11 “Outside the Box” Easter Egg Hunts

With Easter approaching it’s time to start thinking about Easter egg hunts and, I don’t know about your kids, but mine are starting to get bored with the same old egg hunt. You can only search for eggs in our backyard so many times before it gets old. So here are a few creative twists on the classic Easter egg hunt that I thought could be fun to try this year.

1. Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt. This idea comes from Mother’s Niche. She suggested either using flashlights or putting glow sticks in the eggs and then hosting the egg hunt in the evening. This would be especially fun for older kids who are getting a bit old for the average Easter egg hunt.

2. Bunny Tracks. This idea is especially fun for kids who still believe in the Easter Bunny. Basically you make and cut out out bunny tracks that lead from some starting point to where the eggs or Easter baskets are hidden. You can even hide clues along the way to help the kids out. The print outs for this activity can be found on the Embellish blog where this idea came from.

3. Puzzle Pieces. This idea, suggested by Mother’s Niche, is a bit of a twist on the classic scavenger hunt. For this egg hunt, purchase an inexpensive puzzle and then put it together. Once it’s assembled, write a clue on the back that will lead the kids to their Easter baskets (or another prize). Divide the puzzle up between the eggs. The kids will need to find and assemble all the pieces if they want to get to the prize at the end.

4. Color Coded Egg Hunt. For this idea buy enough Easter egg colors so that each child can have their own color. The kids are then only allowed to gather the eggs of their color, not someone else’s. I liked this suggestion from Sew Many Ways because it keeps things fair, especially if there are older kids who are better at finding eggs than the younger ones.

5. Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt. I really loved the suggestion from Storypiece to turn your egg hunt into a scavenger hunt. You can either write up your own clues or borrow hers to cut up and put into the different eggs. The clues lead from one hiding place to another, making the hunt a little more challenging, but a lot more fun.

6. Spelling Easter Egg Hunt. If you’re looking for a more educational Easter egg hunt option you might want to consider this idea from Hands On As We Grow. I think this could be especially good for beginning readers or kids who need help studying for an upcoming spelling test. The idea is to first write out on a piece of paper the different words you want your kids to spell. Then either cut up the words into letters from another piece of paper where you’ve written the words out or buy foam letters and sort out the ones to make the words you want. Place the letters inside the eggs and hide them. After your kids have found all the eggs have them match the letters to the words you wrote out earlier on the paper you didn’t cut up.

7. Easter Egg Lunch Hunt. I’m really excited to try this fun idea from Gluestick with my own kids. For this Easter egg hunt pack a picnic lunch inside of your kids’ eggs and then hide them somewhere fun where you can eat after the hunt. I’m personally thinking we’ll go to a park where we can enjoy being outside while we eat. Some possible lunch food suggestions include: goldfish crackers, grapes, fruit snacks, and cut up sandwiches.

8. Resurrection Eggs. This is a good activity if you’re looking for a way to keep the focus on Christ during Easter activities. In each egg is a scripture reference and an object that symbolizes what the scripture talks about. For instructions on what to put into each egg and what scripture references to use check out How Does She.

9. Reverse the Roles Egg Hunt. This fun suggestion comes from Play Party Pin and is a good way to get parents involved in the egg hunt. For this activity kids write on slips of paper different activities that they want to do but aren’t usually allowed to do. For example, not making their beds for a week or skipping chores for a day. The kids then hide the eggs and it’s up to the parents to find them. The eggs that aren’t found within a certain time limit are the eggs the kids get to keep and do the activity inside.

10. Egg Relay. I like this suggestion from Mother’s Niche because it adds a little silliness to an egg hunt. In each egg place a slip of paper that tells the child what action they need to do from the time they find that egg until they find another egg with a new action written inside. Some good actions to consider are: jump, skip, hop, and twirl.

11. Bunny Money. This idea involves hiding “Bunny Bucks” inside the Easter eggs, either with or without the usual candy. After the egg hunt, kids can then use this money to buy small prizes from the “Bunny Shop.” I like this idea because it lets the kids choose what they get out of their Easter egg hunt, not to mention it’s kind of fun to play store. For printouts to make your own bunny money, check out Mother’s Niche.

Happy Easter egg hunting!