Scissors, Paper, Glue: A brief history of Easter crafts on the BBC

From decorating a bonnet to cutting out bunny shapes, Easter is a time associated with homemade arts and crafts. So what does BBC Genome have to tell us about this yearly tradition? The website is full of listings of programmes that have helped children and parents get into the Easter spirit.

In the first few decades of the BBC, arts and crafts programmes at Easter mainly looked at customs and tradition, but there was the odd radio programme offering a bit more of an interactive take. As early as 1927, The Children’s Hour ran a segment on “how to make your own Easter egg” (no indication in the billing as to whether the egg was boiled, blown or made out of confectionery), and in April 1950 Woman’s Hour featured an item for Easter billed as "ideas for mothers who like to make and decorate their own Easter Eggs - with the children helping".

In the immediate post-war years, parents needed to be creative in providing their children with Easter treats. Sugar rationing was still in place until 1953 and treats like chocolate were in short supply. In the late 1940s, cookery presenter Marguerite Patten shared her recipe for Hot Cross Buns on BBC TV, no doubt offering advice on how to stretch the ingredients furthest (Patten had worked for the Ministry of Food during World War Two, and gave advice on how to make food rations last, on the BBC Home Service).

With the advent of TV for children (Andy Pandy made his TV debut in 1950), programmes began to show young people how to make things themselves. Children’s programme Blue Peter was an enthusiastic adopter of children’s arts and crafts activities. The show that would one day bring us the iconic Thunderbirds Tracy Island set was never going to be short of inspiration for Easter arts and craft.

(I feel at this point I should reveal my credentials… I am a Blue Peter badge winner. It may have been 20 years ago but it is still one my proudest achievements. Now... back to the listings, and here's a paragraph "I made earlier")...

Presenter Peter Duncan was tasked with baking a chocolate Easter cake in 1983. In 1976 Lesley Judd made the Easter Chicks at the top of the page (Easter also brought the curtain down on her seven-year stint as presenter on the show, with her last credit coming on 19 April 1979). Since then, the pull towards Easter arts and crafts in Blue Peter has remained strong and in 2000 an eclectic show presented by Katy Hill, Matt Baker, Simon Thomas and the show’s longest-serving female presenter Konnie Huq saw Easter craft activities combined with a table tennis demonstration.

An opportunity for members of the public to get directly involved arrived in 1974, when the BBC broadcast Battersea Park’s Easter Parade. Battersea was billed as “London’s jolliest park”, and the programme commentary was provided by Brian Johnston (No mention in later issues of whether the cricket commentator was bowled over by the bonnets on show). An Easter Parade would have been a rare occasion to see a bonnet in action, as the headpiece was already in decline by the late 1960s, according to Marjorie Anderson on Woman’s Hour in 1967.

It wasn’t just Blue Peter and Easter Parades that encouraged children (and adults) to embrace their creative side at Easter. Even the Teletubbies got in on the action in the late 1990s, and with the introduction of CBeebies and CBBC in 2002 the schedules enjoyed a deluge of craft-based programmes at Easter. Andy Pandy, in colour and still entertaining children, was making Easter eggs in 2004 (hasn’t he aged well!), and although listings in the formative years of both Cbeebies and CBBC don’t go in to much detail, it is fair to say parents needed to be well-stocked in all things arts and crafts in the run up to Easter.

From BBC Genome we hope you all have a lovely Easter. Perhaps now is the time, (while I look into copying Andy Pandy’s beauty regime) to get your scissors and glue out and have a look through the listings if you need a bit of inspiration for something to do.