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It's bunny time which means Easter themed centers and activities for my little learners. Go grab your lesson plan book because I'm sharing my favorite, go to Easter themed centers and activities! Plus I created a yummy Peep freebie for you too.
This post contains affiliate links.

PEEPS! It's not Easter without peeps. I just had to create a Peep Beginning Sound Match game. My pre-k students matched the beginning sounds, uppercase letters, and lowercase letters.

To make the game easier for my three year olds, I took out the sound cards and they only matched the uppercase and lowercase letter peeps.

Easter egg writing tray! This tray has purple sprinkles and bunny sprinkles in it. Students find an egg letter match then write the uppercase and lowercase letter in the tray. Writing trays are the best tool I use for practicing letters. Students get super excited when they see writing trays out! When was the last time your students were excited about handwriting worksheets? Um never right. Try writing trays in your classroom! It's a a game changer!

Easter Egg Sight Words! Students build their sight words using eggs then write the word on the recording page. For more fun, put the sight word cards in large plastic eggs!

Everyone always asks me what I do for table time or morning work. Each morning I have different activities set up at each of my large tables for table time (aka preschool morning work). I often set up invitations to write using supplies from my writing center. This Easter themed invitation to write has Easter writing paper, Easter stickers, Easter word cards, and various writing tools. Go grab the FREE Family Word Cards HERE.

Five Little Bunnies Hopping on a Hill is a subtraction book my little learners LOVE. It's similar to 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. As I read the book, each time something happens to a bunny a student takes one bunny away. Students are counting, subtracting, and rhyming when we read this book. Using story props makes books come alive for students. After we read the book several times during circle, I put it my library center. The math conversations students had as they reread the book using the bunnies was priceless!
I found these stuffed animal bunnies at the Dollar Tree.

Peeps are so sparkly and fun I just had to do a five senses activity with them! I created this Peep Anchor Chart to record how students described the peeps. Five senses activities are a fabulous way to build students' vocabulary. Don't be afraid to use big words with your little learners. If they can say tyrannosaurus rex, they can say anything! After we described the peeps, we had a Peep Taste Test. Students recorded how the peeps tasted on their recording page. Go grab your peep freebie HERE.

In the blocks center I added fake flowers, plastic carrot eggs, plastic Easter eggs, spring stuffed animals, and EASTER STEM I Can Build challenge cards. Look at this amazing enclosure my pre-k student built. If you look closely you can see that he hid eggs in the flowers for an Easter egg hunt!

Play dough trays are one of my students favorite things. I try and do a new play dough tray for each theme. This Easter play dough tray has egg cookie cutters, bunny cookie cutters, small plastic eggs, buttons, cut up pipe cleaners, eyes, and play dough. Students can roll, smash, and squish the play dough to create Easter eggs and peeps. Little to they know they are exercising their fine motor muscles as they play!

The sensory table is filled with Easter grass, little foam eggs, egg cartons, and Handy Scoopers. Students can sort, count, scoop, hide, and fill the egg cartons with eggs. Plus the eggs are small so they are strengthening their fine motor muscles too as they they play.

Make egg shakers for music and movement or gross motor activities. It's super simple. Fill a plastic egg halfway with beans and tape the egg around the seam using washi tape. My last set of egg shakers I made lasted over 9 years! Laurie Berkner's song "I Know a Chicken" is the perfect song to use with egg shakers. Students have to shake the eggs lots of different ways. HERE is a link to a video of her song you can use.

Bunny and Carrot Shape Puzzles! My students LOVED matching the bunny and carrot shapes.

Number Easter eggs are a fun way for students to practice identifying numerals and develop one to one correspondence. Students identify the number on the egg, count out the corresponding number of mini erasers to fill the egg, and place the egg in the matching egg carton hole. (Plus it's another reason why I just had to buy those cute mini erasers from Target!)

There are so many different ways to represent a quantity (ten frame, tally marks, fingers, numerals, dice, objects). This Easter Number Sort game is the fun way for students to explore this concept. Students count ten frames, fingers, and identify numerals then match it to the corresponding Easter basket.

