Helpful Hints 

Easter Craft Ideas

Easter is a great time to get creative without needing a specialized craft kit or a trip to the hobby store. Most of these rely on "recycling bin" treasures and basic kitchen staples.

Here are four simple, low-resource Easter crafts for the family:

1. Toilet Paper Roll Bunnies

The humble cardboard tube is the MVP of at-home crafting.

• What you need: Empty toilet paper rolls, markers, and scissors.
• How to do it: 1. Flatten one end of a roll and cut two "ear" shapes out of the top (leaving them attached at the base) or cut two strips from a second roll to glue on as ears. 2. Draw a face with markers. 3. If you have cotton balls, glue one on the back for a tail.
• Why it's great: It takes five minutes and makes for cute table decor.

2. Shaving Cream Marbled Eggs

If you want "fancy" looking eggs without the expensive dye kits, check your bathroom cabinet.

• What you need: Shaving cream (the foamy kind, not gel), food coloring, and hard-boiled eggs (or paper cutouts).
• How to do it: 1. Fill a shallow tray with shaving cream. 2. Drop dots of food coloring on top and swirl them with a toothpick. 3. Roll the egg through the foam, let it sit for 10 minutes, then wipe clean.
• Note: If you plan on eating the eggs, use whipped cream instead of shaving cream to keep them food-safe!

3. Masking Tape Resist Art

This is perfect for toddlers because it’s impossible to "mess up."

• What you need: Paper, masking tape (or painter's tape), and crayons or paint.
• How to do it: 1. Cut a large egg shape out of paper. 2. Criss-cross strips of tape across the egg to create patterns. 3. Have your child color or paint over the entire egg, tape and all. 4. Peel the tape away to reveal crisp, white geometric patterns underneath.

4. Potato Stamp Eggs

No stamps? No problem. Check the pantry.

• What you need: One large potato, a knife (for the parent), and paint.
• How to do it: 1. Cut the potato in half. 2. Carefully carve simple lines or dots into the flat surface of the potato. 3. Dip the potato "stamp" into paint and press it onto paper.
• Result: Perfect egg shapes with built-in patterns every time.

School Holiday Activities

☀️ Holiday Fun Without the Price Tag!

The school holidays are finally here! While we all look forward to a break from the morning school run and lunchbox prep, keeping the kids entertained for two weeks can often feel like a full-time job (and a pricey one at that!). To help you navigate the break, we’ve put together a list of budget-friendly, easy-to-setup outdoor activities. These ideas are designed to get the kids off their screens, into the fresh air, and using their imaginations—all using items you likely already have around the house. Whether they are building "Bug Hotels" or mastering "Shadow Tag," we hope these ideas bring a little extra magic (and a lot of quiet time for parents!) to your backyard this break.

🌿 Nature Activities:

These activities require zero equipment and encourage kids to explore their own backyard or local park.

• Color Match Scavenger Hunt: Give kids a piece of paper with coloured squares drawn on it (or use a multi-coloured egg carton). Challenge them to find something in nature that matches every colour—a yellow leaf, a grey stone, a purple flower, etc.
• Nature Weaving: Use four sticks and some twine to make a simple square frame. Let the kids "weave" long grass, flexible twigs, and interesting leaves through the twine to create a natural piece of art.
• Bug Hotel: Collect old toilet paper rolls, sticks, hollow reeds, and pinecones. Stack them inside a small wooden box or an old flowerpot turned on its side to create a cozy home for garden "beasts."

🎨 Creative Play

Low-cost ways to turn the driveway or lawn into an art studio.

• Chalk Town: Instead of just drawing pictures, encourage the kids to draw a whole "town" on the driveway—including roads for their toy cars, "parking spots" for their bikes, and houses for their dolls.
• Rock Monsters: Go on a hunt for smooth stones. Once home, use leftover house paint, markers, or even "nature hair" (stuck-on grass) to turn them into a family of rock monsters to hide around the garden.

• Shadow Tracing: On a sunny morning, place toy animals or figurines on a sheet of paper on the ground. As the sun moves, kids can trace the long shadows they cast and then color them in.

   

🏃 Classic Active Games

Great for burning off energy with siblings or neighborhood friends.

• "Sardines": This is hide-and-seek in reverse. One person hides, and everyone else looks for them. When a seeker finds the hider, they have to join them in their hiding spot. Eventually, you’ll have a group of kids squeezed together like sardines!
• Backyard "Obstacle Course": Use what you have: a garden hose to jump over, chairs to crawl under, a bucket to throw a ball into, and a tree to run around. Time the kids to see who can complete the course the fastest.

• Shadow Tag: Instead of tagging a person’s body, the person who is "It" has to step on another player’s shadow. It’s a great way to play tag without the usual bumps and tumbles.

   

💧 Simple Water Fun

Perfect for warmer days with minimal setup.

• Sponge Run: Place two buckets at opposite ends of the yard—one full of water and one empty. Kids have to soak a sponge, run to the empty bucket, squeeze it out, and repeat until the second bucket is full.
• Toy Car Wash: Grab a bucket of soapy water and some old rags or sponges. Let the kids give their plastic ride-on toys, toy cars, or even their muddy gumboots a "professional" wash.

📸 Share the Fun!

We would love to see our students in action during the break! If you try out any of these activities—or if you have your own backyard favourites—please snap a photo and send it through to smeade@arm.catholic.edu.au.

We’ll be featuring a gallery of your "Holiday Highlights" in our first newsletter of next term to celebrate all the creative ways our families stayed active and had fun.