Easter is a fun-filled holiday for kids of all ages with much of the excitement saved for the traditional egg hunt that serves as the centerpiece of family get-togethers.
Of course, for some, “traditional” can translate to “boring.” If you fear that your upcoming Easter egg hunt may leave your pint-sized guests snoozing rather than shouting with glee, consider the following ideas:
Scavenger Hunt: This hunt requires looking for clues as well as eggs. Start off by placing an egg next to each clue. Next, begin the hunt as a group. The first child who figures out the clue gets to keep the egg for his or her own basket. The last clue can lead to either a group of baskets for all of the children or to an area where all of the eggs are hidden.
Personalized Egg Hunt: If you are concerned that older kids will have an unfair advantage over younger ones, design a personalized egg hunt. You can customize the eggs by writing the names or initials of the children on the eggs or assigning a particular color egg to each child to find. Another option is to place stickers on eggs to differentiate them. You can then have your daughter hunt for the eggs with the flower stickers and have your son hunt for the eggs embellished with basketball stickers.
Depending on the age of the kids participating in the hunt or the type of weather you are dealing with on Easter Sunday, you could forgo the traditional searching of eggs and have kids win goodies through a variety of games. For example, have your young guests guess how much Easter candy is in a jar. Simply clean a used pickle or mayonnaise jar, and then dump a bunch of chocolate eggs, jelly beans or marshmallow chicks inside. The child who guesses the correct number of items (or gets closest to the actual number) wins a prize.
Another easy game is Easter Bunny Says. It’s a holiday version of the classic Simon Says game. You could even have someone dress up as a bunny to add to the fun. For kids of all ages, try Pin the Tail on the Easter Bunny. Just find a large picture of an Easter bunny online, print it out and hang it on the wall. You can use cotton balls with double-stick tape for the bunny’s tail.