
   • Easter Cooking Box – fill the box with ingredients to make a favorite meal or dessert together. Then get together on video chat and cook the meal or dessert together! Check out our Long Distance Grandparenting Activity #8. In that post or below in this post, you will find the suggestion for making meals over video chat.
     We have included a couple of recipes below for fun no-bake ideas. Tip: Always make sure that there is parent supervision on your grandchild’s end even if it’s a no-bake treat.
   • Love Knows No Distance Box – You can put all your grandchild’s favorite things in a box that you know they will just LOVE! Or you can put some things in there that are special to the two of you. Of course, use the message: “I Love You to the Moon and Back” OR “Some Bunny Loves You” on the box flaps.

Easter Treat Bags & Tags

Of course, you can use treat bags for grandchildren who are old or young, near or far. It’s always fun to get a treat from Grandma and Grandpa. Even if you can’t be with your grandkids, you can send them a little bag of goodies with a little treat bag topper and voila! Quick and easy peasy!

What would Easter be without Peeps and jelly beans?? In the photo below, you can see that filling a bag full of jelly beans makes for great “rainbow seeds.” You could also fill the bag with Skittles seeing as their slogan was “taste the rainbow.” But, any multi-colored candy will do.

Putting different colored peeps in a snack bag with a topper is a fast and easy treat idea. I also love the Peeps-on-a-Stick idea. They look so cute all skewered up like that! Ha ha! Just tie a cute tag onto the bottom of the stick right underneath the peeps. Tip: Wet the skewer before you slide the Peeps on! Otherwise. . .they won’t “slide” on at all.

We’ve included some treat bag toppers and tags in the Easter Games and Activities packet below (yes. . .keep scrolling down. You’ll find it!)

Play Dough Mats

This is an easy Easter activity to send to long distance grandkids since it is flat, lightweight and can fit into just a large envelope. However, you can also send to your grandkids in the mail who live close by for a fun snail mail surprise for them! (We have some really fun ideas for becoming penpals with your grandkids!)

If you’ve never heard of play dough mats before, they are just heavy paper with pictures that don’t have much detail. I prefer to laminate mine so they can be reused. The kids shape play dough to fill in the details on the picture. . .more or less. I have created some play dough mats for Easter that is. . .you guess it! They are in our Easter Games and Activities packet below. (Yes, you’re almost there!)

Most likely, your grandchild has play dough already at their house. However, sometimes it’s fun to make some for them to send with the play dough mats. There are so many, many play dough recipes out there. (Just check out Pinterest if you don’t believe me.) However, here is my take on it. I like a simple, non-toxic recipe that doesn’t really taste all that good. Why? Because if you make it out of cake mix or Jello, they are just going to want to eat it instead of play with it! And. . .I’m not so sure eating an entire batch of play dough is all that good for you.

Here is my favorite, basic, non-toxic, not-so-good-tasting Play Dough recipe:

Nana’s Homemade Play Dough

Cook a Meal Together

This is something that more and more people are doing. If you can’t be with your grandkids, at least still enjoy a meal together. You can have all the ingredients ready, cook the meal, pray, and eat all while enjoying each other’s company over video chat.

Of course, you could always do a big holiday meal together. But if you are just keeping it simple, here are a few no-bake ideas that are easy to put together:

Mama’s Deviled Eggs

Chicken in My Basket (aka Chicken Sliders)

Hershey’s No Bake Peanut Butter Blossoms

Easter Story Objects

Last, but certainly not least, in our Easter games and activities list, we have one of the most time-tested games of all. . .Charades! Now, wait!! Before you turn your nose up, this game has a really fun twist, and it’s super fun to play with grandkids, especially over video chat. It’s just not the same as playing with a room full of adults. (Trust me on this one. . .I’m such an introvert, that Charades makes me want to curl up in a ball in the corner of the room!)

You can do this whether you live close or not, but if you can’t be together in the same room, video chat is the answer! This game is a cooperative game rather than a competition. (I mean, how fair would it be if it was you against your grandkids?? Yeah, they’d probably kick your hind end pretty good! )

I may need to explain some rules here.

First of all, you don’t need to have a bunch of people to play this. Two will do! You just need at least one on each team. But as always, the more, the merrier. Each team makes a list of objects or ideas that can be conveyed through acting it out. In this case, you can choose words related to Easter. Each of you make a list on your end. The goal is NOT to have your own “team” guess the word or phrase, it’s to have the other “team” guess it.

Next, set a timer and act out as many words as the other team can guess in that amount of time. We use 1 minute. As they guess words, put a check by them. If the word doesn’t get guessed, cross it off the list. Now, comes the real fun. . .

It’s story time!! When you have accumulated 10 or so words that have been guessed on each end, sit down and begin the story. The first team will make up a sentence or two to begin the story, but it has to contain first word that was guessed correctly on their list. The next team adds to the story using the first guessed word on their list. The story continues using the words (in order) down each team’s list.

This gets really funny as the grandkids stretch to use these words to keep the story going! Don’t take this too seriously. The story will take twists and turns and some pretty ridiculous roads to keep it going. The idea is just to have fun! A little addition that you can do is to record the story and play it back whenever you need a good laugh.

Easter Games and Activities for Your Grandkids Packet

Yay! You finally made it!

Here is the packet with some fun printables, games and activities to make your Easter a special one. You will find all the printables from this article. So, whether you are near by or far away from your grandkids, there’s something for everyone. We call this. . .grandparenting at any distance!

Easter Games & Activities Packet – Download Here

 

Want a Few More Ideas?

We shared some of our thoughts with the folks over at AARP on how to give your Easter Egg Hunt a Makeover. You can read all about it and perhaps share some of your thoughts and ideas with others in the comments below. We would LOVE to hear some of your ideas!

Cookies & Milk for Everyone!