Easter is one of the harbingers of spring. Making Easter-themed crafts to decorate your home, to add to your Easter meal, or to spend time with your family and grandkids is a great way to celebrate the holiday and the coming warmer days. Check out these fun spring and Easter DIY projects perfect for seniors...and the rest of the family.
Easy Easter crafts ideas for seniors (and the rest of the family)
The best craft ideas for seniors are those that help older members of the family share their memories and experiences with younger family members, while also having fun. These activities are also designed to keep the oldest and youngest members of the family safe while keeping them active and engaged. These crafts even work if the older members of the family reside in an assisted living facility.
- Decorating plastic Easter eggs. While decorating real eggs can be messy and potentially hazardous (all of that hot water), decorating plastic eggs is safe as well as festive. We suggest wrapping the eggs with canvas strips and securing the strips with a little glue. These strips can then be painted with colorful designs. Alternatively, family members can cut flower petals out of canvas and glue them on the plastic eggs and then paint the petals.
- Eggshell gardens. Save those eggshells and use them as a biodegradable container for seeds and small seedlings. In most parts of the US, Easter time is still a little early to be planting outdoors in the garden. However, your eggshell garden can live in an egg carton for a few weeks until it's time to transfer them into the ground.
- Tabletop Easter tree. If your yard is like most Northern US yards in the early spring, there are plenty of branches lying on the ground after the snow has melted. Bring a medium-sized branch inside to use as an Easter tree. Put the branch in a clean, decorative bucket with some clean sand to hold it upright. Use origami birds, the decorated plastic eggs you made in craft #1, or other Easter-themed items to decorate the tree.
- Bunny treat cups. Snacks are an important part of any Easter celebration. You can nibble a little before the big dinner, while you are watching Easter movies or with family at the end of the day. Make bunny treat cups with a paper cup, some felt, some cotton balls, and some white and pink construction paper. Cut out a white rabbit shape leaving two "wings" to wrap around the cup. Glue on a pink felt nose and pink felt insets in the ears. Add a cotton ball for a tail. Fill the cups with pretzels, candy, Chex mix, or other snacks.
- Yarn egg wreath. If you want a craft that will occupy a week or more and result in a festive Easter decoration or gift, making a yarn egg wreath is an excellent choice. You need a wreath frame, a supply of yarn, several dozen foam eggs, and some ribbon, if desired. To construct the wreath, you wrap the individual eggs tightly with the yarn until all the foam is covered, securing the yarn ends with straight pins. A medium-sized wreath can take between 80 and 100 eggs. When the eggs are completed, you use a glue gun to attach them to the wreath frame. You can use the ribbon to make a bow for the top of the wreath or to make a hanger, if desired.
- Easter themed scrapbooks. One of the best types of Easter crafts for seniors are those that spark memories and give seniors an opportunity to share their memories with the younger generations. Scrapbooking is one such craft. To do this, select an album with an Easter themed cover. Go through old family photos and select ones that everyone would like included in the scrapbook. Have each person share a memory associated with each photo. This is a craft/activity that can become a tradition by adding new photos to the album each year.
- Jordan almond chicks. This edible craft shared by "Woman's Day" magazine, is easy, fun and can make a nice addition to your Easter table. Start with a good selection of pastel Jordan almonds. Use an edible marker to make two dots on each almond for the eyes. Make up a batch of orange or yellow royal icing and pipe a tiny bit on each almond to make the beak. Let the icing dry for 15 minutes or so and place the almonds in a festive, Easter bowl.
Easter is a great time for crafts, especially colorful crafts that help brighten up the drab late winter landscape. For seniors, choose crafts that are somewhat easy to do to build the individual's sense of accomplishment, that can be worked on together with other members of the family and that help the individual remember and share memories of their lives.
