Lockdown: Fun indoor activities - including an Easter egg hunt - for kids this weekend

With the UK in lockdown due to the coronavirus and the worry that brings, it’s more important than ever to make the holiday special. 

Here are some fun-filled activities to keep the smiles on everyone’s face this bank holiday.

Make an Easter bonnet

If you’ve got some craft supplies handy, you can while away the hours making a beautiful Easter bonnet for your kids to parade around the house.

Hobbycraft has some excellent decoration ideas and instructions on how to get going here.

Rock painting

If your craft supplies are running a little low, a more simple craft activity you can do is some Easter rock painting. All you’ll need is some palm-sized pebbles, paint, and a little creativity.

Have a look on Pinterest for some inspiration on what to paint if you’re feeling stuck. 

Egg decorating 

If you can’t find any suitable pebbles lying around, why not hard-boil some eggs and have a go at painting those. 

Once you’re done, you could host an egg-and-spoon race with the decorated eggs if you’re lucky enough to have a garden and the kids don’t mind them getting cracked. 

Making Easter cards

While you might not be able to visit family and friends this Easter, you can still reach them the old fashioned way - with snail mail.

Grab some card and get out some pens, paint, glitter or whatever else you have lying around and make some Easter cards. 

If you’re not able to get letters to far away friends and family, consider dropping something round to your neighbours - it’s a sure way to put a smile on their faces. 

Take the egg hunt indoors 

If your Easter Egg hunt usually involves the outdoors, don't panic - there are plenty of ways you can bring the hunt indoors with a little bit of creativity.

You could use clues to direct kids to eggs hidden around the home, or you could let them roam and tell them if they're getting "hotter" or "colder".

To make it even more interactive, each egg could come accompanied with an action to do when it's found - such as "hop on one leg for 10 seconds".

Create an indoor Easter tree 

If you can get hold of a bundle of sticks from your back garden or on a daily walk, take them home, put them in a vase and create an "Easter tree" by hanging decorations on the branches.

This article has some great inspiration for making your own tree decorations if you don't have any shop-bought ones to hand.

Have an egg and spoon race 

If you're lucky enough to have a garden, grab some spoons and boiled eggs to host an egg and spoon race. First to cross the finish line without dropping their egg is the winner!

Utilise your empty egg cartons 

If you've got some empty egg cartons lying around, don't recycle them just yet - you can use them to make your own bunny-themed Draughts board to keep kids busy.

The tutorial for this can be found at this link.

Get baking 

If you can get hold of mini eggs, creme eggs, or any other Easter-themed confectionery at the shops, there are endless creative ways you can bake some tasty Easter treats.

One of the easiest - and most popular - Easter treats which kids can help to make is chocolate Easter nests - which don't even require baking. A simple recipe for these can be found at this link.

Do some planting 

Easter marks the arrival of Spring after a long period of cold - so there's no better time to do some flower planting with your family. 

Not having a garden is no barrier to this - with many plants able to grow happily inside. 

Some garden centres and other online stores are currently offering delivery of seeds and bulbs, so have a shop around to see what's available. 

Melt your Easter treats to make fondue

Make those chocolate eggs that little bit more interesting by melting them down into molten chocolate fondue. 

Kids will love dipping marshmallows and fruit into the delicious mixture - and they may even be willing to share. 

Make Easter decorations out of salt dough

Whether making decorations to hang on your Easter tree or just crafting some ornaments for the house, using salt dough is a fun way for kids to get involved.

You can find an easy recipe for doing this here.