Teacher Ink

I’ve been teetering on the fence. Should I have an Easter party with mountains of pastel candy, chocolate and peeps, like every other teacher on Earth?

Or should I skip the sugar and go with crafts and games?

Sugar is evil—everyone knows that, right? 😋

So, what do you think—if I deny kids this old rite of passage would that make me visionary or crotchety?

Umm...after consulting with my homies, I've decided it's a no-brainer.

Here are the BEST healthy, no need to be wealthy, no-candy Easter Egg Stuffers:

dinosaurs
squeeze balls
play dough
robots
parachute soldiers
toy cars
lucky pennies
dice
fun erasers
silly putty
earbuds
super balls
pencil toppers
rubber insects
toys
bottle of bubbles
lucky charms
plastic animals
seashells
stickers
tattoos
slap bracelet
spinning top
novelty rings
gift certificates

Last but not least:

plastic eggs
plastic grass

So, I wrote a little note to the parents asking if they'd like to contribute any of the above for our spring party, enough for the entire class. And boy, did they! I suspect they were thrilled not to have a mountain of candy, too.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easter-Basket-1783450

My kids were enthralled. Pure delight.

While the class sat and did a bunny project, each child walked around the room in turn, like the Easter bunny with a basket of treats, for their friends to choose from and add to their goody bag. For easier management, my kids stuffed toys into a ziploc baggie, to transfer everything into a craft basket later.

Next, for fun and games:

Pin the nose on the bunny
Hot potato Easter Egg hunt--everybody claps louder when the searcher is getting "hot" or closer to finding the egg
Feed the bunny--throw a bean bag into a cut-out bunny mouth on the front of a cardboard box with a rabbit face

And last, to package my Easter Eggs: a fun, easy printable Easter basket.

My new motto is the rather un-poetic, but "someday you'll thank me"-ish...

Crafts not Cavities!

Spring Crafts that will Melt Your Wintery Heart

These spring crafts speak for themselves.

http://teacherink.blogspot.com/2017/03/spring-crafts-that-will-melt-your.html

You hear it, right? The "oooh!" and the "aaaw!" and the mewling high-pitched "mmmm!" that comes from somewhere deep in your gut.

I hear it in my 5-year-olds. That tells me we're hard-wired from a very young age to react to baby chickies, bunnies, and big wiggle eyes. Let's take a closer look.

https://www.pinterest.com/dawn6698/spring-holidays-and-seasons/

Uh-huh! Bunny baskets and plastic grass...

...hand-print bunnies, newspaper bunnies, drizzled-paint bunnies, and photo-face bunnies; Minion eggs, shaving creme eggs, egg ornaments, plastic egg flowerpots; thumb-print blossoms, and magazine butterflies...

...and above all chickies...

Chicks rule!

Come on, let's take a trip over the rainbow, and wade knee deep in a pot of gold...

...chickies. I've collected some of the best, most beautiful spring pins around.

I call it my spring craft museum. So let's blast our favorite music and take a walk-through! Let the oohs and ahhs begin.

Best St. Patrick's Videos for Kids

St. Patrick's is all about the jig, stories, singing and laughing.

Here are some of the best St. Patrick's videos for kids:

1) Counting with a Leprechaun - Irish rap song that gets kids all caught up, counting their gold by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's, with Silvana Macri. There are other versions, but this one takes the cake. (3:09) Addictive verses start:

I'm a lucky, lucky leprechaun, a thousand and one years old
And at the end of the rainbow, I count my lucky gold...

2) Leprechaun's Gold - Old-Fashioned classic Irish Tale of leprechauns and a little boy who wants their gold. It's a 1949 Disney-style Noveltoon that will stand the test of time! (9:24)

3) Dr. Monster: The Leperchaun - Yes, Leper-chaun. A fast-paced, freewheeling, animated rap song by LilDeuceDeuce that's as sophisticated as the listener, and entrancing to a five-year-old. (2:39)

4) St. Patrick's Day For Kids - An Irish Jig song that traces the story of the real St. Patrick, with images of St. Paddy's parades, kids with shamrocks, and cartoon images of St. Pat's life. (1:55)

5) St. Patrick - Super cute, funny and cool, cartoon informational video of the life of St. Patrick, narrated by a non-Irish foreigner, possibly from India; by dcnorton (8:36)

6) Popeye the Sailor Man: The Leprechaun - Popeye and his spinach, an evil witch and her vulture, adorable leprechauns with their pot 'o gold...and a ship. What's not to love? (5:09)

YouTube.com is a great source for videos. Many schools block YouTube, so you’ll have to use your favorite YouTube to MP4 converter to convert the video to an MP4. This is best done at home. Then you can bring the MP4 file on a flash drive to view at school on your SMARTboard or computer.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Irish-Jig-MP3-St-Patricks-Day-Dance-1742377

If you'd like a rousing, hand-clappin', foot-stompin' St. Patrick's Jig--with dance instructions--it's here. Hello, brain break! And not just on St. Paddy's day. Add your own tambourines, chimes and drums for extra fun.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/St-Patricks-Day-Crafts-Activites-Irish-Jig-MP3-1744153

If you'd like to add a St. Paddy's drama for the kids to enact, complete with leprechaun hats, and mini-leprechaun dancing puppets--plus creative writing prompts and gorgeous St. Paddy's writing paper--here's the total St. Patrick's Day Fun experience.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/How-to-Catch-a-Leprechaun-Writing-2410879

For full lessons on How to Catch a Leprechaun, with shamrock-shaped paper for a gorgeous display, try this.

Top o' the mornin' to ya!