We would shape them as whatever took our fancy - eggs or bunnies. My brother usually made ninja turtles and monsters. Then he took great pleasure in eating them limb by limb.

Much creativity and a tummy-ache or two later, we went to bed tired but smiling.

I have carried on this tradition with my son.

When my son was a little younger, we once made these flaky hens' nests.

You can try it with your kids this year. Here's how to plan some Easter fun.

You will have to do the larger part of the work by melting together 3 tablespoons of butter or margarine, a 10-ounce bag of marshmallows and 6 cups roasted rice Poha or Murmura.

Mix it all together, cover your hands with a little oil and quickly form one-third cup measures of the mixture into a nest shapes with depressions in the center. (Alternatively adapt a standard chikki recipe to make murmura chikki nests. Allow your child to decorate the "nests" by pressing in little candies - Gems or Nutties for eggs.

For older kids, decorating a cookie or an egg is a great activity.

Bake or just buy a batch of sugar cookies and set them out with bowls of icing, tinted in rainbow colours. Add in some assorted Easter decorations - gems, jintan balls, colored saunff and sprinkles.

Then, just let them go wild with it.

I find boys tend to eat more than they decorate. But girls usually save them for Easter day.

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