S loves Dino World so much that I started contemplating an Easter-themed playmat. If you sew, I am sure that you can create a much prettier version of this mat. As for me, I am terrible at sewing, so for ease and speed, I used the hot glue gun. The total cost to create this mat was under $10 (hooray for felt being really cheap!).
To make this playmat, you'll need:
Around a yard of green felt
Several small sheets of felt in various colors
Pipecleaners
Hot glue gun
3 white pom poms for bunny tails
Polyester stuffing for bunnies (though you could stuff the bunnies with felt scraps)
Shredded paper (though you could stuff the basket with shredded felt)
The main feature of the Easter Bunny Playmat (or Bunny Land, as S has dubbed it) is an Easter Egg hunt. I used two identically sized pieces of green felt and cut slits in the upper sheet. I then glued the two pieces together around the perimeter only. This leaves sneaky little pockets for hiding Easter Eggs. I cut more slits than eggs, just to make it a bit more of a guessing game. Here I caught a picture of S just as she'd hid an egg.
After hiding it, you pat down the slit and it almost disappears.
I also made her three little bunnies, each with distinct features. Making the bunnies was by far the most time consuming part, so if you are crunched for time, you could always omit them. Here's another view of a partially hidden Easter Egg so you can see how the slits work a little better.
I also made a felt Easter Basket with a braided pipe cleaner handle and I stuffed it with some of the shredded paper from our Life-Sized Easter Basket.
And I made a little garden with removable carrots (S discovered the slits were big enough to hide eggs in there as well! Clever girl.).
And, lastly, a hillside burrow for the three bunnies. I did need to use pipe cleaners to reinforce the structure of the burrow.
The burrow also doubles as a good spot to hide eggs. :)
The basket is moveable and S loves to use it to collect the eggs.
She found one!
Now that she thinks she's got them all, she starts to lay them out on the ground. S is great with counting to 10, but from 11-15 is a little, er, fuzzy for her, so I decided to make 15 eggs as a fun way for her to practice those numbers that are a bit trickier for her.
Counting out loud (with a few corrections at the end from Mama), she put all the eggs in order. I love the wavy line she made, and I love that 13 is totally upside down. :)
We were having so much fun, X needed to come check things out. He beelined for the basket first, touching the fuzzy pipecleaners, and then crinkling some of the paper.
He even raided the carrot garden. Poor bunnies!
Bunny Land has been a big hit over here. I love that it folds up to store when you aren't using it (or need to vacuum ). I am planning on putting it away with our Easter decorations and bringing it out again next year. Crazy to think that X will actually be an active participant in next year's Bunny Land play!
Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, yes the dinos have now visited Bunny Land. Apparently dinosaurs really enjoy eating carrots. You learn something new every day! ;)
You can find all of our Easter activities here!
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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children. As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family. I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.
oh my word that just made me want to squeal with delight, what a gorgeous play idea - and the fact that it is no sew makes it so accessible. I'm sharing this on my FB page and the Kids Coop one, thanks for linking up.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Minus the bunnies, it was a quick project, too! Thank you so much for sharing! I'm just getting started, so I SUPER appreciate any sharing!!!! :)
DeleteThis is amazing! I am featuring it on The Sunday Showcase this week. Thank you for linking up!
ReplyDeleteHooray! Thank you!
DeleteWow! that is so cute! I love felt. You can do so much with it!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes! I have a slight felt addiction. Easy to use and cheap = win!
DeleteLove this!! It's so cute!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteThis is so lovely! I really like the little egg hidey-holes.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cathy! I was so thrilled they worked out as well in reality as they did in my head, since that only happens about half the time, hahaha.
DeleteThis is so much fun! Am thinking about bringing the kids to a fabric store tomorrow to buy a big piece of green felt! Do you have any directions or tips on how to make the bunnies? They're adorable!
ReplyDeleteThanks, littlemamabean! So here's how I did the bunnies - I took a piece of felt, folded it in half, and made the shape of the bunny (you can see in the side views). Then I eyeballed a rectangular piece for the bottom and glued the bottom to one side...waited for it to set...then glued the other. I then eyeballed a triangle for the back and the front and put glue on all three sides and held it in place to set. Then I glued along the back to the neck, let it set, and stuffed the body before continuing on to the head - pausing halfway to let the glue set and stuff the head. Once it was all done, I glued some small eyes, some ears, and a pompom tail on. There's a lot of wiggle room with hot glue, thankfully, but because of all the waiting for glue to set the bunnies did take the most time. So be forewarned! I hope you and the littles have fun with it!!! :)
DeleteThis is SO awesome! My kids LOVE to hide eggs but sometimes I can't go out with them like they want me too. Going to do this and will link back to you on my page! Thanks for this great idea! www.becomingblameless.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kyliegh!!! :)
DeleteAbsolutely adorable and creative idea. I love the garden with the fence around it. Please share your posts on Sunday's Best linkup. Starts Saturday nights at 8:00 pm EST. You have great ideas.
ReplyDelete