Easter Basket Ideas (No Candy or Treats)

Are you interested in creating an Easter basket that the kids will love without candy, sugar and chocolate? We’ve got you covered! Here are a few Easter basket ideas and easy-to-plan activities that will keep the kids happy and busy this holiday.

Mealtime Basket: Easter is all about food and family time. So why not make your Easter basket mealtime themed? Fill a basket with a few favorite foods + some functional mealtime products!

• Pre-Feeding: Give the gift of pre-feeding skills by adding tools that help to demonstrate a baby's readiness to eat and drink safely and successfully. The ezpz Oral Development Tools (ODT’s) and Tiny Pops can help baby achieve these critical skills for mealtime development.
• Baby: Combine the First Foods Set with a few fresh avocados and bananas. Voila! Baby and parents have what they need to get baby started on their first bites!
• Toddler: Make toddler meals more fun and functional with the Mini Cup + Straw Training System and the Mini Feeding Set. Throw in some bunny shaped Mac & Cheese and you'll have them scooping with their new utensils in no time.
• Preschoolers: Get those kiddos in the kitchen and have them help with meal prep! They can even work on independently serving themselves while using the Happy Feeding Set.

Sensory Basket: Sensory fidgets are tools that can help keep kids calm and focused. Fidgets can be especially helpful during the Easter holiday, as over-stimulated children need a healthy distraction. Here are a few ideas on how to fill your sensory basket:

• Plastic Eggs: Fill plastic Easter eggs with a variety of sensory fidgets such as squeeze balls, fidget spinners and silicone toys like the Micro Mat. Fidgets can help decrease Easter party anxiety and be a great conversation starter with other children.
• Basket Fillers: Add sensory activities to the Easter basket, such as ‘touch and feel’ books, play dough, slime, card games and scratch & sniff stickers.

Craft Basket: I personally like to fill Easter baskets with a dozen eggs (already boiled). Then I fill the basket with a variety of stickers, stamps and temporary tattoos. This is the perfect activity for little ones to make their own designer eggs!

• Stickers: Make sure to get small sized stickers. Large stickers won’t fit around the egg and are unable to lie flat.
• Stamps: Purchase stamps that are small but can hold plenty of ink. Be sure to purchase a variety of ink pad colors for the basket, too.
• Tattoos: Temporary tattoos on eggs are my favorite! I remember how thrilled my nephew was when he found my Superhero-themed eggs, which I made using tattoos.
• Play Mat: Keep your child’s crafting tools organized and mess free by also gifting the Play Mat or Mini Play Mat. The stickers, stamps, tattoos and eggs will all a place in the flower compartments of this adorable crafting mat.

Fine Motor Basket: I have a huge collection of wind-up toys, and they are always a hit with the kids I work with in feeding therapy. The fine motor skills needed to play with this type of toy can strengthen their hands or ‘warm-up’ fingers before using utensils at mealtime.

• Easter: Easter-themed (rabbit, chick, bunny) wind-up toys are easy to find at your local dollar store.
• Sports: You can find a variety of toys based on teams, mascots or sports.
• Animals: I have to buy unicorns and horses in bulk because the kids I work with beg me to keep them in stock!

Which basket will you try this year? Share your Easter tips and pics with us using the hashtag #ezpzfun.