Make sure children are entertained and busy by including Easter egg hunt activities throughout the day instead of the traditional free-for-all egg hunt. Special Easter activities will help keep the energy level up while hunting for eggs.
Pirates' Egg Treasure Hunt
Make-believe is an integral part of child play. Allow kids to let their imaginations run wild as they pretend they are swashbucklers on the high seas, hunting for treasure.
Activity Instructions
To host a pirates' egg treasure hunt, hand out bunny ears and eye patches to kids. Have them gather around while telling a tale of the Easter bunny being captured by pirates. The Easter bunny had time to hide the baskets before being whisked away. Hand out treasure maps to children, with X marking the spot where baskets can be found.
Variations
This egg hunt activity can be varied depending on the amount and ages of children involved. For a smaller number of kids, make each a separate map for hunting. Large groups may split into pairs or hunt together. An adult or teenager may need to help young children follow the map.
For a really fun spin, have someone dress up in a bunny costume and go on a rescue mission to find the bunny and all of the children's baskets. The clues could be eggs left in a trail leading to the bunny.
Scavenger Egg Hunt
Scavenger hunts are fun for kids of all ages. Scavenger hunts for Easter eggs can be done several ways. Two are highlighted below.
Create-a-Basket Hunt
Give children a basket of their own. Hand out lists of items that are hidden in a particular area (such as backyard, first floor of home, or park) that children need to find. These items may include chocolate bunnies, Play-Doh, activity pads, crayons, and other small kids' gift items that typically fill baskets. Write small clues next to each item. As each child finds the items on the list, he creates his own basket.
Scavenger Clue Hunt
Another way to do an Easter egg scavenger hunt activity is to start off as a large group with one clue. Place an egg next to each clue, and the child who figures out the clue can keep the egg for his/her own basket. The last clue can lead to either a group of baskets for the children or to an area where all of the eggs are hidden.
Personalized Egg Hunt
Instead of having children hunt for any old egg, tell them they have to find certain ones that are specially designed for them. These eggs could be identified by having their initials written on them, their names, a particular color assigned to each child, or even stickers of something that is unique to the child (like a sport or hobby).
Tell the kids how many of each egg they need to find for themselves. Older kids may even get a kick out of making it a race, with a prize going to the person who finds his/her eggs the fastest.
Other Easter Egg Hunt Activities
Just because a get-together is called an Easter egg hunt does not mean other activities cannot be going on besides the hunt. Plenty of spring activities can be done at Easter. Set up stations of activities that kids can do either by themselves, or have a grown-up rotate in to help their kids. Stations might include:
- Easter crafts
- Egg dying
- Kite flying
- Easter games
- Cookie decorating
Keep plenty of water and healthy snacks on hand for kids to nosh on if it is an afternoon activity in the heat.
Coming up with an indoor plan is also a good idea, as spring is fraught with sudden rain showers. Many of the stations can be moved indoors, such as cookie decorating and crafts. Have a few extra board games on hand and in case of emergency, an appropriate video or DVD for them to watch together.
