Easter is a wonderful time to engage children in fun and educational activities. For children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), multisensory activities can be particularly effective in developing essential skills such as sensory processing, hand-eye coordination, gross and fine motor skills, and creativity. As a parent or caregiver of a child with SEND, finding suitable Easter activities can be challenging. In this blog post, we have compiled a list of 10 multisensory Easter activities that you can do with your child at home. These activities are designed to be fun, engaging, and developmentally appropriate for children with SEND, helping them to learn and grow while having a great time.
1. Easter Egg Hunt
Got to start with a classic! Hide colourful Easter eggs in different areas of the house or garden for children to find. It's probably best to use wooden or plastic eggs as opposed to chocolate ones! This activity helps develop sensory skills such as visual perception, hand-eye coordination, and tactile perception.
2. Easter Sensory Bin
Fill a plastic bin with materials that are Easter-themed such as plastic eggs, shredded paper, and little chicks. Encourage children to touch and explore the contents, which can help develop their sensory processing skills.
3. Easter Eggs Bingo
If regular bingo cards aren’t what you’re looking for, then these Easter-themed bingo sheets may be special enough to catch your eye! Your kiddos will have to listen for the colour combination and see if they have it on their bingo card. Who’ll be the first to get a full house?!
4. Easter Storytelling
Read or tell Easter stories to children, and encourage them to use their imaginations to visualize the story. This activity can help develop language and listening skills. Some stories I personally love are;
5. Egg Decorating
Provide children with boiled eggs and decorating materials such as markers, stickers, and paint. For those who may find fine motor skills more challenging, try one of these spinning egg decorators. This activity can help develop their fine motor skills and creativity.
6. Easter Baking
My favourite lessons at school (and some of my fondest memories at home) were ones where I got to cook! Baking Easter-themed treats is a great way to help develop children's sensory skills, encourage independence and life skills and it's a great outlet for creativity. I highly recommend some of the following recipes;
Carrot cake
7. Easter Arts & Craft
Aside from decorating eggs, there are plenty of other great resources and craft projects that children can get involved with to celebrate Easter. Here are just a few of my favourites from other blogs;
8. Easter Sensory Bottles
Create Easter-themed sensory bottles by filling clear plastic bottles with items such as plastic eggs, glitter, and beads. These bottles can help develop children's sensory processing skills and they are also a fantastic calm-down accessory for when children are feeling overwhelmed.
9. Bunny Hop
Play a game of "Bunny Hop", potentially incorporating the Easter music, where children have to hop like bunnies from one spot to another. This activity can help develop gross motor skills and coordination. To make things more challenging, you could number the spots and ask children to jump to even numbers, odd numbers or in ascending/descending order etc.
10. Easter Scavenger Hunt
Create a scavenger hunt where children have to search for Easter-themed items such as chocolate bunnies, Easter eggs, and other Easter-themed items. This activity can help develop their visual perception and problem-solving skills. Again, to make things more challenging, you could have riddles or questions that lead to hiding places, which will work on logical thinking and verbal processing.
