Creative Easter bonnet ideas for a fun spring celebration

Egg-citing news! Spring is fast approaching which means it’s the perfect time to get creative and dive into the bright and colourful world of Easter crafts! Easter bonnets are a classic Easter tradition, and a wonderful way to celebrate. As schools and local events plan to celebrate the joyous occasion holding parades and competitions, why not get the whole family involved? Easter bonnet making is a fun and creative project that everyone is sure to enjoy!

What is an Easter bonnet?

An Easter Bonnet is a wearable hat in celebration of Spring! For children, it’s a chance to express their creativity and embrace the fun of Easter. For parents, it’s a lovely way to take part in this traditional craft and create memories with family. Plus, Easter bonnets can be worn by the whole family to celebrate the occasion so everyone can get involved!

The history of the Easter bonnet

Traditionally, the Easter bonnet is a Christian tradition, connected to the practice of wearing new clothes for Easter. Easter bonnets were worn on Easter Sunday when people would dress their best to signify the end of Lent. The Easter bonnet was worn to represent new life and spiritual renewal.

While the Easter bonnet is rooted in religious practice, the bonnet has evolved. The bonnet is broadly decorated with flowers and animals to represent the arrival of Spring, life and nature. Over time, the Easter bonnet has become a popular fun and creative activity to enjoy, especially for children.

Upcycling a straw hat

You can create the bonnet hat by upcycling a straw hat or starting from scratch with a paper plate.

Using an old hat, specifically a straw hat is a quick and easy way to create your decoration on. The hat provides a sturdy base to make your designs on top of. You can also find affordable straw hats in many local craft stores which saves time on making your own.

How to create your own bonnet hat

Alternatively, you can make your own hat using paper plates. This requires a bit more technical skills but is a fantastic cost effective way to create your own hat.

Materials you will need:

- Paper plate/paper bowl

String
Scissors
PVA glue, hot glue gun or tapeYou can create your bonnet in a number of ways:

Use a paper plate and make holes in opposite sides, thread string through the holes and tie to hold the bonnet in place.
Draw a circle in the middle of a paper plate, big enough for your child’s head (use a bowl to help). Cut around the outline using scissors, or cut lines from the centre to the outline which can be repurposed by folding upwards and attaching decorations to or made into a grass design.
Cut around the paper plate circumference, leaving the rim and place a paper bowl on top. Attach the two together using PVA glue, a hot glue gun or tape.

Easy Easter bonnet ideas

It’s time to get creative in our range of Easter bonnet ideas sure to spark your imagination!

Floral Easter bonnet hat

Materials you will need:

Tissue paper
Ribbon
Card
Scissors
PVA glue or sticky tape

This Easter bonnet idea is all about Spring time, use any materials you have at home like card, paper or tissue paper, the more colour the better!

Step by step instructions:

We are going to make tissue paper flowers. Start by using your tissue paper material and layer several sheets on top of one another.
Begin folding your sheets accordion style until you reach the end. You will now have a long strip of folded paper.
Round off the ends of the paper, this will create a flower pattern at the end, or you could even add zig zags to create different flower textures.
Then, using either a green pipe cleaner or string, wrap and tie this in the middle of the paper securely.
Once in place, carefully fan out your tissue paper flowers to create the shape of a flower.
Continue making lots of flower shapes, trying out different size tissue paper and colours if you choose.
Add extra elements to your design by using green card to cut out leaves and grass.
Now it’s time to assemble, use glue or tape to secure your Spring flowers to your bonnet hat base, adding your leaves or grass too. Experiment with where you would like your flowers placed, would you like them in a bunch like a bouquet or decorating the brim? Pick your favourite!
You can now add some ribbon or create little bows to surround your flowers as a finishing touch to your Spring bonnet!

Easter chicks bonnet hat

It’s Spring time, and the world is bursting with new life! Flowers are blooming, baby animals are appearing, and it’s time for Easter. This bonnet idea is all about animals!

Materials you will need:

Pom poms
Orange felt
Googly eyes
pipe cleaners
Scissors
PVA glue or sticky tape

We are going to create our very own Easter chicks to decorate our Easter bonnet hat.

Step by step instructions:

Pick out two yellow pom poms to use, one bigger than the other.
Attach the two pom poms together using PVA glue or tape.
Fold the orange felt in half and cut out a triangle shape on the fold. Attach this to the smaller pom pom using PVA glue, this will create a beak for the Easter chicks.
Using orange pipe cleaners or even the felt. Cut 3 strips and twist together to make the chick’s feet. Secure this to the bottom of the large pom poms using PVA glue or tape.
Finally, it’s time to bring the fluffy chicks to life with some googly eyes. Add these above the beak to give your Easter chick character.
You can adapt these instructions to make other Easter animals like an Easter bunny. Simply use white or grey pom poms or even cotton wool balls. Add a pink triangle out of felt for the nose. Then, cut out some bunny ears from pink and white felt.
Add your Easter animals to your hat using PVA glue or tape. You could incorporate some flowers, grass and leaves like in our first design.
Use any other small items you have at home; colourful Easter eggs, feathers, flowers. Some additional decoration ideas include a fence made from sticks, carrots made from leftover orange and green felt, making Easter eggs from felt or adding chocolate eggs.

Football Easter bonnet hat

Easter bonnets are a wonderful way to celebrate the arrival of spring, and they’re also a fantastic opportunity to express yourself! Think about what you love most about this time of year. For many children, the excitement of summer sports, especially football, is a highlight. This Easter bonnet idea captures that springtime energy with a fun and sporty design.

Materials you will need:

White card
Black felt tip pen or felt
Green paint or card
PVA Glue or sticky tape

Step by step instructions:

We need to start by turning our Bonnet green, to represent the grass. You can do this by using green paint, which works well on our DIY paper Bonnets. Or, use green tissue paper or card and glue to our Bonnet.
Using green card, cut out a long strip which will fit around the hat, cut in some long spikes which we can add to the top hat for grass. You can layer the grass adding different heights and green colours to add dimension. Add these to the hat using PVA glue or sticky tape.
Now it’s time to make our footballs! Using white card draw circles with a pencil (a cup or bowl will help). Then, cut out the circles using scissors.
To create the football pattern on our circles, pencil out a football pattern making hexagon shapes. Colour these in using a black felt tip pen. Or alternatively, cut out hexagon shapes from black felt and glue to your paper circles.
Add your footballs on top of the grass and at the base of your bonnet hat using PVA glue or sticky tape.
You can adapt your sport themed bonnet to include your favourite sports, use brown card to create a rugby ball or yellow to make a tennis ball. Make it your own!

Easter bunny ears ideas

Short on time? No problem! Our easy bunny ear craft is a perfect alternative to Easter bonnets. You can personalise your bunny ears by using different coloured card or embellishing them with tissue paper flowers, just like in our first design.

Hop over to our Easter Activity Book for the full instructions.