Five egg-cellently fun music picture books your students will LOVE for Easter
Hot cross buns, chocolate eggs, family lunches, egg hunts⦠Waking up on Easter morning was one of my favourite things as a kid. Apart from looking forward to seeing my cousins for family fun time in the afternoon, the most exciting part of the day was waking up to discover if the Easter Bunny had visited overnight. And if he had, did he eat the carrots I left him? Would there be a trail of eggs from my bedroom door to a giant chocolate bunny? Would there be a basket of eggs? Would there be an egg hunt waiting in the backyard? Such sweet anticipation (pun intended)..!
I love being able to relive such special childhood memories with my students. What a great privilege it is to be sharing in and stoking their excitement. From making Easter hats to decorating the classroom with eggs and bunnies, itβs a joyous time. However you choose to celebrate, Iβm sure thereβs room for one of these egg-cellently fun music picture books for your pre-Easter activities.
#1 Aussie Easter Hat Parade
Colin Buchanan
Illustrated by Simon Williams
Suggested classes: K-2
Aussie Easter Hat Parade tops the list as my favourite Easter picture book. It comes with a CD (with a performance track and accompaniment track), and it is so fun and catchy, the kids LOVE it. Use this as inspiration for having your own Easter hat parade around the classroom or the school, and use the song as your parade anthem! Listen out for which instruments you can hear (hint: bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, piano, whistling, drumkit, percussion, backing vocals, tuba, trumpet, clapping), and sing along with the chorus. Hot tip: this can easily link to other key learning areas (KLAs) by exploring the Aussie flora and fauna featured in the pages.
#2 Egg Hunting We Will Go
Jay Lagaβaia
Illustrated by Kim Fleming
Suggested classes: K-4
Egg Hunting We Will Go takes us on a cute egg hunting adventure, with lots of animal surprises. The title is repeated 41 times throughout the story and makes for a great little rhythmic phrase. Get students to clap it and then turn it into a rhythm on percussion instruments, or even turn it into a melody on boomwhackers, glockenspiels, xylophones or recorders. This Easter picture book also has some great onomatopeia throughout: use crack, whoot, splash, rattle, snap, creak, echo and bump to create a soundscape or sound story. Ask students to make the sounds using their voices or by finding objects around the room and experiment by layering the sounds in different orders. Take it further and have students create graphic notation to represent their sound story.
#3 10 Hopping Bunnies
Ed Allen
Illustrated by Simon Williams
Suggested classes: K-4
Whilst this isnβt *technically* an Easter picture book, I love using this picture book in the Easter lead up. Sing the story to the tune of 10 Green Bottles Hanging on the Wall - it is so FUN! The kids love spotting the hidden numbers on each page and counting down (hello numeracy links!). Compare 10 Hopping Bunnies to the original 10 Green Bottles, use it as a lesson filler, brain break, or use it as inspiration for trying an egg and spoon race or hopscotch (hello PDHPE links!). A great all-rounder and lots of fun, I would definitely recommend adding this musical picture book to your collection.
#4 Weβre Going on an Egg Hunt
Laine Mitchell
Illustrated by Louis Shea
Suggested classes: K-2
Weβre Going on an Egg Hunt is quite reminiscent of another hunting story, Weβre Going on a Bear Hunt. I love getting students to tap the beat while I read the story and getting them to join in on the refrain:
Weβre going on an egg hunt
Weβre going to find the biggest one
I canβt wait
Chocolate for you and me!
Take it a step further and have students play the refrain on percussion or melodic instruments and perform their versions for each other.
#5 Australians All Love Easter Eggs
Colin Buchanan
Illustrated by Sarah Hardy
Suggested classes: K-6
Set to the tune of Advance Australia Fair, this great Easter picture book is a fun addition to your Easter collection. After you sing the story to students, have K-2 students spot all the Aussie animals and count how many Easter eggs they can spot. For 3-6 students, give them a go writing an Easter-themed song to an existing melody. Perhaps suggest writing lyrics to the tune of a nursery rhyme or the anthem and see how the creativity flows. Then you can perform for each other and have a fun Easter concert in the classroom!
Do you have a favourite Easter picture book? I'd love to know! I can't wait to hear how you go with these great Easter picture books - tag me on your socials if you give these a whirl.
Have fun with all your egg-cellently egg-citing Easter fun and happy music making!