Tapestry of Faith: Chalice Children: A Program about Our Unitarian Universalist Community for Preschoolers

Activity 5: Baskets

Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Baskets, one for each child
  • Basket decorations such as ribbon, pipe cleaners, strips of foam, markers, fake flowers
  • Artificial grass ("Easter grass")
  • Masking tape, adult scissors, and a black marker
  • Paper towels, moistened; a trash bag with liner; and a recycle bin
  • Optional: White paper lunch bags, color markers, and stickers

Preparation for Activity

  • Obtain strawberry boxes or purchase inexpensive baskets from a thrift store or dollar store. You can give each child a white paper lunch bags instead of a basket.
  • Purchase artificial grass ("Easter grass") and decorations.
  • Set decorations on trays for two or three children to share, and place trays on activity tables.

Description of Activity

Children decorate a basket to use with Easter egg games in Activity 6, Circle Games.

Invite the children to the activity table. Encourage them to decorate a basket that they will use later to play games. Demonstrate how they might weave foam strips or ribbon into the basket or create shapes with pipe cleaners to attach to their basket.

Give each child a fistful of Easter grass to put in their basket when they are done decorating. Place a tag of masking tape on the finished basket and write the child's name on it. Encourage the children to help with clean-up.

Including All Participants

If the group includes children who have difficulty with fine motor manipulation, invite children to work in pairs to decorate two baskets.