Children’s University Australia Easter Holiday Activities

Complete as many activities as you can from the booklet, then return to your school’s CUA Coordinator to earn 30 minutes for each activity and a stamp in your passport!

Activity 1 – Term 1 Rewind! Congratulations – you’ve almost made it a quarter of the way through the school year! Answer the below questions to tell us about how your first term is going. What is your favourite memory from Term 1? Who was your best friend this term? What did you like about them? What is one thing you have learned this term? What has been your favourite CUA activity this term?

Activity 2 – Easter Word Find

Activity 3 – Symmetrical Pattern Eggs

Symmetrical designs are identical on both sides. Use the grid lines to complete the symmetrical pattern on the egg, then colour it in!

Activity 4 – Easter Around the World Easter is a celebration that is shared around the world. There may be differences in how people celebrate and what traditions are involved, but the phrase “Happy Easter!” is constant – although it sounds a little different! Use your research skills to match the “Happy Easter” to its native language

Chinese Gelukkige Paasfees

Spanish Eyd Fasf Saeid

Japanese Frohe Ostern

Arabic Buona Pasqua

Italian Gelukkig Pasen

French Īsutā, omedetō

Swedish Felices Pascuas

Dutch Fùhuó jié kuàilè

Afrikaans Glad påsk

German Joyeuses Pâques

Activity 5 – Easter Hunt! Treasure hunts are a common event around Easter. Usually held on Easter Sunday, people take time to ‘hunt’ around their house for gifts left behind by the Easter Bunny. You can include anything in the hunt – cards, painted eggs, chocolate and Easter crafts are good ideas. From a birds-eye view (that means, as if you were looking down from above), draw a map of your house below and show the hunter where they can find the gifts you have hidden for them!

Activity 6 – Comprehension

Read the passage below about the origins of Easter, then answer the

questions on the following page.

What does a rabbit who hides eggs and candy have to do with the

Christian holiday of Easter?

Long ago the people in northern Europe celebrated a springtime holiday

when they honoured the goddess of spring. They called this goddess

"Eastre." It was believed that Eastre’s symbol on earth was a rabbit.

There are many myths about the goddess Eastre and her rabbits. One

story says that Eastre magically turned a bird into a rabbit. The rabbit

began to lay coloured eggs and Eastre gave away the eggs to children.

Later, children believed that the Easter Bunny would leave them

coloured eggs if they were good, and they left out their Easter bonnets

and caps for the gifts.

The Easter bunny was introduced to America by German settlers who

arrived during the 1700s. Germans were also the ones who made the

first candy Easter bunnies. They were made of pastry and sugar. It

wasn't until later in the 1800s that chocolate was used.

Question 1: When were chocolate Easter bunnies invented?

Question 2: Is this fiction or non-fiction?

Question 3: What did the goddess Eastre do with the coloured

eggs?

Question 4: What animal is associated with Eastre, the goddess

of spring?

Question 5: How did the idea of the Easter Bunny get to

America?

Activity 7 – Science Eggs-periment

Aim: To describe the effect of vinegar on a hard-boiled eggshell.

Materials

One hard-boiled egg

White vinegar

Clear glass

Tablespoon

Plate

Method

Pour vinegar into glass until it is half full

Add the boiled egg to the glass so that it is underneath the vinegar

Record what you see in the space below

Leave the egg in the glass for 24 hours

Use a tablespoon to remove the egg from the glass

Pick the egg up with your fingers and feel it

Record what the egg feels like

Leave the same egg on the plate for a day

Pick the egg up with your fingers and feel it

Record what the egg feels like

Results

What happened when you put the egg in the vinegar?

How did the egg feel after sitting in the vinegar overnight?

How did the egg feel after sitting on the plate overnight?

What happened?

Eggs contain something called "calcium carbonate". This is what makes them hard. Vinegar is an acid known as

acetic acid. When calcium carbonate (the egg) and acetic acid (the vinegar) combine, a chemical reaction takes

place and carbon dioxide (a gas) is released. This is what the bubbles are made of.

The chemical reaction keeps happening until all of the carbon in the egg is used up -- it takes about a day. When

you take the egg out of the vinegar it is soft because all of the carbon floated out of the egg in those little bubbles.

After you leave the egg on the plate, the calcium left in the egg shell stole the carbon back from the carbon dioxide

that's in the air we breathe.

Activity 8 – Peg Eggs!

In this simple craft activity, you will create a moving Easter egg using

some craft paper and a clothesline peg.

Materials

Clothesline peg (preferably wood so you can decorate it)

White paper/cardboard

Glue

Scissors

Colour pencils and/or texta

Method

Step 1 – Draw an egg on your white paper/cardboard. You can choose

the size, but it should be no longer than 10cm from top to bottom.

Step 2 – Decorate the egg using the pencils/textas.

Step 3 – Cut out the egg, then cut a zig-zag across the centre so it looks

like the egg is cracked.

Step 4 – Glue each piece of the egg onto the end of the peg. See the

picture on the next page

Step 5 – Your egg is now ready! For an extra challenge you can draw

and cut out a picture of a small chicken or rabbit, then glue it to the egg

to make it look like it is perched inside!

Activity 9: Easter Basket

Easter baskets are a great way to present gifts to your family/friends

at Easter time. Cut out the template on the next page, and follow the

below instruction to create your own.

1. Print out one of the three basket templates listed at the bottom of the page.

2. Cut out the basket and handle along the solid lines around the edge. When you are cutting out the basket it is important not to cut along the dotted lines as these are fold lines. Ask an adult to help you if you’re not confident with your cutting.

3. Colour in the design and write your Easter message.

4. Fold along the dotted lines.

5. Apply glue to the bottom flaps and side flaps to stick the basket together.

6. Put glue on the ends of the handle and stick them on the inside of the basket.

7. Allow the glue to dry, then put some shredded paper or tissue paper into the basket and arrange an Easter egg on top.

Activity 10: Eggshell Mosaic

Next time you bake a cake don't throw away the egg shells - use them to create a lovely eggshell mosaic picture! Perfect as an Easter or spring craft.

Materials

Egg shells from three (or more) eggs

Food colouring

Paper Glue

Something to draw with

Method

Wash the egg shells really well and remove as much of the membrane (gooey stuff inside the shell) as you can

Crush the egg shells, then split them evenly into three (or more) zip lock bags

Pour vinegar into each bag so that it covers the egg shells

Add a tablespoon of food colouring (different colours) into each bag

Stand the bags up in a tray so that they don’t make a mess, and leave to sit overnight. Give the bags a shake every few hours if possible.

Drain the vinegar out of each bag, and leave the shells to dry in an oven tray. Too speed up the drying, you can ask an adult to bake them in an oven for 30 minutes at 100◦C

While the egg shells are drying, draw the outline of your picture on a piece of paper

Use the dried, coloured eggshells to fill in your picture. Do this by gluing the paper, then sticking the shells onto that. See below for some examples!