Do you ever have those moments in life where you participate in something and suddenly realize ~ hey the kids at school would love this activity. How can I incorporate it into my program?

That’s what happened to me on Easter 2007.  I was at a Family Easter Party and witnessed a family tradition that intrigued me. We had just finished eating some appetizers when everyone started grabbing some colored Easter eggs (the hard-boiled kind not the plastic variety.) The next thing I knew people were pairing themselves up and challenging their partner to an “Egg War.”

One person held their egg in their hand and made a fist around it. The second person took their egg and tapped it on top of the first person’s egg. Lo and behold one egg cracked while the other remained fully intact! Brilliant!! It reminded me of breaking the wishbone from the Thanksgiving Turkey with my sister in our childhood years.

Now, off in the corner our family patriarch held in his hand what seemed to be an indestructible egg. Everyone who challenged him would not be able to break his egg. I knew better…something was fishy. It would soon be revealed that Mr. Sneaky had peeled his egg prior to the competition and colored the top of it. Very clever ~ and a precious memory for our clan! Eventually the gig was up and he ate his egg! Soon the competition ended and the winner with the most intact egg would win and the family moved on to the next activity.

While everyone else had moved on to the next thing, the wheels were turning it my head. The kids at school would love this activity! How can I implement it in a manner they would enjoy?  So, the following year, Easter 2008 I planned to hold an Egg Wars for the kids at school. I boiled 4 dozen eggs and told the kids we were going to have an Egg Wars. First they got to dip, design, color & sticker up their eggs ~ to really make them their own. I then explained what the contest was all about. I even made a little felt cape and mask labeled “Egg Wars Champion” for the winning egg. The decorating process lasted about 45 minutes. The Egg Wars themselves lasted 10 minutes. Short but sweet! They had a blast! Be prepared though to pick up a lot of eggshells. As soon as the Egg Wars were over everyone wanted to eat their egg!

I love that I was able to bring this activity to the kids I work with. Inspiration can come from the most ordinary places. How about you ~ where do you find inspiration?