Cute & Original Easter Egg Hunt Ideas for Young Children
You can’t have missed that Easter is on the way. We’ve all noticed the supermarkets have been stuffed full of chocolate eggs for a month already! But, despite being somewhat commercialised and covered in chocolate, Easter is an age-old celebration that has origins before Christianity.
The Teutonic goddess of fertility and spring was called Eostre, which is where it’s believed the name Easter came from. Pagans celebrated the coming of spring, new growth and fertility with much of the same imagery we use today. The hare symbolism may have been replaced mainly with rabbits, but alongside eggs, they’ve been a symbol of spring and rebirth since ancient times across many cultures.
The urge to celebrate the arrival of spring is in our bones - and I think an Easter egg hunt is one lovely way to do this. We all know too much chocolate isn’t good for our little ones, so we’ve included some healthier options here too.
Picnic Easter egg hunt
This is a great treat for children and gets them excited about having their lunch!
What you’ll need:
- Paper plates
- Picnic blanket
- Picnic food
- Great drawing skills/a marker pen/a printer and some sellotape
- Small chocolate eggs
Lay out a big picnic blanket in the centre of the room. On each paper plate, stick a picture or drawing, or write down one of the dishes you’re serving. For example, one plate may say “cheese sandwiches” and have a picture of a pile of sandwiches.
Then, hide the plates around for the children to find. Once the child finds a paper plate, get them to lay it down on the picnic blanket.
Once all the plates with pictures of food have been found, lay out the real food on the paper plates down on the picnic blanket. Reward each child with a chocolate egg before or after they’ve finished their lunch. It’s up to you!
Easter sticker egg hunt
This kind of hunt ensures that even if children complete the hunt at different paces, they won’t miss out on all the treats.
What you’ll need:
- Easter themed stickers (bunnies, eggs, chicks, ducks etc…)
- Items for prizes (Small chocolates, chocolate dipped fruit, child-friendly sweets or biscuits, crayons, colouring pencils or similar)
Stick individual stickers around your home or school. Ask children to run around and look for the stickers before coming back to tell you where they saw one, and what it was. If you like, you could give a treat or prize for finding more than 4 stickers, with an extra prize for 7 or more.
Outdoor painted egg hunt
Children don’t need to be hunting for chocolate eggs to have a great time. This Easter egg hunt is perfect if you’d rather give each child one chocolate egg each, but without sacrificing any fun!
What you’ll need:
- Non-edible coloured eggs or painted hard-boiled eggs (you can get the children to paint these earlier on in the day as another activity if you like).
- A basket or bag for each child to collect their found eggs
- Child-friendly music
Hide the eggs around your garden, under plants and trees or rocks - anywhere that’s not immediately visible. Hide enough eggs for each child to find four or five each (or more, depending on how old the children are). Once they’ve collected that amount, they can come to claim their chocolate egg!
Fancy dress Easter egg hunt
This is probably cuter for the parents, but your children will love playing dressing-up too.
What you’ll need:
- Easter bunny fancy dress (Bunny ears on a hair band or hat will do)
- Small baskets or bags that children can carry
- Chocolate eggs or other treats and clues to hide
- Child-friendly music
This is exactly like a traditional Easter egg hunt. You can hide chocolate eggs, treats or clues (picture clues are best for small children). Then let them run around trying to find the secret hiding places before the music stops! With the added element of fancy dress, it’s the perfect opportunity for some hilarious family photos.
An extra prize for the best Easter costume can also be a fun idea.
If you’ve been to some amazing Easter egg hunts with your children and want to share them, we’d love that! Tag us or mention us on our Instagram or Twitter account @matchstick_monkey.