Easter hat designs are limited only by your children’s imagination, but it helps to have a few ideas to get them started. Making their own hat is fun and a good way to help them learn about the origins and traditions of the Easter holiday (it’s not just about chocolate!). Where does the Easter bunny come from, and what is a rabbit doing delivering eggs? 

While you’re sorting that out, help your little ones hop to it with these cute Easter hat parade ideas. For many of our hats, we used elastic for the under-chin strap. Poking holes for the strap is easy for an adult with plastic needles. Some hats will require a higher degree of skill and more time, while others can be whipped up in 5 minutes; handy if a little someone forgets to mention they have a school parade today! 

16 fun Easter hat parade craft ideas

Style an Egg-tastic Headband

Age group: 5+

Skill level: moderate

It will take about: 20 minutes

A young girl wearing a peach-coloured Tshirt with a pineapple motif wears a handmade paper headband with Easter egg cutouts and feather decorations.

This pastel delight is a sweet, sensorial Easter hat creation. Kids can start by cutting a strip of cardboard to make a headband, and some egg shapes to glue onto it. Then, let them go nuts with puffy paint, making tactile designs and patterns on the cut-out Easter eggs.  

For puffy-paint beginners, they’ll learn patience and hone concentration as they attempt to make their shapes without bumping and smudging them. Once the paint is dry, they can use sticky tape or glue to attach pretty pastel feathers to the inside of the band. This is a statement piece that’s sure to be one of the most creative hat ideas at the parade.

What You’ll Need

Animated GIF of a young boy and girl holding hands in front of a purple background and wearing handmade Easter hat parade creations, including a bunny hat and paper plate nest.
Easter Bunny Party Hat and Paper Plate Nest

Decorate an Easter Bunny Party Hat

Age group: 4+

Skill level: simple

It will take about: 15 minutes

Everyone loves a party hat, and this one is easy to make and will look adorable on them. The cone shape is good for younger children to try making: they can use sticky tape instead of messy glue. Help them push a plastic needle through the cone to insert chenille stem ‘whiskers’. 

Let them get inventive by adding googly eyes and cute ears; the white cardboard base means they can even paint or colour in their Easter bunny at the end, adding extra creative flair.

Animated GIF of Officeworks arts and craft supplies to make an easter bunny cone hat, including coloured paper, scissors, glue and sticky tape.

What You’ll Need

Build a Nifty Paper Plate Nest 

Age group: 6+

Skill level: advanced

It will take about: 40 minutes

In this creative Easter activity, a paper plate also makes a surprisingly fun nest. By cutting out the inside of the plate, it leaves you with a sturdy rim to house your ‘sticks’ and ‘eggs’. 

Get the kids to start by painting or colouring the underside of their plate brown. Create the ‘nest’ by cutting up or shredding brown construction paper, and then scrunching and gluing it down. This is an awesome sensorial activity for little hands. Then they can choose their ‘eggs’: sparkly pom poms in different sizes look just right. 

What You’ll Need

Stitch a Paper Plate Laces Hat

Image of a young boy in a denim jacket with his hands behind his head wearing a handcrafted Easter hat made using a paper plate with coloured thread sewn in circular patterns.

Age group: 6+

Skill level: advanced

It will take about: 30 minutes

This Easter, encourage kiddos to transform a humble paper plate using just a plastic needle and some shoelaces.The eye of the needle is thick enough for the laces and the plate is soft enough to push them through. 

Once kids get the hang of it, they can sew all sorts of shapes and designs. They could even try writing their name. They may want to draw some pictures on their plate to give them direction as they stitch, or just freestyle as they go.

What You’ll Need

Fold a Paper Flower Crown

Image of a young redheaded girl standing in front of a purple background and wearing a DIY flower headband made from folded paper.

Age group: 7+

Skill level: advanced

It will take about: 30 minutes

Not quite an Easter hat, but definitely an Easter crafts activity. This headband is brilliant for concentration, fine motor skills and perseverance. While it’s a delicate design, folding paper concertina-style can also be calming. 

Have them start by creating the headband, twisting the ends of two pipe cleaners together to form a circle. Next, make the paper flowers. Fold strips of paper back and forth, then fold the fan in half. Repeat and secure the two fans into pinwheel shapes using double-sided tape or a mini stapler to secure. 

Attach the flowers to the headband using a small section of yellow pipe cleaner, threaded through the middle of the flower and fixed to the headband with a twist. Use sticky tape to secure some green paper leaves to the back of the flowers and their DIY Easter hat parade creation is complete.

