*AD.

The Easter holidays, in my opinion, have the potential to be the best school holidays of the year. Never mind one week off school, with the Easter holidays you get two glorious weeks in the spring sunshine! That means there’s plenty of time for Easter activities. I’ve put together this blog post crammed full of Easter activities for kids that should keep them busy over the holiday period.

I’ve also teamed up with leading sweets brand, Swizzels, who are offering two lucky winners a Retro Sweet Wicker Hamper with 1.1kg of sweets in each. That’s more than enough to treat the kids over the holidays and also sneak yourself some of your own favourites from childhood.

9 Sweet Ways To Entertain Kids During The Easter Holidays

Easter Egg Hunts

A traditional Easter activity loved by many – you just can’t beat an Easter egg hunt. You can join in with local Easter egg hunts or host your own. Last year we took Luke to his Great Grandpa’s house and hosted our very own Easter egg hunt in the garden. Luke painted his own little box to collect the eggs in too, which kept him busy on the days leading up to Easter Sunday. There are even alternative chocolate choices for those with dietary requirements, so no one has to miss out.

Sweetie Hunts

Not everyone is a chocoholic and I know lots of people who prefer sweets to chocolate. If your kids are the type who’d prefer a packet of Drumstick Squashies over some mini Easter eggs, hosting a sweetie hunt instead of an egg hunt could be a great alternative. In some respects, it’s also easier as there’s no danger of melted chocolate getting everywhere! Easter eggs are great and all, but the melted chocolatey fingers aren’t so great. Plus, as a boring parent, I think it’s easier to limit the sugar consumption when you can dish out packets of sweets rather than breaking bits of chocolate egg off into bowls.

If you’re a lover of chocolate AND sweets, you’ll be pleased to know that Swizzels have also launched a collection of Easter Eggs!

Easter Crafts

Luke’s been massively into crafts from the get go, so there’s no way we could get through the Easter holidays without doing some crafting. He’s so eager to craft that he has not one, but two craft boxes in his bedroom and they’re both full to the brim. There’s loads of cute and easy crafting ideas for children of all ages on Pinterest, but I really love these Felt Easter Egg Decorations and this Spring Chick Craft For Kids.

Traditional Egg Dying

I’ve never done this but now Luke’s a little older, I think he’s the perfect age to enjoy dying Easter eggs. We’ve always used poster paints in the past and painted our own designs on the eggs, but this year I’m looking forward to trying the traditional egg dying methods. I love how you can create different patterns using string, tape, elastic bands and bits from nature. Luke’s going to love doing this and it’s a great engaging activity.

Make Easter Bunting

Every year we make our own Easter bunting – it’s become a sort of Easter tradition for us. Sometimes we use ready made packs, like this one from last Easter and other times we embrace the mess and design our own.

Search For Hidden Rocks

Getting outside is the easiest way to keep the children entertained during the holidays. We have loads of local walks and parks near us that are great for hidden rock hunting. Luke loves painting these special stones, photographing them and hiding them for other people to find too. Why not join a local rock hunting Facebook group? It’s a real thrill when someone posts about one of the rocks you’ve painted and hidden. It’s also nice to get out and explore new areas as a family.

Local Events and Days Out

Because Easter is such a long holiday, there’s often loads of activities and events on locally that are great for families. We are lucky to have the Watercress Line locally, which hosts their A Day Out With Thomas over the Easter holidays. Luke’s really excited for that as we’ve been before but he was a little too young to appreciate everything. However, there are always lots of cheap or free activities to keep the kids entertained in local garden centres, children’s centres and schools. My advice would be to keep an eye out in local Facebook groups and start looking for event flyers in local shops.

Cook Something New

Every year I see some seriously good looking Easter treats that I’d love to try and cook! This Easter we’re going to choose one Easter recipe and try to make it ourselves. It’ll be fun to try and make something that we’ve never made before that we wouldn’t usually attempt. It can’t be Easter without Shredded Wheat nests either, right?

Have Movie And Games Day

With spring comes spring showers so you know we’re bound to have a few rainy days. This presents the perfect opportunity to have a movie and games day. Luke’s just old enough now to start playing console games – his favourites are Dreamworks Dragons Dawn Of New Riders on PS4 and, of course, Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee on Nintendo Switch. We are a family of movie lovers so sitting down with a good film is a great way to spend some nice quality time together, and it’s about the only time these days I get a snuggle with my biggest boy. It’s also the perfect excuse to sit down and eat some sweeties!

Basically: play outdoors, eat sweets, try something new and have some quality family time.

Like I said, I really do love the two week long Easter holidays. They’re such a great excuse to eat some tasty treats, try new things and make loads of new memories. I hope you found some inspiration for Easter activities that’ll keep your children entertained throughout the Easter holidays. If you are looking for more inspiration, you could always check out my Easter Pinterest board. Now, onto that giveaway I promised…

Super Sweet Giveaway from Swizzels

If this post has whetted your appetite for a little sweet treat, I have some very good news for you. The lovely people at Swizzels have given me two Retro Sweet Wicker Hampers (RRP £15.99) to give away. Packed with some of their yummiest treats, including tongue-tingling Refreshers, Love Hearts, Parma Violets, Double Dips and Squashies, these hampers would make the perfect Easter gift – or a little indulgence for yourself.

The dimensions of the hamper are: 10.5cm high x 30cm wide x 18cm deep.

Total weight of the hamper is approximately 1.1Kg This is comprised of 735g of sweets, plus the weight of the basket.

Contents may vary but will include a combination of some of the following: 500g assortment of old school classic sweets that includes Love Hearts, Refreshers, Drumsticks, Parma Violets, Double Dip, Double Lollies, Fizzers & Fruity Pops, as well as Rainbow Drops and Squashies.

To enter for your chance to win a Retro Sweet Wicker Hamper, simple read through the T&C’s, ensuring that you understand them, then enter your details and follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget below. The giveaway is open from 05/04/2019 and closes 28/04/2019. The winners will be contacted via email. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions:

You are entering for your chance to win a Retro Sweet Wicker Hamper from Swizzels. There is no cash alternative.

• The giveaway opens 05/04/2019 and closes 28/04/2019 .
• There will be two winners. Each winner will win 1 hamper.
• Winners will be contacted by email and via Twitter (if you have entered via a Twitter option). For this reason, please ensure the information you enter with is valid.
• This giveaway is open to UK residents only.
• Entrants must be 18+.
• If you are prompted to enter a website URL when commenting, please leave this blank if you do not have a blog/your own website (ie. please don’t enter your Facebook account or similar).
• Once the winners have been randomly selected, they will have 1 week to get back in touch with me. If they do not reply after 1 week, I will re-draw and a new winner(s) will be selected. If your name is drawn but you have not adhered to the T&C’s (ie. you live outside of the UK), you will be disqualified and another winner will be drawn.