Easter Classroom Games, Activities and Lesson Plans

If you’re looking for some of the best Easter classroom games and activities, along with lesson plans, worksheets, handouts and more, then you’re in the right place. Keep on reading for all the details that you need to know.

Easter Classroom Games and Activities

Check out the best ESL Easter activities to try out with your students.

#1: Just a Minute

This is a nice activity to get some conversation about Easter going. Put students into groups of 4. Then, each student has to take a turn talking about their experiences with it for an entire minute without stopping. Or, they can tell a story about something they remember related to this holiday.

The other students in the group have to listen carefully and then ask at least one good follow-up question. Each student can have a turn. Check it out:

Just a Minute.

#2: Easter Task-Based Activities

I love to include some task-based learning activities in all my classes. They’re a nice change of pace from the usual communicative ones found in most ESL textbooks.

For this holiday, I love to put students in small groups and then have them choose one of the popular traditions like decorating eggs, eating chocolate bunnies, or eating ham or turkey. Then, students have to do some research about the tradition, make a poster and then do a short presentation to the class about it.

#3: The Candy Jar

I love to play this game for most holidays, including Valentine’s Day (more ideas: Valentine’s Day ESL Activities), Christmas, and Halloween. Fill up a jar with candies, counting as you go. Then, seal it up tight.

I give each student in each of my classes one guess as to how many are in the jar. The winner is the person closest in number and they get to take it home! If you want to have more winners, do a smaller jar for each class instead of one for all your classes. Need more ideas that work for just about any holiday? Check this out:

Holiday ESL Activities.

#4: Word Association

It’s often the case that students already know a good bit of Easter-themed vocabulary before you explicitly teach them. That’s where an activity like this one comes in. You can use it to help students activate their prior knowledge before jumping into the new stuff.

#5: Easter Discussion Starters

If you live in a place where people regularly celebrate Easter, then consider having a discussion about it with your students. Or, if you have a large class, put students into smaller groups and they can discuss together.

However, if you tell students to talk about this holiday with a partner or group, it may fall flat. Instead, I find that it’s better to have some discussion starters. This simple thing makes the activity go more smoothly.

#6: Easter Vocabulary Auction

This is a really fun game that’s ideal for reviewing Easter vocab or any holiday for that matter, including Memorial Day ESL. It does take a bit of preparation time though, so I’ll generally only do it if I can use it for multiple classes. Or, laminate the cards and use them the following year.

Make some sentences with the target vocabulary and then cut out each word. In groups, students have to bid on the words and then they can have some time to trade with other teams if they wish. The goal is to make as many complete sentences as possible.

Want to give it a try? I think your students will love it!

Vocabulary Auction Game.

#7: Guessing Game

This is a quick activity to review new vocabulary. Make up a PowerPoint slide filled with pictures of the target vocabulary.

Then, put students into pairs and they have to take turns describing one of the pictures to their partner who has to guess what it is. It’s simple but a nice activity for getting students to use the target words from the lesson. Try it out:

ESL Guessing Game Warmer.

#8: Dialogue Substitution

It’s often the case that new Easter-related vocab or grammar is introduced through a dialogue. However, it’s often too easy! That’s why it’s nice to pump up the difficulty with this simple trick:

#9: Decorating Easter Eggs

When I was a kid, I used to love decorating Easter eggs. It’s fun to do if you have a small class, especially if you buy a kit that already has everything you need in it.

#10: Just One Question

This is a fun survey-style activity that gets students moving around the classroom, asking their classmates a question about Easter. Each pair of students has to come up with an interesting question about Easter. For example:

• If you eat an Easter bunny, what part do you eat first?
• What’s your favourite thing about this holiday?
• Does your family celebrate the religious part of Easter?
• Etc.

Find out more about how to do it:

Just One Question Survey Activity.

#11: Chain Spelling Easter Game

If you want to review new Easter-related words, then consider using this spelling game. Everyone has to stand up. Then, the teacher says a word and students take turns spelling it out, a letter at a time. If they miss, they sit down and are out of that round. It works much better for a smaller class than a large one

Find out more details:

Chain Spelling English Game.

#12: Easter Charades

For holiday lessons, I love to play charades. I’ll usually include lots of related vocabulary like Easter egg hunt, decorating eggs, chocolate bunny, etc. Find out more about how to play this game:

ESL Charades.

#13: Easter Dictogloss

Try out this challenging listening activity with higher-level students. Find, or write a passage of someone describing their experiences or memories of Easter.