Animated GIF of craft supplies needed to make a paper flower crown, including paper, scissors, tape and pipe cleaners.

What You’ll Need

SEE ALSO: Create a Cool Solar System Model and Galaxy Craft for Kids

Image of a boy and girl with their arms round each others shoulders wearing handcrafted Easter headbands and hats in front of a purple background.
Foam Garden and Easter Bunny Beret

Glue up a Foam Garden

‍Age group: 6+

Skill level: simple

It will take about: 30 minutes (plus drying time)

This crown is an easy craft project for kids to make, but uses liquid glue so it can take some time to dry; a good lesson in patience! For beginners, it might help if you trace the grass and animal shapes in pencil on the back of the foam before the kids start cutting the shapes. Cutting along lines is an excellent way for them to work on spatial awareness as well as hand-eye coordination. 

Once all the shapes are cut, including a little nose and beak, get them to glue it all into place. Leave it to dry for at least a couple of hours (overnight is best) before measuring the crown around their head, trimming any excess cardboard and sticky-taping in place.

Animated GIF series of a garden-themed Easter headband for kids made using green glitter foam, cardboard, scissors and glue.

What You’ll Need

Make a Fluffy Easter Bunny Beret

Age group: 5+

Skill level: advanced

It will take about: 60 minutes (plus overnight to dry)

A perfect activity for a quiet afternoon of craft, this hat takes a bit of time but is well worth the effort. Help the kids cut out most of the middle of the paper plate, leaving a slight ridge at the front for the ears to sit. They can fashion the ‘ears’ from the cut-out middle bit of the plate, then help them make two slots in the ridge to slide the bottom of each ear into before securing the ears in place with glue or tape. 

Finally, glue on white and pink pom poms – they take a while to adhere to the paper plate, so allow plenty of drying time before the Easter bonnet parade. 

What You’ll Need

Fashion an Easter Bonnet

A young girl in a yellow tshirt clasping her hands under her chin and wearing a homemade Easter bonnet of fabric scraps glued to paper.

Age group: 4+

Skill level: moderate

It will take about: 20 minutes

There are so many amazing Easter crafts for kids and all this one needs is scraps of fabric and some cardboard. Added bonus? Using glue sticks to create this bonnet will give kids’ dexterity skills a workout. They’ll need to trim and attach the fabric pieces in place, overlapping them as they glue each piece onto a long piece of cardboard. 

To finish, attach ribbons to each end of the Easter bonnet, so it ties neatly underneath their chin. 

What You’ll Need

SEE ALSO: 12 Easy Easter Crafts for Kids

Two children with their arms around each other stand in front of a purple background, with one wearing an orange cone carrot hat and the other wearing a yellow feather Easter chick mask.
Easter Carrot Hat and Chick Mask

Craft a Cute Carrot Hat

‍Age group: 4+

Skill level: simple

It will take about: 10 minutes

This tasty vegetable Easter hat is easy to whip up with some scissors, cardboard or paper, sticky tape, elastic and a brown coloured marker. Kids may want a little help creating their cone, but thanks to the carrot top being fluffy and messy, they don’t have to have advanced scissor skills to create that element from some green construction paper. 

Attach the green ‘fronds’ with glue or sticky tape, and add a few lines with coloured marker to give their carrot the finishing touch. 

How to make a paper craft carrot hat

What You’ll Need

Turn into a Super Chick with a Feathered Mask

Age group: 5+

Skill level: moderate

It will take about: 20 minutes

If your child loves heroes, this Easter craft mask definitely has a ‘Super Chick’ feel! Task kids to cut the mask out of a large piece of yellow cardboard. They may need a little help with the shape and size, so tracing the outline first will give them a starting point.

Snipping out the insides of the eyes is a good exercise in hand-eye coordination. Explain to them that by placing their cardboard on top of a hard surface like a chopping board, they can gently push the scissor tip against the cardboard to make a small hole. You can then show them how to cut inside the hole to make the larger space for their eyes. 

It won’t matter if it’s slightly wobbly and messy as they will be covering it in feathers. Once the feathers are glued on, allow the mask to dry before getting the kids to try it on. Trim any feathers that overlap the eye area. You can add a cardboard beak to finish, or even paint the beak right onto their nose.

What You’ll Need

Twist Pipe Cleaners into Bunny Ears

Best Easter egg parade ideas: bunny ears

Age group: 5+

Skill level: simple

It will take about: 5 minutes

If your kids only have five minutes to make something for Easter celebrations – or if your tiny humans only have an attention span of about that long – this is the ideal Easter hat parade idea. 

