Inspiration
10 Tips for a More Engaging Outdoor Easter Egg Hunt
Story Highlights
At Outdoor Dreams, we believe that most everything is better when done outdoors. This is especially true when it comes to Easter celebrations. With beautiful Spring weather and masses of flowers in bloom, there is no better setting than the outdoors for Easter activities, including the Easter Egg Hunt.
As the title implies, in this article we provide 10 tips for creating a more engaging Outdoor Easter Egg Hunt. These tips will help you to plan a hunt that is more active, stimulating, and memorable. Additionally, many of these tips are perfect for engaging older kids and teens that think they've outgrown the Easter Egg Hunt tradition.
Skip the candy
Filling the Eggs
This year, limit candy to the Easter Basket and consider filling your eggs with something different. Choosing a different filler provides a great opportunity to create a more engaging, longer-lasting activity. Also, don't be afraid to mix and match different ideas for something even more unique.
Tire them out with
1. Exercise Eggs!
Instead of more calorie-laden candy, consider filling the eggs with calorie-burning "commands." These exercise eggs will help kids to burn off the excess calories and energy created by the sugar in Easter Candy. If you keep the exercises fun and silly (think bunny hops, frog jumps, bear crawls, duck walks, etc.), your kids won't even realize they're exercising.
Allow them to choose
2. Easter Raffle
It can be hard to find fun (and desirable) gifts that fit inside of plastic eggs. Instead, fill your eggs with raffle tickets that can be redeemed for prizes at the end of the hunt. For younger kids, this is a great opportunity to teach basic economic lessons like hard work (finding more eggs), the power of choice, and purchasing power.
Piece by piece
3. Add a Puzzle
Have one activity lead to another by filling your eggs with puzzle pieces. You can create a custom puzzle for the festivities or buy one from the dollar store. Once all of the eggs have been collected, the kids have to sit down and assemble the puzzle together. To increase their interest and engagement, consider adding a reward for finishing the puzzle.
instead of a puzzle...
For the Lego Lover
The puzzle concept also works for things like Lego kits and models. Think outside of the box and customize the idea to fit your children's interests.
Always be learning
4. Easter Trivia
Never miss an opportunity to teach and encourage your children to love learning. Fill your Easter Eggs with Easter trivia or Bible verses. When all of the eggs have been collected, have your kids study the information and then quiz them with fun rewards.
Add excitement and intrigue with a...
5. Golden Ticket
Whether a fan of the book, one of the two movies, or even "The Office," most everyone understands how the Golden Ticket concept works. A golden ticket can be added to any Easter Egg Hunt to increase excitement and intrigue. The Golden Ticket can win the lucky recipient a special prize or privilege, like a week off of chores or a special trip to get ice cream. This might also be a great idea for getting older kids and teens involved.
Up the ante with
6. Money, Scratchers, & Lottery Tickets
If the Golden Ticket doesn't get older kids and teens involved, money certainly will. No matter how much they deny it, your older kids and teens still have fun hunting Easter Eggs. Sometimes they just need the added incentive to get started.
If you choose to include money with younger kids, as with the raffle tickets, this is a great opportunity to start basic economic conversations surrounding money and purchasing power.
Create more fun with
Additional Easter Egg Hunt Themes
Along with different filler items, Easter Egg hunts can be enhanced with a variety of themes that add interest and extend the activity.
Get them thinking
7. Create a Scavenger Hunt
Instead of a simple game of "hide-and-seek," consider planning a more elaborate Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt filled with creative clues and riddles that lead them to the next egg. This is an especially great idea to use with older kids that are bored by traditional Easter Egg hunts. Hide eggs both inside, outside, and throughout the neighborhood to increase enjoyment.
Expand the Search
8. Hunt for more than just Eggs
Very often we can be very narrow-minded in our focus, leading us to miss the many beauties and blessings around us. Use your Easter Egg hunt as an opportunity to teach your kids to never lose sight of the world around them. Along with the main focus of hunting for eggs, give them a checklist of other things to look for and take note of. Make this checklist a prerequisite for winning any prizes.
Add an Extra layer of fun with...
9. Easter Egg Bingo
Who doesn't love bingo? This simple addition will add another layer of fun to your Easter Egg Hunt. All winners may receive a special prize or privilege.
keep the fun going After dark
10. Glow-in-the-Dark Easter Eggs
Of all the great ideas in this article, this might be the best (this is why it was saved for last). Simply add glow sticks to your eggs and watch them light up your yard. Even if you've already completed a hunt earlier in the day, a glow-in-the-dark hunt after the sunset will still be exciting and fun. This late Easter Egg Hunt will also help burn off a little more sugar energy, making bedtime easier for everyone.
And finally...
The Outdoor Dreams' Easter Egg Hunt
During our Easter photo shoot, we hid multiple eggs throughout the space.
Can you find all six?
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