Jelly Bean Roll It, Add It game is perfect for Easter. Students roll two dice, add, and dot the total. I also love to give my students real jelly beans as a treat to eat when they play this game.

Sorting can be HARD for some students. Students can practice sorting the eggs by color and size. It's also important to practice sorting by other characteristics like glitter/no glitter or cracks/no cracks.

Have you tried egg rolling painting? If not, your should! It's just like marble painting but with eggs. Take a small plastic egg and put two marbles inside. I cut the paper in the shape of an egg. Students place their paper in the box then drop the eggs in the box. Students shake and tilt the box lid to make the eggs roll around, painting the paper as they roll.

Another fun art activity is egg printing. Use a few plastic eggs in different sizes and patterned scrapbook paper. Students stamp the egg in the paint then stamp their paper.

Turn the dramatic play center into a GARDEN & FLOWER SHOP! We always bring my mom and grandparents flowers or plants on Easter so why not let students act it out in the dramatic play center for yoru Easter theme. Plus there are so many ways you can embed math, literacy, science, and STEM into their play. Grab it from my TPT store HERE.

Want ALL my Easter center printables? Save time and grab my Easter Math and Literacy Centers pack from my TPT store HERE. Just print and prep.

Go grab my Spring STEM I Can Build pack which includes challenge posters for Easter, St. Patrick's' Day, Earth Day, and general Spring themes HERE.

Love it? Pin this image so you always have it!

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Easter Centers and Activities for Little Learners (Peep Freebie) - Pocket of Preschool

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It's bunny time which means Easter themed centers and activities for my little learners. Go grab your lesson plan book because I'm sharing my favorite, go to Easter themed centers and activities! Plus I created a yummy Peep freebie for you too. This post contains affiliate links. PEEPS!

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5.  Find out what happens when you mix two different color Peeps.  Will the water change to blue?

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Can you make a Peeps explode with baking soda and vinegar?  What happens when you mix these explosive materials with a Peep?

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I have to admit, I really don't like Peeps... to eat. But using them as a projectile to fling across the room?! We just couldn't get enough! My kiddos were so busy laughing that they didn't realize they were learning engineering, physics, and math too. So grab a pack of Peeps and prepare for hilarity as you learn all about this simple medieval machine: the catapult.

Getting Ready

For this STEM activity, I gathered a few supplies we already had around the house:

10 pencils

16 rubberbands

a spoon

Peeps {any small item like jelly beans, gum drops or pennies will work too}

ruler or measuring tape {optional, used to measure how far the projectile launched)

Building the Catapult

The type of catapult we made is called a mangonel and ours used tension from a stretched rubber band to hurl the Peeps across the room.

We began by building the base, which was simply a square made from pencils secured together with rubber bands. You'll need your base to lay flat so make sure the parallel pencils are both in the same position. In the photo below the left and right pencils are both above the top and bottom pencils.

Next, we tackled the sides of the catapult. For this part, my 6 year old, A, simply grabbed 2 pencils and bound them together on one end with a rubber band and repeated the steps for the other side.

Twisting the rubber bands and turning the pencils to secure the pencils together proved to be quite the fine motor task for A. Can you sense the frustration!

Attaching the sides (our light green pencils) to the base frame (the pink pencils) ended up being a two person job.

I took a pair of side pencils and spread them to form an upside down V shape. Then I placed one end in a corner of the base frame while A secured them with a purple rubber band. We repeated this process for the other end of the side pencil.

When both sides were attached, we added a pencil to the top to make the catapult more sturdy. To do this, we simply slid a pencil into the point of the upside-down V and secured it with a yellow rubber band. This pencil also acted as a crossbar to stop the lever arm and launch the projectile.

Finally it came time to attach the part that makes a catapult work: the lever arm. The easiest way to do this was to attach the spoon (the lever arm) right in the middle of the last pencil using a rubber band.

This is the fulcrum, or anchor point, of the lever so make sure that rubber band is nice and tight.

