Quand Pâques tombe tôt en avril, même un simple lapin en chocolat fait plaisir aux enfants.

Both quand and lorsque can mean when. In this sentence, quand is the most natural everyday choice.

• Quand Pâques tombe tôt en avril... = When Easter falls early in April...
• Lorsque is a bit more formal or literary.

So a learner should think of quand as the normal spoken and written option here.

Even though Pâques looks plural because of the -s, it is usually treated as a singular holiday name when referring to Easter as a feast day.

So:

• Pâques tombe tôt = correct
• Pâques tombent tôt = not correct here

This is similar to how English sometimes has names that look unusual but behave as a single unit.

No, it is not literal. In French, tomber is commonly used for dates and holidays to mean to fall on.

So:

• Pâques tombe tôt en avril = Easter falls early in April

You can also hear:

• Noël tombe un lundi cette année. = Christmas falls on a Monday this year.
• Mon anniversaire tombe pendant les vacances. = My birthday falls during the holidays.

Tôt means early, but en avril specifies the month. Together they mean early in April.

• tôt = early
• en avril = in April

So tombe tôt en avril means that Easter occurs at an early point within the month of April.

In French, months are normally used with en.

• en avril = in April
• en mai = in May
• en janvier = in January

So en is the standard preposition for months.
You would not normally say à avril.
Dans avril is also not the normal choice here.

Même here means even.

• même un simple lapin en chocolat = even a simple chocolate rabbit

It adds the idea that something modest or ordinary is enough to make children happy.

Be careful: même can have different uses in French, but here it is an adverb emphasizing un simple lapin en chocolat.

In French, many adjectives usually come after the noun, but some common adjectives often come before it. Simple is one of the adjectives that often goes before the noun.

• un simple lapin = a mere/simple rabbit

Also, putting simple before the noun often gives the sense of just / merely / nothing fancy.

Compare:

• un simple lapin = just a simple rabbit
• un lapin simple = this would sound unusual and could suggest the rabbit itself is simple in character or design, which is not the intended meaning

French often uses en for something made out of a material, especially when talking about the substance something is formed from.

• un lapin en chocolat = a chocolate rabbit
• literally, a rabbit in/out of chocolate

This is very common:

• une statue en marbre = a marble statue
• une bague en or = a gold ring

De chocolat would not be the natural wording here.

Faire plaisir à quelqu’un means to please someone, to make someone happy, or to give someone pleasure.

So:

• fait plaisir aux enfants = makes children happy / pleases the children

It is a very common French expression.

Examples:

• Ce cadeau me fait plaisir. = This gift makes me happy.
• Ça lui fait plaisir. = That pleases him/her.

Because the expression is faire plaisir à quelqu’un. The person who feels the pleasure is introduced with à.

• à + les = aux
• so à les enfants becomes aux enfants

That is why we get:

• fait plaisir aux enfants

This is a very important pattern:

• faire plaisir à Marie
• faire plaisir aux enfants
• faire plaisir à ses amis

Holiday names in French usually do not take an article when used in a general way.

• Pâques
• Noël
• Hanoukka

So:

• Quand Pâques tombe tôt... = normal

You would not usually say Quand la Pâques... in standard modern French.

The subject of fait plaisir is même un simple lapin en chocolat, and that whole subject is singular.

So:

• un lapin = singular
• therefore fait = singular form of faire

If the subject were plural, the verb would change:

• Même de simples lapins en chocolat font plaisir aux enfants.

The sentence uses the present tense:

• tombe
• fait

In French, the present tense is often used for:

• general truths
• habitual situations
• things that are regularly true

So this sentence is not talking about one specific year only; it sounds like a general observation.

That opening part is a time clause: When Easter falls early in April...

French often puts this kind of clause at the beginning, just like English can.

Structure:

• Quand Pâques tombe tôt en avril = subordinate clause
• même un simple lapin en chocolat fait plaisir aux enfants = main clause

The comma helps separate the two parts.

Yes, literally it is to the children, because of the structure faire plaisir à. But in natural English, we usually translate the whole expression more smoothly:

• fait plaisir aux enfants = pleases the children
• or makes children happy

So the French uses à, but English normally does not keep that exact structure.

Usually it means children in general, or children as a group in that situation.

• aux enfants can sometimes sound specific depending on context
• but here it reads more like a general statement about children and Easter treats

French often uses the plural article in ways that do not always match English word-for-word. So translating it simply as children is very natural.

A natural rhythm would group it like this:

• Quand Pâques tombe tôt en avril,
• même un simple lapin en chocolat
• fait plaisir aux enfants.

A learner should especially notice these sound points:

• Quand Pâques: the final d in quand is not pronounced
• Pâques: the final -s is not pronounced
• aux enfants: there is a liaison, so it sounds like oh-zahn-fan

Listening for those chunks will make the sentence much easier to understand and repeat.