Learn some Easter Facts For Kids of all ages! We're sharing the holiday's history along with some other fun trivia questions and interesting facts.
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These Easter facts for kids are a great way to understand the history of Easter as well as share some fun Easter trivia with friends and family throughout Spring leading to the important Christian holiday!
Check out our 365+ Fun Facts For Kids
Easter Holiday
Easter occurs at the beginning of the Spring season in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Fall/Autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere.
People celebrate the Easter holiday differently all around the world. Many celebrations include gifts, hunts, treats, crafts, and games. We have included a number of those fun items at the bottom of this post to help in celebrate Easter with your kids.
Before we jump right in, you will not want to miss our March Fun Facts and April Fun Facts!
What is Easter?
Easter, also called Resurrection Day, is a Christian holiday in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his promise of eternal life. The day Jesus was raised from the dead. The most important day of the year for Christians.
When is Easter?
Easter is always on a Sunday even though the actual date moves from year to year. The Christian tradition celebrates Easter Sunday on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox (the start of spring).
Most Western Churches (like the Roman Catholic Church) follow the Gregorian Calendar where the Spring Equinox falls around March 21st. This means that Easter falls between March 22nd and April 25th. Easter Churches (like Easter Orthodox Church) follow the Julian Calendar. For those who follow that calendar, Easter falls between April 3rd and May 10th.
Why is Easter Called Easter?
The name “Easter” comes from the name Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. People often represented her as a rabbit.
History of Easter
The Christian faith believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
He came to earth to save people by dying on the cross and taking the punishment for their sins. You can read about Jesus' birth story, but it was the story around his death, burial, and resurrection where the story of Easter starts.
Approximately 2000 years ago, in a city called Jerusalem, this event occurred. It is located in the modern county of Isreal. Jesus claimed to be the son of God, also called the "Messiah." The leaders of Jerusalem arrested Jesus for these claims and brought him to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. He ultimately sentenced Jesus to death.
According to Christian history, Jesus was crucified on a Friday and rose three days later on Sunday.
What is Holy Week?
People know the week before Easter Sunday as Holy Week. Each day there are recounts of Jesus' final days which include his death, burial, and resurrection.
- Palm Sunday - The day Jesus entered Jerusalem, greeted by crowds, celebrates him as Christ the King.
- Maundy Thursday - The day Jesus and his disciples shared the Last Supper
- Good Friday - The day Jesus was crucified.
- Holy Saturday - The day between death and resurrection
- Easter Sunday - The day of Jesus' resurrection.
Holy Week is also the last week of Lent which is the 40-day period of prayer and fasting leading up to Jesus' death. Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday is the day before the start of Lent, and Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lent period.
Fun Facts About Easter
There are lots of fun Easter facts and Easter traditions that made it the celebration it is today! While Jesus Christ and the Christian holiday are the foundation of the holiday, non-Christians tend to celebrate Easter and associate it with Spring, the Easter Bunny, Easter Egg Hunts, and Easter Baskets full of candy and gifts.
Easter Bunny Facts
The idea of the Easter bunny started in Germany and dates back to medieval times. There was a myth of an egg-laying hare called "Oschter Haws" who would leave decorated eggs for the good little girls and boys, in like fashion to Santa Claus and his naughty or nice list.
It was in the 1700s when German immigrants brought the idea of the Easter Bunny to the United States. The white hare (or rabbit) would leave colorful eggs, candy, and gifts on Easter morning for good little boys and girls.
The boys and girls would build a little nest for the goodies out of sticks and leaves so the Easter Bunny would leave them eggs. People filled the first Easter baskets with the same twig and leaf nest in anticipation of decorated eggs and treats.
Easter Candy Facts
Candy has become a large part of what fills most Easter baskets. While people might root it in the fact that most are coming off of Lent and looking for a sweet treat, candy always adds a fun element to celebrations, and Easter is a big one.
Easter is the second-largest candy-consuming holiday next to Halloween.
Chocolate Easter Candy
A good amount of the candy consumed during the Easter holiday is chocolate based.
Chocolate Bunnies
- Not only do we credit Germany with the Easter bunny, but we can also thank them for creating the first chocolate bunny.
- Germany made the first chocolate bunny in the 1800s.
- After that, people brought chocolate bunny molds to America and they gained popularity.
- The largest chocolate bunny was made in Brazil in 2014 as a result it was over 13 feet tall and weighed over 8000 pounds.
- It's been estimated that 76% of people eat the ears of a chocolate bunny first rather than the tail.
- The most expensive chocolate bunny ever made was by a European chef. Particularly it was hand-carved with diamonds as eyes. It sold for approximately $63,000 dollars.
