Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Easter Bunny Finds: No-Sugar Basket Ideas

Want some stuff for the Easter basket that doesn't involve sugar?  I don't know about your children, but sugar has the effect of rocket fuel on my son.  Therefore, I try to minimize sugar consumption as much as I can--I do the raw organic sugary stuff, but it's still sugar.  And because of all the hoopala, it's always harder to manage on holidays.  So here's what I do.  One or two sugary things--a chocolate bunny is fine.  The Easter Bunny also always brings my son a big bunch of fresh organic carrots with the tops (my son gets a huge kick out of this).  To fill the rest of the basket, how about books and toys?



I love these Garden Cards from Barefoot Books.  It's a box of 40 over sized colorful cards with gardening ideas, info, and games.  Perfect for the budding gardener and a great activity for parents to do with kids outside.  For me, Easter is about renewal and life--what better way to celebrate that then get outside and dig in the dirt.  Plant some seeds and nurture life.




This RoboBox Stencil Set fits nicely in a basket and is great for robot obsessed boys (or girls).  They also have a dino box, a zoo box, and a finger painting box.  This is very portable and keeps my son occupied for quite a while while fueling his creativity.
Every year the Easter Bunny brings my son a rabbit-centric book and he gets a big kick out of that.  Big Rabbit's Bad Mood is a funny and unexpected book for the Easter Bunny to bring.  Big Rabbit is in a terrible mood that won't go away, even after watching tv and eating a yummy salad.   I relate to Big Rabbit--sometimes it can be difficult to shake a bad mood!  His appears in the form of a stalky monster.  It's nice for kids to have imperfect characters to look at and in the end, Big Rabbit does conquer his bad mood. 

This Hungry Animals Stencil Set is lightweight and thin and perfect for the basket and later, to travel with. Each animal is fit to scale and they all nest inside one another making a cool looking and compact activity.


Bananagrams are so cute for the basket in their little fruit zipper pouches.  Good for older kids and adults too, the Pear is best for the little ones.  My son loves to make words out of the tiles, they feel great in your hand and build those word skills.

Chalk The Block is a spiral bound book that comes with sidewalk chalk.  This would be fun on Easter Sunday, weather providing, to hang out and decorate the vicinity.  It's very much like the Klutz face painting book that gives you ideas, tells you how to create a look, and includes the medium.  In this case, it's four pieces of chalk.  I love combining art with being outside.  As you can tell from the subtitle, the ideas are pretty humorous, particularly for children.

3 comments:

HiHoRosie said...

What great suggestions! I see a couple I'd like to get. :)

Eco Mama said...

Thank you!
xo

Eco Mama

On Green Carpet said...

Thanks for the nice post!
Our family also always goes out to do some work after Easter breakfast, it's great to be out and work for earth and your own environment!
But I will definitely keep in mind the idea that the chocolate Easter bunny brings fresh carrots, this is great! :)