What do you think of when you see a wall of eggs this time of year? Most people think of egg hunts and baskets. What do we see? A wall of endless prop possibilities for thematic units! Eggs are most definitely not just for Easter anymore!
For the last few years, stores like Dollar Tree, Meijer and Walmart have really stepped up their game egg container game. They’re now offering so many options for baskets and hunts. But, for teachers and therapists, we gaze at the displays and our imagination goes wild! Our lessons and therapy sessions are taken up a notch in terms of FUN as well as incorporating fine motor skills. THINK WAY AHEAD!!! We are snatching up egg containers for themes we have all year long! What’s even better? Egg containers are so inexpensive so this fun is added at low cost.
Eggs and thematic Containers can be used in so many ways!
- hide them
- put them in a sensory bin
- fill them with target words/sounds/vocabulary
- fill them with thematic erasers
- fill them with mini-objects
- give them to a child to hold during the lesson
- use them as props for thematic literature
- put numbers in them to earn “points” during a simple game. Add actions like ‘lose a turn’, ’put one back’, take 2 from a partner’ to make it even more fun! The one with the most points when all the containers are opened is the winner.
Here are a few of the containers we found and how we plan on using them!
ANIMALS/FARM/ZOO/PET/WOODLAND
There are so many animal egg containers to be found! These animals can easily be added to a sensory bin with some fake Easter grass (grab some now!) or a barn. Hide items inside, target animal sounds, or even categorize them by where they live. Color and size concepts can be addressed with the rabbit egg containers! They came in multiple colors and sizes.
EMOTIONS
The SLP’s, social workers and counselors may enjoy these egg containers with emotions on them! We can fill them with ideas about how each egg feels and how we know the emotion based on facial expressions.
DINOSAURS
The dinosaur unit is ALWAYS a fan favorite with the kids! Hide tiny dinosaurs inside these colorful eggs and bury them in a sensory bin, a sandbox or even scatter them in the grass.
sports
Sport ball egg containers could be used together in a general sport theme unit OR separate them and plug them in across other themes like baseballs in the summer unit, basketball in a March Madness unit, footballs/soccer balls in the fall unit. These sport balls lend themselves well to motor activities. Write down gross motor actions and hide them in the containers! Eg. Jump 5 times, army crawl across the floor, toss this container in the air 3 times, and catch it.
ocean
We feel like we struck gold when we found these and can’t wait to use them this summer!
Ocean animal egg containers along with these adorable shell containers in a bin with blue paper grass will be so much fun! Better yet, we can put them in a bin of WATER!!!!
KEEP YOUR EYES OUT FOR THESE!
Walmart has some fun choices to add to your container collection! Chocolate bunny containers and a WHOLE box of bug egg containers for spring!! The chocolate bunnies will be fun as a literacy prop or in a following directions activity. These bug egg containers are perfect for hiding mini erasers and fake bugs!
We have seen these Paw Patrol containers for the last few years at Meijer in the spring along with Frozen containers. Take a little trip to these stores after the holiday when they’re marked clearance. Picked these up for only $.29!!!! We’ll be using these year round!
We hope this left you inspired to keep your eyes peeled for great steals and deals on eggs that can be used all year around!