Easy Easter Traditions for Toddlers

This post is all about easy Easter traditions for toddlers. I’m updating it with a few more ideas and things we’ve been loving over the years. Originally published April 2017.

Happy Easter weekend!

Growing up, Easter was always such a special holiday and, while my kids are still too young to latch onto traditions, I’ve been savoring talking to Lincoln about why we celebrate Easter over the last few weeks.

Recently I’ve heard so many great ideas (on podcasts, on pinterest, talking to friends) for Easter week and Easter Sunday so instead of getting overwhelmed by all the things are aren’t doing this year, I’ve picked a few 5 minutes activities we can implement as our toddler Easter traditions. And hey, if we want to do them again next year, we can. And if not, that’s just fine.

Easy Easter Traditions with Toddlers

Easter outfits+ pictures: I already shared out Easter outfits here a few weeks ago but we’ll all put on matching pastels for Easter Sunday and make the kids endure a few minutes of pictures before choir practice in the morning.

Easter baskets: Growing up the exciting present in our Easter basket was always a box of sugar cereal (the only time of the year my mom bought sugar cereal). Last year Lincoln was too young for cereal but I’m picking up a box of something colorful and sugary for him this year and I hope it means he’ll still eat plain cheerios the rest of the year. I also have a little coloring book for Lincoln and a few plastic eggs I’ll fill with a jellybean or two. Baskets won’t be anything elaborate but I’ll also grab a box of cereal each for me and Ben and maybe a little stuffed animal for Adelaide.

update: we’ve been doing the sugar cereal tradition for a few years and the kids love it. I’m also adding new swimsuits to the baskets this year (something we need but I think they’ll still be excited about). I ordered our new suits off Zulily here, but we’ve also been loving our kids suits from Shein and there are SO many cute options under $10 (and ours have held up to regular washing + wearing better than suits three times their price over the last year and a half).

Shop Shein Girl’s Swim Picks (under $10)

Peep S’mores: Peeps are mostly gross, but I feel like Easter isn’t complete without at least trying one (Peep S’mores sound like the tastiest way to eat them). I’ll have to bust out our mini roasting pots (you can make them for under $5 – tutorial here). We’ve also done peep jousting as an activity in the past and it was a huge hit.

Family Devotional: Most evenings I spend a few minutes reading a scripture story with Lincoln and then we say a prayer and have a few Teddy Grahams before bed (a carry over of our Christmas tradition of acting out the nativity story with our nativity set each evening in December). I haven’t done anything elaborate to prepare for these, but this weekend we’ll focus our three minutes of scriptures + prayer on the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ.

update: My mom sent me this book about the final week of Christ’s life and little devotional ideas for each day. Last year was our first year using it and my 7 year old has been asking all month about specific activities from last year and if we’re doing them again because he’s so excited.

Coloring Easter Eggs: My favorite way we’ve ever dyed eggs is with silk ties (instructions here) but this year with an overeager two year old, we’re going to color Easter egg pictures instead. There are a ton of free printables online and Lincoln will enjoy it just as much and I won’t have to worry about dye all over everything.

More Easy Easter Ideas for Kids:

Easter pajamas! This year my kids have new Hanna Andersson jammies coming in their Easter baskets because we aren’t getting dressed most days. Amazon also has some really cute options.
Sorting Easter Eggs: Let your toddler sort + separate easter eggs by color before you fill them with candy.
Resurrection rolls or Resurrection cookies: We’re trying one of these this year to demonstrate how the tomb was empty when Jesus was resurrected and my kids are so excited.
Paper plate easter bunny craft: This looks super simple (if you have pipe cleaners and pompoms) and so cute.
Holy week devotionals and activities: This year we’ve been doing short daily devotionals following the last week of Christ’s life. This is the book we’ve been using.