Easter egg hunt is a very common Easter tradition, especially for children. Fortunately, there are many places to hide the eggs even if you don't have an outdoor area or if the weather is bad. In addition to giving you information on how to organize the hunt, this article also contains tips to make the game more fun or to organize additional activities.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Organizing the Egg Hunt
Step 1. Get some eggs for the Easter egg hunt
You can use real colored or decorated hard-boiled eggs, or empty plastic eggs to fill with sweets. There are also chalk eggs, but they are not a good idea for hunting inside because children could use them to draw on furniture.
Keep in mind that real eggs could be broken by children and risk rotting if not found. If you don't want to dirty your house, it's best to use plastic eggs
Step 2. If you use plastic eggs, buy some surprises
Plastic eggs can be filled with candy such as chocolates, candies, jellies, fruit, money, toys, or other small things that children may like. Some choose to hide the empty eggs and then, once the hunt is over, share the surprises among the children.
Ask the parents of the participating children if there is any food to avoid. Some may be allergic to peanuts, or younger children may not eat chocolate or other candy
Step 3. Choose specific areas to hunt for eggs
Before hiding the eggs, you need to decide which rooms the children can access to search for the eggs. Choose safer places, such as the living room, rather than the cellar where you keep dangerous tools or detergents.
- Lock off-limits rooms, or hang "Do Not Enter" signs in front of rooms you don't want them to go looking for. Hang the signs at children's eye level, but remember to point out to children who can't read which rooms they can look for.
- Put important documents, fragile and personal things in an area where they don't go looking.
Step 4. Take precautions for the safety of the children
Parents of children certainly can't expect you to make their home childproof, but there are some easy and temporary steps you can take. Put protectors on the edges of the tables. Move medicines and detergents to tall or closed cabinets. These precautions are very important especially if there are very young children.
Step 5. You could assign the eggs of different colors based on age
It is more fun if each child has to look for eggs of different colors. For example, older ones might look for hidden red eggs in more difficult places, while younger children would look for hidden purple eggs in easier-to-reach places.
- If there are many participants, you could write the name of each child on one or more eggs and ask each of them to find the egg with their own name. To keep them from fighting, make sure to give each child the same number of eggs and remember where you hide them so you can help them if needed.
- If any of the older children are upset because they cannot collect certain eggs, encourage them to help the younger ones.
Part 2 of 3: Hide the Eggs
Step 1. Write down the places where you hide the eggs, so you don't forget where they are
The list will allow you to make suggestions for children who have a hard time finding them. Plus, after the party is over, you can retrieve the ones that haven't been found. If you forget the places where you have hidden them and no one finds them, they could rot or, if they are made of plastic, the surprise inside could go bad and attract parasites.
Step 2. Hide the eggs when the children are not around
You can hide them when the children are in bed, for example the night before Easter.
- If you need help hiding the eggs, get help from other adults or older children, while the smaller ones are in another room.
- If you hide the eggs when the children are awake, distract them with a snack, a board game, or a coloring book.
Step 3. Hide the eggs in places that are easy for children up to five years old
They will have fun if you hide them in places that are easy to reach and within their reach: put them on the floor in corners, in Easter baskets placed on low tables, or in flower pots placed on the ground without too many leaves.
Wait for the hunt to begin before placing the eggs on the ground, otherwise someone might step on them. Babies up to three years old probably won't even notice that you hid the eggs while they are in the room too
Step 4. For children over six, hide the eggs in more difficult places
They like having to look for eggs in difficult places, like under or inside other things. The enthusiasm, height, and skill of six-year-olds can vary greatly, so place some eggs in more obvious hiding places than others.
- Put the eggs on the shelves inside the furniture. You could put them behind books or under newspapers.
- You can hide the eggs under other things. Children will have fun looking for them among the puppets or in a basket full of mail.
- Hide the eggs inside other things. For example in pots, pillow cases or under an overturned bowl.
Step 5. Hide the eggs in difficult places for older children or if you want to make the game more challenging for younger children
While there are no big kids, some of the little ones will have fun looking for the hard-to-find ones. Parents sometimes join the game with their children too, so putting some eggs in crafty hiding places can be a way to entertain the adults as well.
- Stick the eggs under the chairs and tables with duct tape. This will be a hard hiding place for some to find, but easy for short enough kids!
- Remove the plug of a lamp, unscrew the bulb and put the egg in its place, covered by the lamp cover. You can do the same thing with a candle holder.
- Use the toothbrush holder as an egg holder, hiding the egg behind some colored toothbrushes.
Step 6. Use some tricks to hide the eggs
To make hunting even more difficult, use the following tricks to hide the eggs in plain sight or in places no one would think they would look. By doing this, you will also make the game more interesting for adults who are watching or trying to find out where the eggs not yet found are.
- Camouflage the eggs. A red egg will be difficult to spot in a vase full of red flowers, while a blue egg will remain on a blue pillow without the children seeing it as it passes by.
- Hide a decorated egg in the undecorated egg carton in the refrigerator.
- Put an egg under your hat or in your pocket.
Step 7. Consider giving away a special egg as a prize
You could hide a particular egg and award a prize to whoever finds it. Surely the hunt will be more interesting, but it could anger the little ones or the children who have more difficulty in finding the eggs.
The prize should be something children like, such as a giant candy or a chocolate bunny
Part 3 of 3: Other Indoor Activities with Easter Eggs
Step 1. Have the children decorate the eggs
There are many easy and safe ways to decorate eggs. Put them to boil well in advance, and then have the children decorate them with pencils, paints, food colors and sponges.
Sometimes, after decorating them, children want to keep the eggs, so you need to have more to hide
Step 2. Turn the egg hunt into a treasure hunt
Instead of just letting the kids search for the eggs, give them clues to find each egg. To recreate the real treasure hunt atmosphere, insert the tickets with the clues inside the eggs and place chocolate coins in the last egg to be found as if they were a pirate's treasure.
The clue can be a riddle, a reference to an object located in another room or an allusion to something the children have done. For example, an egg hidden in the "jungle" will be among the plants of the house, while an egg hidden in the "land of birthday cakes" will be found on a splash in the refrigerator
Step 3. Roll the Easter eggs
Build a ramp with a wooden panel to rest on a stack of books. Line the ramp and the floor with rags in case the eggs break, so everyone has to roll their eggs up the ramp. The person who gets their egg farthest wins a prize.
Step 4. Organize an egg and spoon contest
Have the children put the children in two or more rows. Everyone has to hold a spoon in their hand. Place an egg on the spoons of the children in the first row. When you say "Go!", They have to pass the spoon to get the egg to the end of their row without dropping it.
- If an egg falls out, you can put it back on the spoon or let the kids put it back using just the spoon.
- If the party is taking place outside, you can create variations for this game. For example, children might push eggs to the ground with their noses, or jump around to carry them from place to place. Either way, the spoon game is suitable for an indoor party.
Advice
- Decorate the rooms where you hid the eggs with Easter decorations, such as pastel colored balloons, bows, plastic grass tufts, or the like. This will be useful for identifying rooms where children can go for eggs.
- If you don't have a lot of space in your home to hide a lot of eggs, try asking a neighbor if you can hide some in their home. Tell him how many children there will be and what age they are. If the neighbor is unfamiliar with children, limit play to 15-30 minutes in one room.
