by Rachel Wells
The Easter egg hunts have happened, now what do you do with all those empty plastic eggs laying around your house? Not to worry – there are plenty of awesome ways to re-purpose these magical little containers!
We know you are going to love all the creative ways plastic eggs can be used to help kids practice math and literacy skills, explore STEM, and create adorable crafts.
Check out some fun ideas below:
Puzzle Pieces
Place one or two puzzle pieces (depending on the puzzle size) in each of your plastic eggs. Hide the eggs, and have your child find all of them in order to put the puzzle together.
Sink or Float
Give your child some plastic eggs and ask them to fill them with items from around the house (like coins, marbles, pom-poms, erasers, etc.) Fill up a bowl of water and let them guess which eggs will sink or float before testing them out.
Word Family Spinners
On the large side of a plastic egg write a word family ending (at, in, op, etc.) and on the small side put beginning letter sounds. Have your child spin the egg to make different combinations of letters and read the words they create.
Sorting Parts of Speech
Write examples of nouns, adjectives, verbs, pronouns, articles, adverbs, or whatever other parts of speech you choose on individual pieces of paper. Put one paper in each egg and hide the eggs around your space. Children will search for the eggs and then sort the papers inside depending on which part of speech they represent.
Play Hide and Seek
You will need the large half of three plastic eggs and a small item (pom-poms work great because they’re quiet) for this activity. Write one sight word on each of the three egg pieces. To play the game, hide the pom-pom under one of the eggs and mix them around on the table. The object of the game is for your child to guess which egg the pom-pom is hiding under by saying the word on it before picking it up to check underneath.
Math Facts Match
On one half of the eggs write math problems, and on the other half write solutions. Have your child match the correct equations to their answers.
Lightening Bugs
These adorable little crafts are sure to be a hit. Inside the egg place a small battery operated tealight candle. Use duct tape to add wings, a small pipe cleaner through the holes to make antennas, and hot glue on some googly eyes. Turn the tealight on and fly your adorable lightening bug around the house.
Egg-xercise
Write physical activities on pieces of paper and put one paper inside each egg. Have your child choose one at a time to open up and complete the physical activity together.
Tower Stacking
Separate the eggs in two pieces and see how high of a tower you can stack with the halves. Is it easier to stack the large or small pieces?
Egg Catapult
Build a simple catapult using popsicle sticks, rubber bands, tape, and half of a plastic egg. Use candies or pom-poms to test it out!
Guess the Inside
Take turns filling plastic eggs with items from around the house. If you aren’t the one filling the eggs you have to try figure out what’s inside by shaking them.
Parachutes
Using egg halves, plastic straws, yarn, and coffee filters have your child design a parachute that can carefully land a Lego person or other small figurine safely on the ground.
Musical Maracas
To make these egg maracas you will need some beans or rice, plastic spoons, and tape. Fill the eggs with the beans or rice (or other small items) and tape the egg between two plastic spoons. Experiment with different fillers and see which makes the best sound.