Next, we attached the end of the pencil to the sides of the frame. We had to tweak where we secured the lever to make sure the bowl of the spoon cleared the top of the crossbar.

Finally, we added the last rubber band to provide the tension needed to move the lever arm. First A twisted the purple rubber band around the spoon just under the bowl a couple times. Then she stretched the rubber band over each point on the top of the frame.

Launching Peeps

Now we were ready to launch! My daughter loaded the bowl with the load, or Peep, pulled back on the rubber band and let that little chicky fly.

The first Peep landed right on my head as I was trying to get a shot of its flight. Surprisingly, this mangonel catapult was fairly accurate and I had my fair share of direct hits. Giggles galore!

After trying to catch a few Peeps in our mouths, A tried to see how far she could launch the Peep. This naturally lead her to test different objects to see which flew the furthest.

After testing a jelly bean, a pom pom, and a penny she determined the small but heavy jelly bean and penny flew better than a light pom pom.

The Science Behind It

While the kiddos took turns launching various items and laughing about where they ended up, I asked them how they thought the catapult worked. My 6 year old knew it all came down the the lever and the rubber band.

I explained that when the rubber band was pulled back it had potential energy (stored energy) just waiting to be released. Once they let go of the spoon the rubber band released the tension in the form of kinetic energy, the energy of motion.

Other than naming the parts of the catapult while building it, I pretty much let the kiddos have fun with this activity. Based on the amount of laughter coming from my kids, I think we'll have many more opportunities to get into the nitty gritty science of catapults in the future. For now, we'll just enjoy watching those puffy little Peeps fly!

More Jaw Dropping Science

Want more science inspiration?! Download 30 of our favorite science experiments plus a ready to go science journal kids love HERE!

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I have to admit, I really don't like Peeps... to eat. But using them as a projectile to fling across the room?! We just couldn't get enough! My kiddos were so busy laughing that they didn't realize they were learning engineering, physics, and math too.

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I mixed up some salt paint to give these little Peep Bunnies a cool "sugary" effect, just like the real thing.

To make the paint - combine 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup liquid laundry starch, 1 cup of salt and a few tablespoons of poster paint.

I divided the main recipe in half and then added the paint - it still made a lot of paint. We used "peep" colors (pink, purple, blue and yellow).

I printed out a copy of this Peep Bunny pattern from Dana Made It. Nathan and I painted the bunnies.

After the paint dried (overnight), I cut the bunnies out and Nathan glued the bunnies to a sheet of blue construction paper. We also cut some green grass to glue along the bottom. We cut slits in the green paper to give it a "grassy" effect. And then added a cotton ball for a tail. These came out So Cute!

LOVE them!!! Makes me hungry for some real Peeps!

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I mixed up some salt paint to give these little Peep Bunnies a cool "sugary" effect, just like the real thing. To make the paint - combine 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup liquid laundry starch, 1 cup of salt and a few tablespoons of poster paint.

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In under 2 minutes you man make the BEST peeps playdough recipe every. Just 3 ingredients and you are ready for some epic Easter fun!

The peeps have filled the shopping shelves tempting us Mom's to join in the spring fun! Instead of just filling your kiddos bellies with these sweet treats, try making this peeps playdough instead!

This recipe is WAY BETTER than the other one's you've tried before - it actually stays nice and soft!

Plus it is edible playdough so you don't have to worry if your little one wants to sample their creations.

First you need to pickup a package or two of your favorite color of peeps.

In a microwave safe bowl put 5 peeps, 3 TAB flour and 1 TAB Crisco ( we use the blue box).

Microwave for 30 seconds; stir. ( you can add food coloring for more bold colors, but we liked the soft pastel playdough colors the Peeps made)

When the playdough is cool enough to touch ( give it a good 30-60 seconds) get in their and kneed away until you get a smooth, peeps playdough. It will only take 30 seconds or so.

This peeps playdough has the best texture! It is super soft, easy to mold, and EDIBLE! A real plus if you have a toddler playing!

