Paper Plate Chickens

Not so long ago, the Queen gave a great message about how Easter isn't cancelled, just because of the Coronavirus lockdown. In the same way, neither is Spring, or, for that matter, Summer!

Blossom is bursting out, and whether we can see it or not, young animals are being born.

So, today I thought I'd share our chicken craft, that we did this time last year.

You can accompany this craft with Dora's Chicks, if you have access to the book, or you and your child could have great fun, singing, 'Chick, Chick, Chick, Chick, Chicken lay a little egg for me!'

Song

Spot the missing feature!

Equipment:

• Paper plates

• Googly Eyes

• Feathers

• Red Cardboard to cut out wattles and combs

• Yellow card for beaks

• PVA glue & glue spreaders

• Scissors

Preparation:

Cut out some Wattles and Combs for your paper plate chickens, from red (or maybe even pink) card.

Cut beaks from yellow card.

Gather some pictures of chickens for the children to look at.

Method:

1. Fold Paper plate in half.

2. Assist children to look carefully at the chicken pictures and think about where to place, eyes, wattles, combs and beaks. You may end up with all kinds of variations, including multiple eyes, but I tend to let that go, as art and craft should really be about allowing the children the opportunity to express themselves. It can also be a great way to assess their understanding.

3. Attach feathers, as desired, using PVA glue.

Easter Gardens

Let me just stress, this isn't something we've tried at toddler group... yet!

However, I think this is a great activity to try out at home with young children and could be a great starting point for discussing the story of Easter.

This one was made by my daughter.

The great thing is, that this garden was made completely with things we already had at home, or found on a walk.


Equipment:

• Tray or pot of some kind (small or as big as you like)

• Small flower pot (this one came from a pile that I have amassed)

• Stones/gravel

• One large stone to cover the mouth of your flower pot

• Moss

• Twigs

• String

• Scissors

• Embellishment (this can be natural or man made)

• Soil/compost

Method:

1.  Choose a tray or pot for your base. You may have an old flowerpot or seed tray hanging round in the garden, but you could also use a tray from a ready meal, if it's been washed out.

2.  Fill the pot with soil or compost.

3.  Take a small plant pot and half submerge it in the soil/compost, to create a little cave tomb.

4.  Use some stones to create a little pathway to the pot/tomb. My daughter added a little sand to hers.

5.  Place clumps of moss around the tomb, to look like grass. 

6. Use string, to join two twigs to make a cross shape and place it in the soil above the 'tomb'.

7. Embellish your scene with small plants/plant material. We used some man made flowers.

8. Find a big stone/pebble to place beside the mouth of your pot, to be the stone that was rolled away.

9. Find a spot to place your little Easter garden, where it can be enjoyed. Don't forget to keep it watered, to keep it looking fresh!

Easter Nests

Strictly speaking this is not of course a craft, but hey, it's Easter and making these must surely be a young child's rite of passage. 

Anyway, it's such an easy recipe, and involves chocolate, and who can resist that?

Yum! Yum!

Equipment:

• Baking tray

• Muffin cases*

• Silicone spatula

• Saucepan

• Mixing bowl

• Hob

*The original recipe calls for 10 paper cases. I use 12, as although it's nice to have great chunky cakes, I think a little goes a long way, especially with little ones! If you'd like yours to be bigger, I'd suggest using one and a half times the amounts given above, except for the pack of Mini Eggs.

Ingredients:

225 g  Chocolate

50 g  Margarine/Butter

2 tbs  Golden Syrup

100 g  Cornflakes

1 pack Mini Eggs


Safety Notes:

1. If doing this with young children, you may wish to do the heating and stirring part yourself. If you allow children of any age, please supervise carefully. Obviously you want to avoid the children being burnt by the pan as it heats up and once it's been taken off the heat and also be aware of the danger of catching hair/clothing on the flames.

2. With younger children, you may want to halve the mini eggs, lengthways (as we do with grapes at toddler group), to reduce the chance of choking. However, take care, as Mini Eggs shells are brittle and quite tricky to halve with a sharp knife!

Method:

1. Place the muffin cases in a baking tray. 

2. Place the chocolate, margarine and golden syrup in the saucepan. Gently heat the mixture, stirring the ingredients with the spatula as they melt. 

3. Place the cornflakes into a mixing bowl and add the mixture from the saucepan. Mix together, thoroughly.

4. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases. 

5. Make a little well in each little blob of mixture, to form the 'nest' shape.

6. Place 3 mini eggs in each 'nest'. 

7. Place in the fridge to allow the chocolate to harden.


Recipe taken from Topmarks