An Easter Egg Hunt in the grounds of the Calamansac Estate
by Alexander Burton inChild Friendly Cornwall

Activities For Easter Weekend

Safe at home
We know more than anyone how disappointing it is not to be able to go on holiday this Easter. We've done our best to think of a few things that might help to keep you and your family entertained while you stay safe at home.

Below you’ll find a few ideas of how to while away the long weekend, from creative crafts to tasty cookery. Why not download and print the activity pack using the button below, and spend the weekend offline? We’d love to see how you get on, so please share your attempts at any of these activities over at @cornishholidays on Instagram, or @CornishHolidayCottages on Facebook.

This Easter lets also take a moment to think about our older and perhaps more isolated friends and family, giving them calls to check in on their health and sharing a few laughs along the way.

Wishing you and your family a very happy Easter. Stay well and and have fun.

Love, Emily and the CHC team x

What’s in bloom?

 

Easter is the time when Spring really gets it’s groove on. We’d love to know what you can spot growing outdoors.

Play eye-spy with us and see if you can catch a glimpse of any of these spring flowers from your window, garden or on your walks this weekend. We’ve included the Latin names here, see if you can learn them and impress those around you!

  • Magnolia (Magnolia Grandiflora)
  • Primrose (Primula Vulgaris)
  • Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)
  • Daffodil (Narcissus)

How to pull off the best egg hunt…

We asked our in-house Easter ‘eggs-pert’ Rosie (aged 10 and a bit) to share her top tips for an egg-hunt in the house or garden.

Rosie’s guide to egg hunts

  • Don’t put them where dogs can get to them.
  • Put them in a shady space so that they don’t melt.
  • Remember where you hide the eggs otherwise you might not be able to find them again.
  • Don’t buy the eggs too small or they will be very tricky to find.*
  • Buy fair trade wherever possible.

*Parents heed caution with this particular tip… we suspect it may be a clever ruse for even more chocolate this Easter…

Make an embossed fish ornament…

This easy little craft can be made with just a few things that you might already have in your kitchen! Use an empty tube of tomato purée to make this lovely little fish to hang inside your home. If your tube of puree is full, perhaps making this is the perfect excuse to have pizza for dinner…

 

What you’ll need…

  • An empty purée tube
  • A pair of scissors
  • A spoon
  • A biro
  • Someone to help you if you are young (or clumsy)

How to do it…

Take your empty tube of purée and carefully cut off the top and the bottom (you might need someone responsible to help you with the sharp edges)

Cut one of the long edges of the tube so that you can unfold it into a flat piece. Rinse it and you’ll see the inside is golden! Using the back of a spoon smooth it out all nice and flat.

Print out or copy our drawing of a fish and using a biro trace around the outline on top of the metal. You’ll see the outline transfer to the metal. Carefully cut out the fish shape.

Smooth your shape down with a spoon again and go over the template again to add some detail. Make sure you put in an eye, some scales, and the detail in the fins!

Finally, make a hole in the fish and tie on some string. Your ‘golden’ fish is ready to hang pride of place, or to dangle over your veg patch to protect seedlings.

Bake an Easter cake

A tasty way to spend time at home this Easter, we’ve adapted this recipe from one we found on BBC Good Food. You might already have some of these ingredients lying around at home. For this recipe you’ll need…

 

For the cake

  • 200ml vegetable oil
  • 250g plain flour
  • 6tbsp cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 280g soft brown sugar
  • 250ml milk (add 1tbsp lemon juice to this before you begin)
  • 2tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs

For the frosting…

  • 150g butter
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 300g icing sugar
  • 4tbsp milk

Method

Heat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line two round cake tins (about 20cm wide is best). Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb, sugar and a large pinch of salt to a bowl. Whisk it all up and squeeze any big lumps of sugar through your fingers. You should end up with a mix a bit like sand.

Add a spoonful of lemon juice to the milk, and after waiting about 5 or so minutes whisk the oil with the milk in a jug. Stir in the vanilla and eggs, then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until there are no more streaks. Split the mixture between the tins and bake for 25 mins. Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 mins, then transfer to wire racks to cool down.

To make the icing, beat the butter, cocoa, icing sugar and milk together until smooth, adding a splash more milk if it’s still to thick. Stacking the sponges with icing in between, topping with more icing. For an extra touch, put some chocolate or mini-eggs on top!

Colour-in Cornwall

Oh dear, it looks as though someone left their stargazey pie out on the table, and it’s been spotted by a hungry cat. Save the image below to print off to colour in. We’d love to see some grown-ups have a go with this too!

We hope you all have a lovely Easter at home, and have fun with these activities.

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