Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Easter Egg Games

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Last Easter (pre-blog) M was 2 1/2 and crazy about opening and closing plastic Easter eggs.  He could not stop playing with them.  He was also obsessed with trucks at the time and the idea of flat tires.  Every day he hoped out loud that we would get a flat tire.  Nothing would have made him happier. :)

Well, these loves/obsessions/fantasies of his all came together in my mind one day and I put together a little game for him, which we have been playing all year long.  Seriously.  Our plastic eggs were never put away, and my husband and I now groan whenever M mentions the “flat tire game”.  It is actually pretty fun…  at first.  52 weeks later, it can get a little old. ;)

It has been such a hit that I’ve thought about posting about it before now, but decided to wait until it’s kind of normal to have plastic eggs out and about.  And I’ve changed it up a bit too, with new clip art, which makes it into a brand new game in the mind of a now 3 1/2 old.  (I wish I could share the trucks and flat tires clip art, but I have no idea where I found it!)

This is what the game pieces look like:image

And here’s a color cube (with playing instructions) to go with them:image (If  your plastic eggs are not these particular colors, there’s a black and white version that you can color in.)

Put the game pieces in the eggs; there are 20 chicks and 5 other animals.  The other 5 animals (cow, elephant, giraffe, zebra, and lion) each get their own egg.  You can give each chick its own egg too, or put several in one egg and just a couple in another, etc.   It depends on how long you want the game to last and how many eggs you have on hand.  Place the filled eggs in a basket and mix them around.

To play, each person takes a turn rolling the color cube then selecting an egg of that color.  Open the egg and see what you have.  If it’s a chick, yay!  You get another turn.  Put the chick in front of you and discard the opened egg.  If it’s an animal whose life doesn’t really begin in an egg, your turn is over and it’s the next person’s turn.

Count the chicks at the end and see who has the most!

We’ve played some variations of this, which are just as much fun.  Those variations are explained in the .pdf file.

It's a good game for counting, learning to take turns, and learning that some animals hatch from eggs and others  are born from mamas.

Click here for the printables.

Have a beautiful and fun day! :)

18 comments:

  1. That is so super cute! That will certianly help my 2 year old learn to match colors! Thanks for the great idea!

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  2. ha ha we just had eggs out and all over the place too. I had to sneak them away until Easter. This is an awesome game. I can't wait to try it with B even after Easter. Thanks!

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  3. Okay, so because I'm lazy and don't like paper dice (I've smashed way too many, isn't that sad?), I'm thinking write numbers on the eggs, so they have to find the number on the egg.
    But, that looks like a super fun game!

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  4. Great game! It cracked me up that you never put your eggs away. Ours are not far away, and we played with them several times over the year, but not like this. It reminds me that it's time to start decorating for Easter - how fun.

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  5. Once again Miss Nicole, I LOVE IT. Johnsie loves opening the eggs too.

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  6. That sounds like so much fun and I think its great that you found a way to use the eggs all year. Sometimes I hold back on buying too much holiday stuff because I know that I am only going to use it once a year. My baby is too young to follow directions to a "real" game but I think I'm going to keep the eggs close by so I can use them in a few months :)

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  7. WOW that is awesome!!! My son is 2.5 and this is awesome, especially because my posts lately have been about him learning his colors!!! I hope you don't mind I will probably link back to this and post on it in the next week or two!! Why have my own blog when you have such great ideas!!! hehehehehehehe

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  8. First, I laughed out loud at M wishing for a flat tire! I could hear one of my boys saying that. Second, this is such an incredibly cute game. We will definitely play this next week. Thank you for sharing!

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  9. What a fun game!! I am super excited to play this with my 2 year old I am sure its going to be a big hit!

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  10. This is such a cute game. I'm off to buy some plastic eggs tomorrow!

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  11. What a great game. Last year,I went a little crazy in the post Easter sales in a few of our craft stores and have way too many of those plastic eggs. Your idea is such a great way to put them to good use. Maybe we will be joining you in having our plastic eggs out for the next 52 weeks! Nicole, thank you so much for sharing all of your printables for this. We'll be linking back to you when we play this.

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  12. Thanks for sharing! I love how easy it is to customize this game. I'll be digging out my Easter eggs early this year to try this game!

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  13. This is a great activity! There's so much to learn from it...math, science, social skills, etc. Thanks for the print outs...they can be used so many ways too. If you get a chance, please link this to our math links. It will make a great addition!

    http://joyfullearner.blogspot.com/

    Thanks!

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  14. You mean I am not the only one with plastic Easter eggs still out? Great idea and game! I should get more creative with ours.

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  15. Oh what printables!!! I am SOOO going to have to make this!!!

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  16. Came to your website from heatherlynn.ca Thank you so much for sharing! This is real cute. I'm saving this for next Easter.

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  17. What a cute game! Thanks for sharing!

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