Fun Pancake Day Ideas & Activities for Kids
Oh hooray! Before we get excited about Easter Crafts, there is of course Pancake Day also known as Shrove Tuesday or celebrated as Mardi Gras in other parts of the world. So in order to celebrate the day, I have brought together a colelction of Pancake Day Ideas & Activities – fun ways to celebrate with kids.
When is Pancake Day 2023?
Pancake Day is celebrate the Tuesday before Lent Starts, the night before Ash Wednesday – ie 40 days before Easter. This year, Easter is on the 9th April 2023. Which means that shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day is on the21st February 2023! It marks the start of Lent!
Why do we have Pancake Day? What does Shrove Tuesday mean?
Traditionally, Pancake Day was all about using up all the eggs and butter and rich foods before the period of fasting. It is also known as “Shrove Tuesday”. Derived from the word shriven.. when you go and confess you sins before lent.
In modern day Britain it is an eagerly awaited day by children. Not because children are excited about lent (ahem!), but children are excited about PANCAKES!! Traditionally, in the UK people eat sweet pancakes with a little sugar and lemon. Delicious. But we also enjoy savoury pancake toppings, e.g. with cheese and ham. There are lots of topping and recipe ideas to suit your tastes!
Many areas across Britian have pancake day races – these are said to have originated in Olney, Buckinghamshire – where a lady cooking pancakes, heard the church bells.. and in her haste to attend on time, ran to church complete with apron and frying pan in hand! Now you must run with the frying pan and toss your pancakes as you go!
In other parts of the world, Pancake Day is celebrated as “Mardi Gras” (aka Fat Tuesday) – a parade or fancy dress carnival marking the beginning of lent!
Enough background.
Here we haev a collection of Pancake Day Ideas & Activities for kids. Many are prefect for the classroom, but of course are suitable for the home too. We also have a great list of Pancake Books – they are NOT about Pancake Day as such.. but just pancakes in general.
Once you are done with these Pancake Day resources, be sure to check out our Easter Crafts for Preschoolers too! Or you may enjoy our collection of Mardi Grass ideas too.
Pancake Day Resources – Ideas & Activities for at Home & the Classroom
Pancake Day Printables
Printables of course make everything that little bit easier! And hopefully the kids iwll love these too!
FREE RESOURCE: Learn all sorts of facts about Pancake Day with our free Printable. Make some (free) Pancake Day Fortune Tellers (with fact sheets!)
Mrs Mactivity has a great Pancake Day Activity Pack
As well as a fun “chefs hat” printable – also available on Mrs Mactivity (in fact she has a complete Shrove Tuesday resource pack I believe!)
Pancake Day Crafts for Kids
And yes, we have managed to find some pancake creative activity ideas too! Though of course pancake day is really all about just making pancakes.. and there are a ton of pancake recipes out there.. here are some fun crafts you can give a go! Lots of opportunity to get creative in the classroom or at home.
Learn how to make a paper chef’s hat for Pancake Day.
Make a little Pancake Day Paper Puppet as per The Activity Village.
Make your own pancakes and frying pan game with Kids Craft Room!
Adorable Paper Plate Pancakes by A little Pinch of Perfect!
Learn to draw “funny pancakes” with the Art for Kids channel on Youtube!
Other Pancake Ideas for kids
Have a go at Pancake Shape Toss – practice your colours and basic shapes, whilst also working on those gross motor skills. Rainy Day Mum shows us how!
Or have a game of “pretend pancake making” after some lovely story time – grow stretch speak tells all.
It is simple. It is messy.. but the kids LOVE it.. have a go at Pancake Painting as per Kids Activities Blog! Fun.
Older kids may enjoy having a go at making this Pancake Art! Actually.. I say older kids.. I think ALL kids would love this activity. More info from Keeping Life Creative! Check out their pancake recipe and arty interpretations.
Pancake Books for Kids – wonderful resources for the classroom
The following list of books contains affiliate links for your convenience. Should you choose to purchase via these links, I will earn a small commission that will go towards the upkeep of this website. Needless to say, take the inspiration below and do buy from other sources!! Enjoy!!!
Eric Carle – Pancakes Pancakes (US/UK)
Marsupial Sue – The Runaway Pancake (US/UK)
The Runaway Pancake (Early Readers) (US/ UK)
Pancakes Day: Shrove Tuesday (US/ UK)
Poppy’s Pancake Day (early readers) (US/ UK)
If you give a pig a pancake (US/ UK)
Pancakes for Breakfast (US/ UK)
Whilst sourcing the books for you, I also found this super fun looking Pancake Day Game (US/ UK): EASY-TO-PLAY GAME! Stack and serve your pancakes to match your order cards. Be the first to correctly complete a pancake stack and top it with a pat of butter! PSST…THEY’RE LEARNING! Teaches following a sequence, a beginning math skill, and helps develop gross motor skills, balance, and coordination.
And once you have finished with the game.. you can use it for pretend play too! Lovely!
Finally your pancake recipe:
There are lots of pancake recipes out there – from fluffy American pancakes to super think crepes made in France. We like the “classic” British pancake on pancake day, that you can have with all sorts of topics, such strawberries, maple syrup, of course sugar and lemon and nutella! They can also be filled and wrapped with savoury ingredients, such as ham, mushrooms and cheese:
Pancake ingredients:
For approx 10-12 pancakes:
- 100g plain flour
- 2 large eggs
- 300ml milk
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil, plus a little extra for frying
Method:
- Mix all your ingredients into a smooth dough (I find starting with the flour and eggs first works best for us)
- Set aside to let the mixture “set” a little (30min is good)
- Use a little oil at the base of the pan and heat the pan up (we find the first pancake is always a little greasier and thicker, but they get better once the first one has been made!). Some people like to add a knob of butter instead of oil
- Add some pancake mix and fry carefully for approx one minute on each side
Serve with your favourite topping!
Happy Pancake Day Everyone!
If you are looking for Mardi Gras/ Fat Tuesday ideas, try these:
