Easter Carnival

Happy Easter!!

A little late, admittedly. But lately blogging about parenting has taken a backseat to you know, parenting.

This post is about Easter, but it’s more about imagination; that magical childhood entity that in adulthood often becomes squashed under the heavy burden of daily responsibilities.

This Easter our 8 year old questioned the reality of the Easter Bunny. He found a bag of not so carefully hidden chocolates and asked,  “Are you the Easter Bunny?” I denied it and hopped away in a panic. He also questioned how a giant rabbit has access to chocolate in the first place and why it’s okay for him to break into people’s houses? 

Fortunately my boy is still a child at heart and was willing to accept our lame excuses. So for now at least, Mr. E. Bunny lives on.

On Easter Eve a certain Super Hero and his sister disappeared to the basement, aka “The Play Pit” for several hours. When asked what they were doing, we were told to wait. “Don’t come down!!!” they shrieked.

When preparations were finally complete, our son and his dutiful sibling assistant treated us to an Easter Carnival. I’d never heard of this, but there were games and epic Easter challenges fueled by childish excitement, so we went with it. 

First we played “Bunny bounce.” Bounce the chick off the bunny’s back and catch to win.

Followed by “Chick Kick.” Kick the Easter Chick the farthest to win. *no actual chicks were harmed in the making of this blog post. 😉

Then “Bunny Hop,” where contestants flick plastic bunnies into the school house. Oh yeah, we taught those bunnies a lesson  or two.

“Beat the Bunny” was next. I’m not exactly sure what the object of this game was, but  there were a lot of high kicks and “hi-yas” involved.

We rounded out the activities with a treasure hunt and a colouring contest, thus making this the best …er…only Easter Carnival, I’d ever been to.

Three cheers for family fun, memories made and of course, imagination, which is what childhoods are made of. Dress up, dolls (yes, boys play with dolls/dollhouses too!), pretend kitchens, building blocks, train sets, and Little People towns, all teach kids how to negotiate an adult world through play. 

Most days I get so caught up in my routine and the serious nature of being an adult, that I forget how to be playful. But then my kids transform our unfinished basement into a magical Easter Carnival with little more than a few toys and a whole lot of imagination and suddenly I remember how wonderful it is to be a kid.

* A child’s creative, care-free imagination is not to be confused with an adult “over-active imagination“… which is a different beast, entirely. 🙂

Disclosure: I am a Fisher-Price Mom and I receive special perks as
part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my
own.

Related posts:

The 12 Days of Easter—The Hunt Starts Now! The Truth Fairy Magical Meal Moments…mostly Parenting Exposed (literally)