Easter Fun for Kids

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Let's have some fun with the kids for Easter! I have a couple of delicious ideas that you can make with ingredients you already have on hand. The best part of these recipes is that your children will have as much fun making them as they do eating them. It will be smiles all around as you make these fun Easter treats with your family.

Let's hop to it! We will start with decorated Jell-o jigglers and then make some cute egg shaped cookies. Your imagination is the only limit here. Easter is a great time for making and decorating fun things to eat! Decorating them with the pinks and greens of spring plus all the delightful sprinkles that are available in the stores now make them especially attractive this time of year.

Decorated Jell-o jigglers

4 small pkgs. or 2 large pkgs. Jell-o any flavor

2 1/2 cups boiling water or juice (apple or pineapple are good choices)

To make jigglers:

Completely dissolve gelatin in boiling water or juice.

Pour into 13 X 9 inch pan and/or molds.

Chill until firm, about 3 hours.

To remove jigglers from pan:

Dip bottom of pan in warm water about 15 seconds.

Cut with cookie cutters or cut into 1 inch squares.

Moisten fingers with water and gently lift jigglers from pan.

To remove jigglers from molds:

Dip bottom of molds in warm water about 15 seconds.

Moisten fingers with water and gently lift jigglers from mold.

You can decorate the jigglers for extra fun!

Whipped topping, sprinkles, and gels are wonderful options for decorating your jigglers.

The fun is the limit to the variations for your jigglers!

Egg Shaped Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy in a large mixing bowl.

Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until just combined.

Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture gradually.

Cover and refrigerate dough for at least one hour to make handling dough much easier.

Set oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness.

Cut dough into egg shapes or any shape desired. Plastic eggs make nice cutters.

Place 1 inch apart on greased baking sheet.

Make a hole for the ribbon by piercing a hole near top of cookie with a toothpick.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 8 - 10 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 1 minute before removing from baking sheet.

Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.

Cookie Decorations

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Liquid food coloring

Sprinkles

Gels

Colored ribbon

Pour confectioners' sugar in a mixing bowl.

Add water gradually until it becomes a thick spreading consistency.

Add almond extract.

Add food coloring. Separate icing into different bowls if more colors are desired.

Using a spoon or pastry brush, cover the top of the cookies with the icing.

Add sprinkles to the wet icing.

Store unused icing in airtight container for decorating cookies later.

Allow the icing on the cookies to dry several hours or overnight.

Use gels or remaining icing in a pastry bag to decorate cookies.

Thread a ribbon through the cookie holes.

You are all set to enjoy the cookies by hanging them on an Easter tree or eating them!

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Cadburys Easter Eggs

Cadburys Easter eggs are made at their factory in Minford, Sutton Coldfield in the Midlands, the centre of England. They have been made there since 1993. Easter eggs have been produced by Cadburys since 1875. They had no patterns or carvings on them and were made of dark chocolate and filled with sugar coated chocolate drops.

The first eggs to be decorated were decorated with chocolate piping and marzipan flowers. It didn't take long for many more products to be added to the Cadbury Easter range, and by 1893 nineteen Easter products were in the Cadbury inventory. Richard Cadbury was an artist and was inspired by French, Dutch and German designs though he did adapt his designs on his eggs to something more acceptable to the Victorians.

The first cardboard packaging - filled with assorted chocolates - first appeared in 1906. These were to have a couple of decades in the market and were also exported with great success until the 1950s. 1924 saw Cadbury run a special Easter egg service train so customers in popular resorts in Britain would get their Easter eggs on time.

In 1925 Cadbury were selling 14 Easter lines, including a large egg wrapped in foil and decorated with a bow. Cadbury merged with Fry in 1919 so in reality the product lines were even greater as Fry sold 50 lines including chocolate cream bears, lions and other animals as well as small cream eggs and hollow eggs. Cadbury Crème Eggs are a direct decedent of these and are enjoyed to this day. Cadbury remains the most popular chocolate maker in the UK.

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Fun Games For Kids to Play on Easter

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Easter is the day when you and your family celebrate life, enjoy the brunch and eat lots of chocolates. However, spend the day with family is so much fun than being alone. To cheer up the situation, you can prepare games for the kids and let them enjoy the moment. If you are confused which kind of games you can have, try to use these ideas to make the Easter day more pleasurable.

Hop, Hop Easter Bunny

It is a relay race for two or three groups of children. First of all, divide the children into the groups, and ask them to jump with a plastic, or maybe Styrofoam egg between their knees. They have to reach the certain distance to become a winner. Once a team comes to finish line, they are the winner.

Easter Bowling

Use hard boiled eggs, some colored and one plain. Give the colored eggs to the participants, one person gets one. Then, roll the white one in the center of the room. Take turns to discover who is able to roll the egg closest to the plain one. The shape maybe the vital problems, so you can play it outside the house, perhaps in the backyard. But, you can do it in the living room when the weather doesn't cooperate.

