How to Make an Easter Garden - Natural Small World for Play

Easter is a time of reflection and renewal, a time to celebrate the values of sacrifice, love, and compassion. As parents and caregivers who celebrate Easter, it is important to introduce young children to the true story of Easter and help them understand the significance of this holiday beyond egg hunts and chocolate bunnies. One creative way to do this is by creating a small Easter garden together, where children can learn about the true story of Easter and the significance of the Resurrection while getting their hands dirty with soil and working with plants. This interactive experience not only provides a fun and engaging way to teach children about the holiday, but also allows them to connect with nature and foster a deeper understanding of the themes of renewal and rebirth. By engaging in this creative and educational activity, children can learn important values such as selflessness, love, and gratitude while also nurturing their connection to nature and the world around them.

By emphasizing the story of the Resurrection and its message of hope, new beginnings, and renewal, we can instill in children a deeper understanding of the spiritual and symbolic aspects of the holiday. By making the focus on the Resurrection during Easter with young children, we can help them develop a strong foundation of faith and a meaningful connection to the core message of the holiday.

After reading and discussing the story of resurrection we thought of elements that should be included in the Easter garden – tomb, rock, cross, and hill. Creating small worlds together with kids gives them the perfect opportunity to think creatively. Children love engaging with little world play scenes – it is a beautiful platform where they can use their imagination to play and explore freely.

While working together on a project, it is essential to focus on the process and not so much on the result. It is also necessary to remind children that we need to put our best effort into everything that we do. We talk about textures, discuss what’s coming next and brainstorm ways to complete the task.

With older children, it is great to start the whole project a bit earlier – plant seeds and watch the garden grow. We decided to speed up the process and went to a garden shop to choose plants for our Easter garden.

Materials we used to make an Easter garden:

ferns to cover the tomb
grass
white flowers
plastic bowl
two sticks to make a cross ( we just hammered them with nails, but wood glue or tying sticks together with a piece of string works too)
pot for a tomb
garden rock
garden tools
soil

Here is what we did:

picked a wide plastic bowl – something we had at our disposal. It worked like a charm because the grass had quite deep roots. Next time I plan to use something not so deep, probably a wide garden planter will do a great job – something we can use for feeding wild birds later on.

filled gaps between plants with soil
made a cross with two sticks

We will make sure to water our garden daily and hopefully, it will last for some time. I find it very effective to combine story-telling with hands-on sensory experiences – activities that involve as many senses as possible.

We wish you a wonderful Easter!

easter resources you might find helpful

fruits of the spirit 3 part cards printable

Easter Pack – Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Folder Busy Book

Easter-themed learning activity pack for Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten children aged 3-5. The Easter learning folder contains printables to create a wide range of hands-on experiences for young children. Students will explore various math concepts, such as odd and even numbers, work with CVC words, practice simple subtraction and addition operations, explore the Easter Story, work on sequencing skills, improve their fine motor, work on storytelling, and develop logical thinking, and so much more.

Here is what’s included:

Simple subtraction
Simple addition
Picture puzzles
Egg match-up activity
Number puzzles with odd and even numbers
Heavy or Light? activity
Bunny match up
Small, medium, large soring activity
Shape sorting activity – (4 shapes – pentagon, triangle, circle, and square)
Initial, middle, and final sound activity with CVC words
ABC capital and lower case letters matching activity
Easter-themed matching activity
Assemble the Easter Basket activity
Parts of a chick – poster, label cards, worksheet for coloring, tracing, and independent writing
Fine motor transferring activity
Carrot life cycle – poster, picture cards, and student worksheet
Easter fine motor tracing, coloring, painting printouts
Resurrection Sunday 3 part cards and student booklet
Instructions