Use the playdough recipe to strengthen hand muscles which will help your kiddos prepare for writing! It is so much fun to shape and re shape.

Plus the slightly warm dough is so much fun to play with!

Just in case you don't have the 2 minutes to watch the video, the playdough can be stores in plastic wrap on the counter for several months. To re-warm and soften just put it in the microwave for 5-10 seconds and your dough will be back to new!

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In under 2 minutes you man make the BEST peeps playdough recipe every. Just 3 ingredients and you are ready for some epic Easter fun! The peeps have filled the shopping shelves tempting us Mom's to join in the spring fun! Instead of just filling your kiddos bellies with these sweet treats, try making this peeps playdough instead!

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Totschooling - Toddler, Preschool, Kindergarten Educational Printables

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Alphabet letter identification is an essential skill to develop in preschool. These fun Spring themed alphabet printables are just the perfect addition to any preschool classroom or homeschool. The kids will enjoy hunting for the 'alphabet eggs' and matching the letters onto their mats.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Print a set of the alphabet egg cards and laminate them. There are 12 bird mats, and you can choose between uppercase and lowercase eggs. Once the alphabet Easter eggs are laminated, cut them apart and place them in a little basket.

Easter Egg Alphabet Match

This free printable activity is the perfect way to get preschool kids to practice identifying and matching their alphabet letters. Place the Easter egg alphabet letters in a basket along with some shredded paper to create 'hay'. Choose one mat at a time, get the kids to identify the letters in that mat such as 'A, B and C' and then find the matching 'eggs' from the pile. You can differentiate this activity by using either uppercase or lowercase letters.

As an added extension activity, you can hide the eggs and sticky tape them in different places around the room. They look for the eggs as a team as they work on one mat at a time. You can also have the kids find the matching magnetic letters from the basket as they find their Easter eggs. I like adding magnetic letters to any literacy center as there are endless possibilities on how they can be used in literacy centers.

This post was contributed by:
Yara from Sea of Knowledge
Founder of Sea of Knowledge, an ESL teacher with a passion for making learning fun and engaging. She loves creating fun activities that children and learners can benefit from. You can also find me on: Facebook and Pinterest.

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Alphabet letter identification is an essential skill to develop in preschool. These fun Spring themed alphabet printables are just the perfect addition to any preschool classroom or homeschool. The kids will enjoy hunting for the 'alphabet eggs' and matching the letters onto their mats. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

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Totschooling - Toddler, Preschool, Kindergarten Educational Printables

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Use these Free printable Easter beginning sound cards for preschoolers and kindergarten kids to practice their letter sounds with a fun bunny theme!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

These FREE Easter themed Beginning Sounds cards can be used in a few different ways:

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Use these Free printable Easter beginning sound cards for preschoolers and kindergarten kids to practice their letter sounds with a fun bunny theme! This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. These FREE Easter themed Beginning Sounds cards can be used in a few different ways:

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This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Does playing Superman really improve school and behavioral performance? The answer is yes, kind of. Running around in a cape and pretending to have laser vision won't necessarily start raking in the A's, but a nifty little exercise nicknamed The Superman can make a world of difference. Most kids start out practicing this move without any help. It's a natural result of tummy time as a baby. The Superman, also known as prone extension, requires the child to lie on their tummy and lift their arms and legs just a few inches off the ground with everything extended out so they look like Superman in flight. According to Dr. A Jean Ayers, PhD, "Prone (lying on the tummy) is the position in which normal infants develop many of the postural and motor responses that lead to standing, walking and other adult sensory-motor activities." As we are all well aware, things don't always develop the way they're supposed to.

When things don't develop properly in the neck muscles and vestibular, or balance system, the Superman exercise becomes a diagnostic tool. Kids who struggle in these two areas will be unable or unwilling to perform the Superman (they should be able to hold this position as long as most adults). If they can't hold this position, you are likely to see developmental delays and issues with balance, sensory integration, behavioral inhibition, and coordination. These kids spend a lot of time fidgeting, struggle to sit through a teacher's lecture, show signs of clumsiness, exhibit signs of a Sensory Process Disorder (SPD) and may fall behind in subjects such as reading and writing.