Easter Bunny, Where's Your Egg?

For playing this game, you need large paper egg. Set the players to form a circle with a kid sit in the middle. He will be the bunny. Next, the bunny has to close and cover his eyes at the same time as a player chosen to sit on the egg. After that, all the players say, "Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny, where's your egg? Somebody stole it from your home!"

Subsequently, the Easter bunny has to open the eyes and guess who sit on the egg. If the bunny is successfully answer it, the child who sit on it has to become the new bunny and sit in the middle.

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Easter Egg Decorating

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Easter is fast approaching and if you're trying to get ready, there are probably many things on your To-Do list. Whether you have children or not, Easter egg decorating can be a fun activity and also a wonderful way to decorate your home. You might not realize that there are actually many different ways to decorate Easter eggs. In addition to the eggs themselves, there are many different ways you can display them and decorate them around your home.

For example, you may create an Easter centerpiece for your table. Some people use decorated eggs in an outdoor Easter holiday display. You can create eggs to be given in Easter baskets or given as gifts and you can create Easter eggs that will last for future years and make great home décor.

Now that you know some of the things you can do with your eggs, what are some ways you can decorate them?

Crayon colors
Stickers
Stencils
Sailing ships
Rubber banded eggs
Tie-dyed eggs
Leaf print eggs
Fingerprint eggs
Marbleized eggs
Dots and lines
Tape and paint
And many more

Feel free to be as creative as you'd like with your Easter egg decorating for this is part of the fun and appeal. It can be very exciting to see what types of designs and styles you can come up with.

Here are some additional ideas:

Create Easter eggs with personality- make an Easter egg family (mom, dad, children, grandparents, etc) or Dr and Nurse Egg, etc
Create blown eggs so that they can be kept for many years and not go bad
Create planter pots out of your painted eggshells by breaking the top and putting a small plant inside

Did you know that you can even decorate your Easter eggs with common things you see and find around your home? Before your next egg-decorating session, search your home and try to round up:

Bubble packaging
Aluminum foil
Rubber bands
String and ribbon
Tissue paper
Light bulb sleeves
Glitter
Sequins

You may even come up with some ideas of your own when you start collecting these things. Remember when you work with real eggs that you should boil them for about 15 minutes and then allow them to cool completely before getting started. Always protect your work area and your clothing if you will be working with paints. Never eat an egg that was painted with acrylics or non-food grade dyes.

We hope you enjoy these ideas and have a wonderful, safe Easter holiday!

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Easter Egg Decor

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Instead of buying Easter Eggs from the market, won't it be great if you could create your own "funky designs" at home? Sounds great, doesn't it! Every year, going to the same store and succumbing YOUR ingenuity to THEIR creativity is not such a cool idea. Not for me at least. So this year, create your own funky designer Easter eggs.

The very first step for Easter egg preparation is Boiling the Egg.

Before that, check if the eggs are fresh using a simple cold water test. Put the egg in a glassful of water. If it sinks at the bottom, it is fresh. However, if it sinks with its smaller side up, it can be used. Otherwise, try getting fresher eggs. This is important as otherwise you will end up with a greenish yolk.

Now put the fresh eggs in a large bowl (for bowling) and pour cold water over them. The water level should be such that it completely immerses all the eggs. Make sure you use as many eggs as your bowl can support. Do not let the eggs be over each other.

Give them a boil, and let them stay in the hot water for about 15 minutes.

For painting the eggs, you can use any food colors, liquid or paste and any decorative items like glitter according to your wish.

Once you have the right eggs boiled for the right amount of time, rest is all your imagination.

The significance of eggs is different for different people.

Some believe that the egg symbolizes the Resurrection of Christ and its shell, His tomb.

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The Golden Egg (Templar)

The Golden Egg (Templar) Review

The Golden Egg (Templar) Feature

• ISBN13: 9780811828376
• Condition: USED - Very Good
• Notes:

The Golden Egg (Templar) Specifications

Imagine waking Easter morning to find a basket with jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chicks... and a pretty, sparkly lift-the-flap Easter book! The Golden Egg, while no literary gem, is sure to be appealing to young readers with an eye for all that glitters. Simple rhyming verse tracks Little Duck as she searches high and low for a very special golden Easter egg. Along the way, she elicits the help of a fluffy chick, darling lambs, an elegant swan, and a bevy of bunnies. "They stop beside a babbling brook,/ and Duck lets out a 'Quack!'/ Swan is swimming down the stream,/ and cradled on her back,/ there is an egg so dazzling,/ so bright it makes them blink./ But is it gold? 'Oh, no,'/ says Swan..." (lift the flap) "'My egg is rosy pink!'" Alas, although the eager crew finds dazzling purple, green, blue, silver, and pink decorated eggs, there's nary a golden egg to be found. But the Goose upon her nest reveals something even better--a chocolate egg!

