Easter Activities During Social Distancing.

 It is that time of year when Easter is celebrated.  This year, things will be quite different for most people who celebrate this day.

Instead of dressing up in your new Easter clothing, hopping in the car, and heading off to church to celebrate, most people will end up watching the service online or listen to it over the radio.

The local church in town has moved from the preacher running the service in the parking lot with folks distanced in their vehicles, to conducting the service online.

A child's customary search for the basket filled with candy or the search for eggs are things that might have to be done differently.  For individual families, everything can be hidden around the house or possibly in the back yard but community egg hunts will have to be done differently.

It was suggested that people draw and color huge Easter eggs and hang them in the window closest to the road.  That way, the parent can drive around while letting children "collect" eggs by pointing the ones they see.  The other way might be to use chalk to draw and decorate eggs on your driveway if you can do it safely while maintaining social distancing.

Print Easter scenes ahead of time so that on the day, children can enjoy coloring them.  There are a ton of these available on the internet.  One could easily place several of these in the children's baskets along with a pack of new crayons so they can color them in later.

It is still possible to create those family Easter pictures at home instead of going out.  Dress the family up, put them on the couch or in front of a really cool display and use your cell phone to take the picture.  There are several programs you can use to create the perfect picture.  If you are more adventuresome, take the family portrait in front of a sheet of green paper, or a green sheet and with a bit of magic, have the family sitting in a field of daffodils.

Use FaceTime or Skype to visit your neighbors or relatives for the traditional Easter get togethers.  This is a wonderful way for children to share what they found with the grandparents, or with family members who are halfway across the country.  Or if you have a member of the family who has to be quarantined or cannot be there, let them connect via an iPad or other mobile device.  Let someone hold the iPad or place it on the table so they can join in with everyone at the meal or celebration.  It allows them to feel less isolated.

Start a new Easter tradition by watching one or more Easter themed movies.  In today's world, you don't have to plan ahead, you can find one on any streaming service and have fun watching them.  You can check listings ahead of time so that you know which ones you want to watch.

Everyone is struggling with making Easter as normal with all the restrictions we are facing.  As long as we continue doing what we are doing, we can slow down the spread of the virus while giving our children a fairly normal life.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.