Jelly Bean Easter Treats: Springtime Fun for Your Family

Jelly Bean Maracas: Gather plastic Easter eggs and have your child place a handful of jelly beans inside each egg. Now tape the eggs shut. Play some lively music and shake, shake, shake the maracas. Later, see what other items you can put into these eggs to make different sounds. Rice, sand, dried beans, and pennies are all good maraca materials.

Musical Jelly Beans: This game is a variation of the traditional musical chairs. Cut large colorful jelly beans from construction paper. Laminate these with clear adhesive plastic or clear contact paper for durability and future use if you wish. Invite friends and family to play. You will need one jelly bean per person playing, less one. Tape the large beans in a random fashion on the floor. As you play the music, the children (players) are walk and dance around the beans. When the music stops, all will hurry to stand on a bean. The player without a bean is out of the game. Take another jelly bean off the floor and start the music again. Continue playing until only one player and one jelly bean are left. (For very young children, have one jelly bean per child. The children need only to step onto a jelly bean every time the music stops.)