Chocolate Easter Eggs
- Eggs have long been a symbol of Easter, Spring, and Fertilization. It was around the same time (the 1800s) as the Chocolate Bunny, that the first chocolate eggs were created in either France or Germany.
- It was 1875 when John Cadbury made the first Cadbury Easter Eggs.
- According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the undoubtedly largest Chocolate Easter Egg was made in Italy in 2011. It was just over 34 feet tall, 64 feet around the widest part of the egg, and weighed over 15 thousand pounds.
Non-chocolate Easter Candy
- The most popular non-chocolate Easter candy is marshmallow Peeps.
- The first peep was made in 1953 as well and it was a hand-piped marshmallow chick that took 27 hours to complete. Still, with the help of technology, the sugary marshmallows take about 6 minutes to make.
- Americans buy over 700 Million Peeps each year and it is estimated that over 1.5 billion are sold each year.
- Americans eat over 16 billion jelly beans at Easter.
- The most popular jelly bean is the cherry flavor.
Easter Traditions and Interesting Easter Facts
Easter Traditions
There are many different Easter traditions around the world as especially food, games and fun. Here are some of the Easter traditions you may or may not know.
Easter Games
Easter Egg Hunt - The hunt is a game which in which kids of all ages, armed with a basket, search for eggs that may or may not have been hidden. The eggs can be hard-boiled eggs that are painted, plastic eggs filled with candy or toys, or egg-shaped candies as well as chocolates. This typically happens outdoors but really can happen anywhere. Occasionally prizes are given after the hunt for finding special eggs.
Easter Egg Roll - This is a game in which kids (or adults, but mostly kids) roll a decorated hard-boiled egg across the lawn with a large handled spoon as a race all the while making sure their egg isn't broken by the end.
The most popular Easter Egg Roll is held at the White House each year. A tradition started with President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878.
Easter Egg Toss - Think of this as similar to a water balloon toss during Summer. Everyone is divided into teams of two. One player from each team stands in a horizontal line and then other players stand in another line parallel to their teammate. An egg is tossed from one side to the other making sure it is caught. If it's dropped, your team is out. The distance between the teams widens until there is one team left winning. An alternative to tossing an actual egg is to fill a plastic egg with flour.
Interesting Easter Facts
- The discovery of Easter Island was on Easter Sunday
- A white lily is also known as the Easter Lily and is now another symbol of Easter.
- Pretzels are associated with Easter and Lent as they not only resemble arms crossed in prayer but are made from flour and water making them something that could be eaten during Lent as they do not contain eggs or dairy.
- New clothes for Easter used to be considered good luck.
- What started as a spontaneous event in 1870 of people parading down 5th Avenue in New York wearing their new clothes and easter bonnets turned into the now-popular New York Easter parade and bonnet festival.
- Hot cross buns, a type of sweet roll are traditionally eaten on Easter. They originated in Greece.
- The World’s Largest Hot Cross Bun was made in 2012 in the UK and weighed just over 370 pounds.
- Dyeing eggs started as a religious custom in Ukraine. They would
- In Bermuda, people fly kites to symbolize the rising of Christ.
- The largest decorated Easter Egg was made in Portugal in 2008. It was over 48ft tall and diameter (width) of 27ft.
Easter For Kids
The Easter holiday is a beautiful time to spend with family and friends and celebrate the holiday. We have many different activities that will be fun for the whole family this Easter but especially for kids. Check out these fun Easter Activities!
Easter Crafts
We have a number of different crafts that are great for Easter with Bunnies, Easter Eggs, Crosses, as well as so much more! For example, here are the top three.
- Bible Crafts For Kids
- Construction Paper Easter Crafts
- Easter Footprint Crafts
- Plastic Easter Egg Flower Pot
- Easter Garland DIY
Easter Printables
We have lots of fun Easter printables that are great for kids and full of games, coloring pages, and bunny fun. For example, here are a few of our favorites.
Here is the Full Easter Printable List
Easter Coloring Pages
If coloring is your jam, then you certainly won't want to miss our fun Easter coloring pages. Lots of them!
Here is the Full Easter Coloring Pages List
Easter Treats
Have some Easter Fun with these fabulous Easter Treats. In fact, here are some of our favorites
- Easy Easter Cookie Cups
- Marshmallow Easter Treats
- Easter Icebox Cake
- Peep Brownie Easter Desserts
- Easter Bunny Desserts
We highlighted these Fun Facts along with some other fun kid's crafts in our March Crafts along with our 101+ Easy Kids Crafts.
You also do not want to miss our 101+ Printable Coloring Pages For Kids and 101+ Printables For Kids full of Crafts and Coloring Pages.
Lastly, we hope you and your sweetheart have a HAPPY Easter!
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