Category Archives: Easter Holidays

Why do we have Easter eggs?

Posted on: by Galt Toys

We chomp a lot of chocolate at Easter….approximately 80 million Easter eggs are consumed in the UK each year at a cost of a whopping £200m. So where did this notion come from? Originally chocolate chomping was forbidden by the church during the week leading up to Easter – known as Holy Week.

Children were given in real eggs, which had to be laid that week and these special eggs were saved and decorated to make them ‘Holy Week eggs’ and then given as gifts. Subsequently, Victorians adapted the tradition with satin covered cardboard eggs filled with Easter gifts.

It wasn’t until the 19th century that chocolate eggs appeared in France and Germany, made from bitter and hard chocolate. As chocolate making improved, hollow eggs, like the ones we have today, were developed – yum yum!

With the chocolate along came the Easter Bunny! Legend has it that the Easter Bunny lays, decorates and hides eggs as they are also a symbol of new life. But he doesn’t do all the work alone… in Germany Easter eggs are delivered by a fox and in Switzerland eggs are delivered by a cuckoo!

Our Easter bunny needs your help to catch all the falling eggs before Good Friday – this mini computer game – Catch the Eggs will keep the children (and you) entertained for hours. So come on…help the Easter bunny, use your mouse to move the basket to catch the falling eggs so they have enough time for Easter. You score points for every egg you catch, but be careful not to catch the butterflies because then you lose points! Look out for the golden egg which gives you 10 bonus points.

Happy Happy Easter everyone – have an eggtastic time!

Hand Painted Eggshells – How To!

Posted on: by Galt Toys

It is almost Easter - schools are breaking up and yesterday was the first day of Spring – although it still feels like Winter!  So we recommend filling your house with daffodils and snowdrops to liven things up.  Plus an Easter tree with handmade Easter decorations hung on branches of Pussy Willow is a lovely tradition that can become part of family life every Easter.

To make beautiful hand painted egg shells you’ll need to blow a raw egg…so here’s how:

Place the egg upright in an egg cup, or an egg box,  and by using a large sewing needle (children will need adult supervision for this bit) make a small hole in the top. Then turn the egg carefully upside down and make a larger hole in the bottom. Make sure you break up the yolk by poking the needle about inside. Once broken, very gently over a bowl, blow into the smaller hole to force out the yoke and egg white. Make sure you save all the egg innards for pancakes or cupcake making later on!

Once all the yoke and egg white is removed, submerge the shell in water with a little vinegar, then blow out the shell again and leave to dry.

Now you are ready to decorate, you can paint eggshell with poster paints, felt pens, glitter, stickers - any embellishment you want! To attach the eggs to the tree, cut a length of ribbon (approx 11 cm), and thread both ends of the ribbon through a bead (the bead needs to be small enough to fit though the larger hole in the egg shell). Then tie a knot joining both ends of the ribbon together – creating a loop. With the bead at the bottom, thread the ribbon though the larger hole and out through the smaller  so the bead will then act as an anchor holding the ribbon in place, ready to be placed on the tree.

If you have any Easter decorating tips, or make you own Easter tree we’d love you to share them with us. Please upload images to our Facebook page or tweet us @GaltToys

Happy Easter egg painting….

Summer Holidays are here…

Posted on: by Galt Toys

So it’s that time of year again, we’re a week in and the summer holidays are in full swing. Children everywhere are running wild with excitement while parents are wondering how on earth to keep them entertained for the next six weeks.  So far you’ve been to the seaside, paid a visit to grandma and had a few play dates with other mums and children in the park…and now you’re wondering what to do next?

Well here at Galt Toys we have plenty of creative and engaging activities to keep your little ones out of trouble, entertained and their brains ticking over until they go back to school.  We can’t promise they won’t get a bit messy – but here’s just a few of our favourites to keep boys, girls and grownups amused this summer.

Create your own friendship bracelets – children just love them! Our cool charm bracelet kit is perfect for sharing with friends, with its cool coloured beads and silver charms featuring a poodle, strawberry and mobile phone it will undoubtedly add a little sparkle this summer.

NEW JAWBones

If you children love construction, this is the toy for you – Jaw Bones the 100 piece box set comes with a 20 page ideas booklet for loads of building inspiration and will keep the kiddies entertained for hours. The Buildable Art System with construction pieces that swivel, ratchet and snap together in countless ways. The possibilities for new and unique creations are limited only by the imagination. (Hard hat optional)

Everybody loves a tea party – why not create your own mad hatters version for an afternoon treat? -   You’ll have to paint the tea set  first though! You can get creative in the morning and go as bonkers as you like with the decoration – dot, strips and swirls. Then enjoy your efforts with an afternoon tea party.  (Cake is definitely not optional!)

Horrible Science

To keep those little brains engaged, our Horrible Science kits will provide hours of adventure for inquisitive minds and depending on which one you choose, they will be moulding slimy slugs, making water fuelled rockets and bouncing eyeballs in the garden and that’s just for starters.

Here is one for the whole family – pick your favourite bug or animal from our new grow-a-heads range then keep them fed and watered to see who’s can grow the longest hair over the summer. The fun never stops as once you’ve created wacky hair dos for your heads, give then a crew-cut and watch them grow all over again!

If after all this the little ones are still not tired, get them running around the garden in sync with the Olympics – they’ll be pooped and ready for bed in no time! As always, we’d love for you to share your Galt moments with us by uploading pictures to our facebook page or tweet us at @GaltToys.

Happy Playing!