Färbeaktivitäten zu Ostern, auf die sich Kinder (und Eltern) wirklich freuen

Every March, I start planning Easter activities. And every March, I overplan. Last year I had a spreadsheet with seventeen craft ideas, color-coded by age group, with a supply list that would have bankrupted a Michaels.

We ended up doing three of them. The ones that took less than five minutes to set up and didn't require me to supervise every second.

Turns out the best Easter activities aren't the elaborate Pinterest ones. They're the ones kids can do mostly on their own while you drink your coffee. Coloring pages fit that description perfectly, and they pair with Easter in ways that go beyond just printing a bunny and handing over some crayons.

Print-and-color Easter egg hunt

Instead of (or alongside) a regular egg hunt, try this: print a dozen Easter coloring pages, fold each one and tuck it inside a plastic egg. Hide the eggs around the house or yard. When kids find an egg, they open it and get a coloring page to work on.

This stretches the Easter excitement beyond the five-minute egg hunt itself. My kids spent two hours after the hunt coloring their pages, comparing who got the "best" ones, and trading with each other. That's two hours of self-directed play from a stack of printed pages and some plastic eggs.

For the pages, mix up the difficulty levels. Use simple Easter coloring pages with big eggs and bunnies for younger kids. For older kids, slip in more detailed pages: spring flowers, decorated eggs with intricate patterns, or a detailed rabbit coloring page that'll keep them busy for a while.

Coloring page Easter baskets

This one is simple and looks surprisingly good. Print coloring pages on cardstock, let kids color them, then help them fold the pages into small basket shapes. Staple a strip of colored paper across the top for a handle. Fill with a few pieces of candy.

These work great as table decorations for Easter brunch, as gifts for grandparents, or as a classroom activity. The baskets won't hold much weight (they're paper, not miracles), but they're charming and kids are proud of them.

For the best results, use pages with spring themes. Flower coloring pages and butterfly coloring pages make especially pretty baskets. Print on heavy cardstock (65lb or higher) so the baskets hold their shape.

Decorate-your-own Easter cards

Same idea as the Christmas cards we talked about in December, adapted for spring. Print half-letter-sized coloring pages, fold them in half, and let kids color the front. Write a message inside and mail them to relatives.

Grandparents go wild for these. I'm not exaggerating. My mother-in-law keeps every single one in a drawer, and she shows them to her friends.

Good subjects for Easter cards: eggs, bunnies, chicks, spring flowers, butterflies. Keep the designs on the simpler side so kids can finish coloring them in one sitting.

Easter coloring countdown

Starting two weeks before Easter, give your kid one Easter coloring page per day. Number them 14 down to 1 (or however many days you have). Each morning, they get a new page.

By Easter Sunday, they'll have a stack of 14 colored pages. You can:

• String them together as a banner for Easter brunch
• Staple them into a "My Easter Coloring Book"
• Use them as placemats at the table (laminate or cover with clear contact paper)

This works particularly well for younger kids (3-6) who struggle with the concept of "Easter is in two weeks." The countdown gives them something concrete. "Seven pages left means seven days!"

Spring coloring afternoon

Not everything needs to be specifically "Easter." A spring coloring session is just as engaging and works for families that don't celebrate the holiday.

Print a batch of spring-themed pages: flowers, butterflies, rabbits, birds, rainbows, insects. Spread everything on the table with crayons, colored pencils, and markers. Put on some music. Let everyone pick what they want.

My go-to trick for making this feel special: use a white tablecloth you don't care about (or a large sheet of butcher paper) as your work surface. Let kids color directly on it too if they want. By the end of the afternoon, you've got a collaborative spring mural that you can hang on the wall.

Coloring pages as place settings

If you're hosting Easter brunch or dinner, print coloring pages that match your table theme and set one at each place with a small cup of crayons. Adults and kids alike will color while waiting for food to come out.

I was skeptical about adults actually doing this until I tried it. Three out of four adults at our table last year picked up crayons. My father-in-law, who has never voluntarily done anything crafty in his life, spent twenty minutes on a mandala egg design and asked if he could take it home.

Something about having a coloring page right in front of you, with crayons within arm's reach, makes people pick them up. It's a better conversation starter than awkward holiday small talk.

Easter morning coloring station

Set this up the night before. On a small table or section of the dining table, lay out:

• A fresh stack of Easter coloring pages (5-10 per kid)
• A set of colored pencils or crayons
• A sharpener
• A few stickers or metallic gel pens for extra flair

When kids wake up buzzing with Easter energy at 6am (and they will, no matter what time you put them to bed), point them toward the coloring station. It buys you at least 30 minutes before you need to start the "real" Easter activities.

I started doing this two years ago out of pure self-preservation, and now my kids expect it. They actually ask for it. "Is the coloring table going to be set up Easter morning?" Yes, kid. It will be. Because I need coffee before I can handle an egg hunt.

Picking pages for different ages

Getting the right difficulty level makes the difference between a kid who colors happily for 30 minutes and one who gives up after two.

Toddlers (2-4): Big, chunky designs. One large Easter egg, a simple bunny with thick outlines, a basket with a few eggs. These kids need shapes they can fill with broad crayon strokes without worrying about staying inside tiny spaces.

Kids (5-8): Medium detail. Bunnies with some background elements, Easter baskets with individually drawn eggs, spring scenes with flowers and butterflies. Enough detail to hold attention, not so much that it's overwhelming.

Older kids (9-12): Detailed designs. Intricate Easter eggs with patterns, spring garden scenes, decorated egg mandalas. These kids want a challenge, and they'll spend real time on a complex page.

Teens and adults: Pattern-heavy designs, detailed spring landscapes, or abstract floral mandalas. Don't underestimate a teenager's willingness to color if the page is interesting enough and there's no pressure to participate.

We organize all our pages by difficulty level, so you can filter by "easy," "medium," or "hard" to match each person.

Supplies worth grabbing before Easter

You can do all of this with whatever crayons are rolling around your junk drawer. But if you want to make the coloring experience a little nicer:

For a group activity, Crayola SuperTips markers (50-pack, about $12) are hard to beat. They work well for all ages, dry quickly, and the fine tips handle detail work while still covering big areas.

If you want better page quality, print on 28-32lb paper. Standard 20lb copy paper is fine for crayons, but markers bleed through and colored pencils don't lay down color as smoothly. An extra $3-4 for heavier paper makes a noticeable difference.

You can also throw a small set of colored pencils (Crayola 24-pack, about $5) into each kid's Easter basket alongside some printed coloring pages. It costs almost nothing and gives kids something to do that doesn't involve screens or sugar.

Make it a thing

The best part about coloring-based Easter activities is how low the barrier is. No drying time, no glue guns, no glitter that you'll still be vacuuming up in July. Just paper, colors, and a flat surface.

If you try any of these ideas this year, my bet is that at least one sticks as an annual thing. Our coloring countdown is going on its third year now, and the egg hunt with coloring pages inside is a permanent fixture.

We've got a big library of free Easter and spring coloring pages you can print right now. Simple bunnies for toddlers, detailed spring mandalas for adults, and plenty in between. Print a stack this weekend. The egg hunt idea takes about five minutes to set up (print, fold, stuff into plastic eggs) and buys you hours of quiet coloring time.

That beats a chocolate bunny any day of the week.