This year, I am super exciting about Easter. Aside from all of the spring-time crafts and food related delicacies that Easter has in-tail, this year Easter also brings a flurry of personal changes — moves, travel, new job, and more.  I am excited to celebrate the change of season, the rebirth of mother nature and individual successes.

One of my biggest blogging struggles is to post holiday related items ahead of time. While many of my recipes will be done on the day of Easter, I’ve decided to compile a post of ideas I’ve come across online or used in the past for this holiday.

The Preschool Easter

Last year, when I worked as a preschool teacher/director at a small preschool in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we celebrated Dusty-Bunny’s birthday around the Easter holiday. This was so much fun, we made carrot cup cakes with the kids, washcloth bunnies and presented Dusty with a giant carrot for his birthday.  By celebrating the school Rabbit, we were able to celebrate spring together.

Washcloth Bunnies:

Auntie Anne’s Crafts has a great link for washcloth bunnies.

To be honest, washcloth bunnies are really above the skill level of most preschoolers. Simply because this project was SO perfect for the occasion, we bent the rules. I really don't recommend this as a true preschool project since many children have not developed the necessary skills to do the project on their own. However, this is a great adult-guided activity and sure to be a huge hit!

You will need:

a wash cloth
rubberband
a 6 inch ribbon
pom-pom 
googly eyes
cotton ball (tail) 
we let the kids use markers and color on the bunny too.

Washcloth Bunny Instructions

Bunny and Carrot Sugar Cookies

Obviously I have a soft spot for rabbits after spending a year with the most gracious bunny, Dusty. When I saw these bunny and carrot cookie cutters at Target, I immediately went home to bake up a storm.

Baking supplies!

I used my usual awesome and dependable sugar cookie recipe.

The frosting needs to dry overnight

In the morning, the frosting will have hardened and makes that perfect bakery purchased sugar cookie that I never thought I could create.

Because I like to try something new every time I bake, I did decide to dye my own sprinkles. I saw some beautiful egg cookies at a Peet’s Coffee in Oakland while apartment hunting last weekend that inspired this idea.

Dye-your-own sprinkles

To dye your own sprinkles:

 1 drop of food dye
 2-3 tbs of sugar

Place a drop of food dye in a small Tupperware container. Add crystals or bag sugar. Seal and shake until dye covers the sugar. This is so much cheaper than purchasing different colors of sprinkles and you can adjust the color intensity simply by adding more dye.

Easter Eggs: 

My easter eggs from 2011

I love dying eggs. I realize that many people outgrow this tradition. I’ve seen some great ideas via pinterest on creative ways to dye eggs.

Here is my favorite: Rubberband easter eggs via the incredible blog “Do it and How”. I am so excited to try this tomorrow when my friends and I dye 48 easter eggs.