Put students into pairs and then read it out at a faster than normal pace for the level of the students. Students have to take notes and then compare what they have with their partner. The goal is to recreate what they just heard.

Repeat the process again. In the end, students can compare what they have with the original version that you read. Check it out:

ESL Dictogloss Activity.

#14: Easter Taboo

I’m sure you’ve played the game Taboo before? It’s where you have to describe a certain word but you can’t use a set of related words. I’ve adapted it for my English learners to make it a little bit easier. Find out all the details here:

ESL Taboo.

#15: Easter ESL Speaking Lesson

It’s maybe easier than you think to design your own ESL speaking lessons based on just about any topic, including Easter. There are a few simple steps to follow to make a great speaking lesson plan. Find out how to do it here:

ESL Speaking Lesson Plan Template.

#16: Survey about Easter and Holidays

Just ask my students and they’ll tell you that I LOVE to use surveys and questionnaires in my classes. They’re student-centred, interactive and can be tailored to just about any topic, including all the holidays like Easter. Find out how easy it is to make your own right here;

ESL Surveys and Questionnaires.

#17: Running Dictation

I love this 4-skills ESL game and my students do too. Find, or write a conversation between two people talking about their experiences with Easter. Then, post each part of it around the classroom at various points.

Students have to work together in pairs to dictate the conversation. Then, they can put the conversation into the correct order. This conversation can lead to an interesting discussion time after that. It’s a fun Easter activity that you’ll want to try out:

Running Dictation.

#18: Telephone Speaking Game

Try out this quick ESL speaking game with your students. Put students into groups and have them line up. Then, give an Easter message to the first person. Each team has to pass the message down the line until the person at the end says it out loud. Find out more:

ESL Telephone Game.

#19: I’m an Alien

This is a fun game to play with kids! Pretend that you’re an alien and know absolutely nothing about life on Earth. There’s this big holiday coming up, Easter. Have the kids explain what it’s all about to you. It’s a sneaky way to elicit all sorts of information and to find out what the students already know about a certain topic.

#20: Picture Prompt

This is a quick warm-up or a nice way to round out a lesson. Find a picture showing people doing Easter-related things like having an Easter egg hunt for example. Then, elicit from the students details about what they see in the picture. There are lots of other options too:

Picture Prompt.

Easter FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about this holiday. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

Why do we celebrate Easter?

Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Christian religion. In addition, many other traditions have a pagan festival celebrating the beginning of Spring around that same time period.

Is Easter a Pagan holiday?

Easter is now considered to be a Christian holiday. However, long before Jesus, it was a pagan festival to celebrate the beginning of Spring. It only later became associated with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What happened on Easter Sunday in the Bible?

In the New Testament Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb where Jesus was buried and found it empty. An angel had told her that Christ had risen and that she wouldn’t find him there. This is now the basis of Easter Sunday celebrations around the world.

Why is Good Friday called good?

Good Friday is the day that Jesus Christ died. This terrible day became known as “Good Friday” because it led to the resurrection of Jesus and his victory over sin and death.

Easter ESL Lesson Plans

I love to use lesson plans that other teachers have made! It’s a nice way to save a ton of time and there are a ton of good ones for Easter. Here are some of my recommendations:

Lingua House

English is a Piece of Cake

ESL Kids Stuff

Easter Worksheets and Handouts

If you’re a teacher, then you know what a time saver handouts and worksheets from other teachers can be. Here are some of the best Easter worksheets to check out:

ISL Collective

Boggle’s World

EL Civics

Easter Vocabulary

Here are some of the most common Easter vocabulary words to consider teaching your students.

• basket
• bunny
• chick
• chocolate
• Church
• egg
• ham
• hide
• hunt
• Jesus
• lamb
• parade
• spring
• turkey

Did you like these Easter Classroom Games?

If you did, then you’re going to love this book over on Amazon: 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults. The key to better English classes for adults is a wide variety of engaging, interactive and student-centred games and activities. This book will help you do just that.

You can find the book in a wide variety of formats. Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office to use as a handy reference when planning your lessons. Or, take the audio version with you on the go for some inspiration when commuting to work. Or, the e-version is perfect for a lesson planning session at your favourite coffee shop.

Whatever the case, get ready for some ESL teaching awesome in your life. Head over to Amazon to pick it up today:

Have your Say about Easter ESL Games and Activities

Did you like these Easter classroom games? Do you have another one that you’d like to recommend? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think We’d love to hear from you.

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Last update on 2022-04-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API