The conclusion is a trifle bewildering (could the moral really be all that glitters is not gold, but sometimes is chocolate instead?), but this book is appealing and attractive with plenty of shiny allure and interactive fun. Children will love participating in the page-turning Easter egg hunt, peering behind potted plants and cattails to see if they can find the elusive golden egg. (Baby to preschool)

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Cake Decorating Ideas For All Occasions

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You really don't need a special occasion to decorate a cake, but some events that can be made unforgettable and extra special with a decorated treat are holidays, birthdays, graduations, religious occasions, showers, weddings, and other personal special events.

Here are some cake decorating ideas that will help you make any occasion special:

New Year's Champagne Toast

Bake one 9-in. round and one 9x12-in. rectangle cake.

Cut the round in half. Use one half for the top of the champagne glass.

Cut a 2 or 3-inch long strip for the stem of the glass and a 2 x 4-inch section for the base of the glass. Piece them together to form the champagne glass. To be sure all the pieces stay together, lightly frost each piece separately before you piece them together.

Place the pieces on a cake board. Ice the top part (straight edge) of the half-round cake and the stem and base sections in white icing. Ice the bottom part (rounded edge) of the half-round cake in light yellow or light pink icing to resemble champagne.

Easter Egg Hunt (So easy kids can do it!)

Bake 6 large muffins. Cool and frost them with green icing. Generously sprinkle green shredded coconut* on top of the frosting to resemble grass. Place colored jelly beans within the coconut so they are half-hidden. Place small bunny toppers on the top of the muffins so they look as if they are finding the jelly beans.

*To tint shredded coconut, place coconut in a plastic bag. Add a few drops of food color. Knead color into coconut. Dry on waxed paper.

Spooky Halloween Brownies (Let the kids help!)

Bake your favorite brownies. When cooled, cut into 3-inch circles, using a cookie cutter or a pattern and sharp knife. Place a Halloween stencil (available in most stores) in the center of each brownie. Sprinkle the stencil with confectioner's (powdered) sugar. Remove the stencil. Edge the top and the bottom of brownie with tip 14 white icing stars.

Shiny Christmas Ornament

Bake a one or two-layer round cake. Ice the cake smooth with white icing. Pipe tip 5 white icing lines across the top at 1-inch intervals. Vary the shapes of the lines, making one straight, one zigzag, one curvy, etc. to resemble decorations on an ornament. Randomly pipe tip 5 icing balls and tip 16 stars between the lines also to resemble decorations.

ADULT BIRTHDAY / SPECIAL OCCASION

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

Bake a heart-shaped cake and a heart-shaped mini-cake. Ice the larger cake smooth with pink icing. Place the mini-cake in the center of the larger cake. Cover the mini cake in tip 16 red icing stars. Add a tip 14 red icing shell border at the bottom of the mini cake and a tip 16 red icing shell border at the top and the bottom of the large cake. Write your message in pink with tip 3 on the mini-cake.

KIDS BIRTHDAY

Rainbow Train

Bake four mini-loaf cakes. (about 3-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches each.)

Ice each one smooth - one with red icing, one with blue icing, one with green icing, and one with yellow icing. Use the cake iced in red as the engine: Make a smokestack for the engine with 2 large marshmallows. Frost them together with green icing. Attach the marshmallows to the top of engine with a toothpick. Using green icing, attach a piece of white curly ribbon or candy on the top of the smokestack for smoke and attach two white or yellow gum drops to the front of the engine for headlights. With a spatula, place a small mound of yellow icing on top of the yellow car; add small chocolate chips to resemble coal. Place two or three small plastic cars on top of the blue car. Stick small stick candies, such as licorice pieces on top of the green car to resemble metal parts. Decorate the sides of the cars with various small hard candies for decorations. For wheels: With icing the same color as the car, attach 4 large candy discs, such as peppermint swirls, to the bottom of each car. Connect the cars with one-inch licorice whips or pretzel sticks.

Up! Up! And Away

Bake two each: tulip, flower, butterfly and dragonfly cookies (eight total) and a 9x12-in. rectangle cake. Ice the cookies smooth in various pastel colors with thinned royal icing.** Decorate the iced butterfly cookie with tip 3 colored icing dots.

Ice the bottom half of the 9x12-in. cake smooth with green icing and the top half smooth with light blue icing to resemble grass and the sky. Place two small mounds of white icing on the blue half for clouds. Pat down "the clouds" with your fingers dipped in cornstarch. Place the tulip and flower cookies in the "grass" and pipe tip 3 green stems and leaves, if necessary. Place the one butterfly cookie near the flower cookie and the other butterfly cookie and the dragonfly cookies in the "sky." Write your message on the cake with tip 3 white icing.

**Royal Icing Recipe

2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

2 scant tablespoons meringue powder

3 tablespoons water

Beat all the ingredients a low speed until the icing forms peaks.

(Makes about 1-1/2 cups)

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