An Easter egg hunt is a great way to make sure you have lots of happy little bunnies at home. These handy ideas and tips will help you make lots of wonderful memories over Easter weekend - year after year.
1. Pick the ideal spot
In your garden and inside your home are good places to find both difficult and easy hiding places for your Easter egg hunt. Remember, even if you plan a course in your garden and ‘lay your eggs’ on a pleasant spring evening, the ground can still be wet and dewy the next morning so pick your little nooks and crannies carefully and get the wellies ready just in case.
2. Make your own baskets
First things first - you need something for the little ones to pop their eggs into. Helping the kids to make their own baskets will build the excitement even more - and the baskets are great for other make-believe games for the rest of the year. Smaller children can share and take it in turns to carry the treats, but it’s often more fun to let the adults do the carrying while they scurry off on the hunt for more.
3. Leave a note from the Easter Bunny
Start the hunt by leaving a note from the Easter Bunny that explains the rules, and leave a crunched carrot or two on the floor to feed their imagination even more. Start the kids off by telling them they have to hop to the first egg, they could even make their own bunny ears - and remember to make sure they wiggle their fluffy tails as they go.
4. Colour-code the eggs
It can be difficult to keep an eye on how many eggs each little hunter is collecting. To make sure the game is fair, colour-code the eggs and divide them into equal amounts. Each child can search for a different colour, which means you can avoid the squabbles and keep everyone happy. They could even decorate their own to add a more personal touch to the chase.
5. Make it egg-ucational
To make things a bit trickier, add a trivia question to each egg. You could theme this challenge around their favourite subject - like Harry Potter or Beauty and The Beast - or simply use it as a great way to complete their homework with spellings or sums from their schools. Keep it fun and lighthearted though, if they get some questions wrong, give them a fun and easy forfeit as a chance to earn the egg - like doing a cartwheel or singing a nursery rhyme.
Give the really young ones a head start. An adult or older child should accompany toddlers - encourage them with clues and help them carry their baskets.
6. Come up with some challenges
The older your kids get the more they will want to be challenged. So, try blindfolding each hunter (one at a time) and giving them clues to guide them to an egg. Make sure there's always someone close-by to stop them bumping into things though. You can also make it a little more difficult by using maps and tricky clues. If you're in a smaller space, come up with your own riddles to point them in the right direction. For tiny tots, leave the clues and challenges out of it, and just lay a trail between each egg. You could use colourful wool or string, or let them follow a line of small individual chocs or sweets that lead the way to bigger egg prizes.
7. Get some egg-cercise
At different spots along the hunt, hide special markers that challenge the kids to a physical test - like 10 press-ups, 5 star jumps or 30 seconds hula-hooping. That way they can work off some of the chocolate before they get to eat it.