"In the process of motor development the infant [or child] can be observed to produce specific movements thousands of times. This practice (i.e., repetition) enhances communication between the sensory and motor systems of the body. The more often a motion is produced the easier it becomes to produce and eventually to incorporate with more complex patterns of movement." (Sternat, 2005)

If the Superman pose is a challenge for your child, the next step is figuring out what to do about it. The obvious step is practice the Superman pose. This simple exercise gives the vestibular system a boost and strengthens weak neck muscles. But this exercise can be spiced up in a number of ways that improve efficacy and expand the systems you're improving.

Scooter Boards

Scooter boards, like you see , are definitely one of the favorites at our center. Adding motion to the Superman pose is a major boost to the vestibular system and it makes it more fun than simply lying on the floor. These wheeled boards are super versatile as well. I've seen everything from simple exercises pushing off the wall with a bungee cord to human bowling and life size games of Hungry Hungry Hippo. Dr. Ayers says the "sensory input [from riding the scooter boards] reduces hyperactivity, and also energizes the nervous system for more purposeful activity. After riding a scooter board, a child is often more calm and focused, and remains that way for some time."

Swings

It's not uncommon to find a kid running at a swing and taking off with their arms and tummies wrapped around the swing. Park swings don't allow for the full extension needed for the Superman pose, but the movement is crucial to helping develop struggling vestibular systems. Full body swings like we use at our center cater to the need for full-body extension and provide a safe cocoon that many kids with SPD crave. If you don't have access to an indoor swing, swings at the park can be just as useful. Take your child to the park and have them swing on their tummy and then switch to their back. Both are great for strengthening the muscles in the neck and shoulders.

Therapy Ball (using their tummy)

Kids can lie prone on therapy balls as well. Help your child lie their tummy on a larger ball, like you see , and help them crawl forward so the ball eventually makes its way down to your child's legs. They can then roll back to the tummy position. For more difficulty, when the ball reaches your child's toes, have them put their knees to their chest and extend them straight again before rolling the ball back to their tummy.

You can take it one step further and help them complete a task like solving a puzzle or playing a card game while they try to balance on the ball. The ball adds an extra challenge to the balancing system, and encouraging them to complete a task while they balance trains their brains to use that system while they're focused on something else, which is our ultimate goal. These systems should function properly in the background so we hardly know it's there.

VIDEO: See video above.

Therapy Ball (using their back)

Now that your child has used the therapy ball for the prone position, help them use the same therapy ball, as you see , for the supine position (on their back). Your child or student can lay their back on the ball and roll backward and forward. Help them use their hands in case they roll back too far and touch the floor.

VIDEO: See video above.

Log Roll

The log roll is perfect for working the prone and supine at the same time. If you have a mat at home, like you see , put it on your floor, or you can simply have your child roll on carpet. Clear plenty of space so they don't run into any furniture. You will want your child or student to cross their arms in front of them and keep their legs straight. Then help them roll across the mat or floor, first forward and then backward. If they are struggling to keep their neck and head up, you may need to help them in the beginning, but eventually you will want them to do it on their own.

VIDEO: To view the video for this exercise, click .

Airplane

The airplane is very similar to the Superman pose. Help your child or student lie face down on the floor. Count to three and then have them bring both their legs and arms out in an airplane position and hold for 10 seconds. Their arms should be extended to the sides instead of in front of them and their legs should be parted (in a V shape) instead of straight as you see in the Superman.

VIDEO: To view the video for this exercise, click .

Supine Flexion Exercise (on your back)

For this exercise, you will want to help your child lie on their back. Count to three and have them hold their head up, bring their legs to their chest, and have their hands touch their knees or wrap their arms around their knees. Your child can rock back and forth if they like. The main focus of this exercise is the neck and shoulders. Many children who struggle with this exercise cannot lift their head. You may have to help them in the beginning, but we want them to eventually hold their neck and head up on their own.

