Easter Lesson Plans

While Easter is a religious holiday, most teachers choose to focus on the spring angle. They bring out the construction paper bunnies, the egg dyeing equipment, and  the plastic eggs each year. If you work at a school with a religious curriculum, you can delve into the Christian meaning behind Easter. If you do not, you can still infuse a little historical perspective into an Easter lesson.

The Easter Tradition is thought to be based on a pagan celebration honoring spring and rebirth. Historians believe the word Easter comes from the name Eastre, a Teutonic goddess of fertility and spring.  Eggs were originally painted with bright colors to exemplify the sunlight of spring, and bunnies were considered a symbol of fertility. In both the Christian and pagan meanings, the Easter time of year is considered one of rebirth and new life.

While there are many subjects related to Easter you can cover, something that may interest your students is a lesson involving Faberge Eggs. These famous eggs were given as part of a Easter tradition in the Romanov family. It all started when  Czar Alexander III decided to give his wife, Maria Fedorovna, a very special egg for Easter.  He had Peter Carl Faberge make him one.  The first Faberge Egg was made of enamel, and contained a surprise.  Inside the egg was a golden yolk, inside the yolk was a golden hen, and within the hen was a crown and an egg. From then on Faberge made eggs for the royal family, until the end of their rule. There are many other Faberge eggs that are just as intriguing. There is a Trans-Siberian Railway egg with a miniature train inside.

While this is one way you can spice up an Easter lesson, there are a variety of other ways as well. You can plant a garden with your students, conduct science experiments to see how you can dye eggs without using food coloring, or raise a brood of classroom chicks to learn about life cycles.

Easter Lesson Plans:

"Eggs-tra" Special Sounds: This lesson was great because it asks students to identify different types of musical tones. Students find a plastic egg filled with pebbles, rice, or salt. They then find other students who have an egg with the same tone. Then they talk about the difference between piano, mezzo-forte, and forte.  At the end of the lesson they make their own maracas.

Faberge Easter Egg: This lesson has students learn about the history of Faberge eggs, and create reproductions. It comes with instructions for an art project students should enjoy.

Egg-xactly Right: In this lesson students use plastic Easter eggs o conduct a P.E. activity. Students participate in a relay in which they skip, hop, jump, etc . . . after searching for eggs throughout an area.

The Classroom Easter Egg Hunt: Students go on an Easter egg hunt in which they have to find eggs and describe their exact location. While designed originally as an ESL lesson, it would be a great way to get younger students to practice prespositions and adjectives. It comes with activity sheets.

Easter Egg Math K-1: In this lesson students use eggs as a way to practice addition and math skills. Students put a certain number of eggs in a basket, then some are hidden, and then they have to figure out how many are missing.

Easter Art Lessons and Activities:

Easter Bunny Baskets: This Easter basket, made from an egg carton and cotton balls, is quite ingenious.

Jelly Bean Count: Students county jelly beans, learn about Easter, and perform an art activity. 

Toilet Paper Roll Bunny: Anytime is a good time to make a toilet roll bunny. No more needs to be said. 

Egg/Easter Egg Project: Students paint an Easter egg using two primary colors. They then swirl the colors with their fingers to make an interesting design.