First, twist the ends of two pipe cleaners together to make a circle headband. Then shape two more pipe cleaners into bunny ears, twisting the ends around the headband to attach. Optional extra: fashion a bow in a contrasting colour and attach to the headband.

What You’ll Need

Cut Out Cardboard Bunny Ears

A girl wearing a green tshirt and yellow dungarees stands in front of a purple background wearing a cardboard bunny ears headband.

Age group: 4+

Skill level: simple

It will take about: 10 minutes

Another quick and easy Easter hat parade idea, these simple bunny ears can even be whipped up on the morning of the parade. Use a pencil to draw a long strip at the bottom of a piece of cardboard, pausing in the middle to add ears, and then help your child cut out along the pencil lines. Attach some fuzzy felt inner-ear pieces for a fun tactile element. Secure in place with bobby pins and some tape. 

Animated GIF of how to make cardboard Easter bunny ears using white cardboard, pink felt, glue and scissors.

What You’ll Need

Snip Up a Chic Easter Chick

A smiling boy wearing a blue shirt and a yellow paper hat decorated to look like an Easter chick stands in front of a purple background and poses in a chicken dance position.

Age group: 7+

Skill level: advanced

It will take about: 45 minutes

This is one of our top creative hats for kids who love using scissors. Pretty much every element involves cutting shapes – from the base which is a large cardboard circle made into a wide cone, to the wings, a beak, eyes and lashes. 

Once all the shapes are all glued into place, stick a yellow feather into the top of the cone as the finishing touch. Now, your kids are ready to march to the Easter hat parade song.

What You’ll Need

Animated GIF of a girl and boy changing position and moving their arms while wearing a hat shaped like a fried egg and a green and floral paper crown.
Cracking Easter Egg Hat and Garden Headpiece

Get Cracking on an Easter Egg Hat

‍Age group: 5+

Skill level: simple

It will take about: 20 minutes

The only cracked egg anyone wants on their head is this cardboard version! Plus, it’s a great lesson in problem solving for young minds; they’ll need to figure out how to make the egg yolk into a dome shape… out of cardboard. Tricky! 

The egg white can be cut out of white cardboard freehand; basically a big, wobbly circle. Then, finding the middle of their egg white circle, they cut a straight line from the edge to the middle point. By overlapping the cut sides just a little and gluing in place, they’ll have a gently curved cone hat. 

Now it’s time for the yolk. Create a smaller and less wobbly circle using yellow cardboard, cutting a straight line to the middle point like they did earlier. Overlap the sides to make another shallow cone shape, then press down at the top point, so it’s more like a dome. To smooth over the dent at the top, glue on some yellow crepe paper. 

Attach the ‘yolk’ on top of the ‘white’, add some elastic or ribbons to tie under their chin and, hey presto, a funny, runny egg that is sure to be a star of the school Easter hat parade.

What You’ll Need

Plant a Garden Headpiece

Age group: 6+

Skill level: moderate

It will take about: 30 minutes

This is certainly not for wallflowers: the crown is on the big side, but can be made shorter if little heads can’t handle the weight. 

Start with a big piece of cardboard as a base; then kids can add cardboard or paper grass, pipe cleaner stems and felt flower heads with pom pom centres. Thicker fabrics like felt and pom poms take a while to adhere, so encourage your kids to attach these while the cardboard is flat. Allow drying time for the glue, before shaping it into a cylinder for them to wear. 

Measure the hat around their head and secure it with a fold back clip. Now they can remove the hat and sticky tape to secure the size in place, without losing the right measurement.

What You’ll Need

Conjure Up a Top Hat

A young boy stands in front of a purple background holding a wand and wears a black top hat made from cardboard with a white cutout bunny appearing out the top.

‍Age group: 7+

Skill level: moderate

It will take about: 35 minutes

This Easter hat parade idea is one for magic lovers – it makes a bunny appear out of their hat! Kids can start with a basic black cardboard cylinder; then they’ll need to cut out a circular piece of cardboard with a hole, like a large donut. 

Make small cuts on the inside circle of the donut, place the cylinder on top, then fold up the small cut sections along the inside of the cylinder. Sticky tape or glue the two pieces together. Next, cut out a cardboard Easter bunny to glue inside the top rim of the hat. Abracadabra!

What You’ll Need

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This article was originally published March 2021 and has been updated.