VIDEO: To view the video for this exercise, click .

Noodles

The noodle exercise is by far one of the most fun activities for both the prone and supine position. If you have swimming noodles at your house you can use those, or you can find some . Have your child first lay their tummy on the noodles. Then you will want to have them hold one end of a rope or jump rope and pull them toward you as they roll on the noodles. This helps with the prone position.

When they have tried the exercise on their tummy, help them turn over to their back and repeat the same exercise with the rope as they roll on their back while on top of the noodles. This is great for the supine position.
Integrated Learning Strategies is a Utah-based center dedicated to helping mainstream children and children with learning disabilities achieve academic success. Our services provide kids with non-traditional tutoring programs within the Davis County, Kaysville, Layton, Syracuse, Farmington, and Centerville areas. Areas to find Integrated Learning Strategies include: Reading tutors in Kaysville, Math tutors in Kaysville, Common Core Tutors in Kaysville, Tutors in Utah, Utah Tutoring Programs

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PRONE & SUPINE: Doctor attributes the Superman to Preventing Developmental Delays

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Prone and Supine Exercises: Doctor attributes Superman to Preventing Developmental Delays This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Does playing Superman really improve school and behavioral performance? The answer is yes, kind of. Running around in a cape and pretending to have laser vision won't necessarily start raking in the A's, but a nifty little exercise nicknamed The Superman can make a world of...

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Spring is here! It kind of snuck up on me actually. I went to the store and saw TONS of Easter stuff everywhere! I could not believe the amount of fun, cute, themed plastic eggs they have! Of course, I got sidetracked from my main mission, and my "teacher brain" (it's a real thing) was thinking of what games I could use these eggs for. So these super fun spring math games with dice were created!

I ended up buying the little chick eggs, and the carrot eggs. They came in packs of 3, so I bought two of each. I was at Fred Meyer, but other people I heard have picked these up at Target, and some people have even found themed eggs at the Dollar Tree! You can also find similar ones, like these, on Amazon.
I created an addition game for the chicks and a subtraction game for the carrots. Then I added a bonus addition/subtraction game. These games are super fun and cute when paired with these items BUT the directions on the sheets are worded so that you can use regular plastic Easter eggs, or NO eggs at all!
So - you do NOT need to go buy these items in order to play these games! Just grab your dice and the printable games (below) and you are set!
Spring Math Games with Dice

First up is the game called "Chicky Challenge!"
I placed two dice in each chicken. My kids shook the chicken, then looked through the top to record the equation. The chickens are see through so they don't need to open them to play - they just use them as a shaker.

The page can be used as a worksheet with pencils, or you can put it in a sheet protector and students can record their answers with dry erase markers. I do this often to save paper since we often play the same math games many times!

Next up, "Crunch the Numbers!" This is a subtraction game.

For this game I put two dice in the carrots and provided a number line on the table for students to use as a tool if needed. My kids shook the carrot, set it down, and read the numbers. They then subtracted the smaller number from the largest and recorded the equation. I often opt to use dry erase for this game as well, but you could also use the page as a worksheet with pencils or crayons.

Finally, "Hop to It!" which is a mixed addition and subtraction version of the game. We played it with the carrot eggs, but I have seen bunny eggs around too and how cute would that be??

Download your Copies

Ready to play math games with dice? Grab some eggs and dice, then head over to my TpT store {HERE} to download these fun freebies!

Then, for more Easter fun, hop over and download our free Easter egg CVCe puzzles, or make your own Easter egg lacing cards!

More Spring Resources

For even more spring resources for the classroom or home, grab our Spring Writing Pack or our Printable Math and Literacy Bundle!

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in March, 2015. It has been completely revised and updated.

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Spring Math Games with Dice - The Kindergarten Connection

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Spring is here! It kind of snuck up on me actually. I went to the store and saw TONS of Easter stuff everywhere! I could not believe the amount of fun, cute, themed plastic eggs they have!