Easter egg hunts have long been a custom on Easter Sunday morning and are arguably the most anticipated part of all Easter celebrations, at least for the kids. But what happens as your kids get older and they no longer want to run around the living room or garden with cute baskets in hand and bunny ears on, searching for treats left by the Easter Bunny? They’re too mature and too embarrassed to join in, and let’s face it, they already know all the tried and tested hiding spots. But at the same time, they still want to take part in a fun Easter activity and get to eat all the chocolate. So how can you update the traditional Easter egg hunt to make it exciting and appealing for older kids and teenagers? We’ve got you covered with lots of great ideas for fun new takes on this well-loved tradition.
Scavenger Hunt
Instead of having a traditional Easter egg hunt where the kids go looking for chocolate eggs, create a scavenger hunt. Compile a list of items that need to be ticked off or collected and then have the Easter eggs or non-chocolate Easter gifts as the overall prize. If there are a number of kids playing, split them into two teams and the first team to collect all items wins the major prize and the other team gets a consolation prize.
Treasure Hunt
A treasure hunt is where kids follow a series of clues that eventually lead them to the ‘treasure’. A great way to do this is to buy plastic egg cases (available from most discount stores) and place a clue, and possibly also a mini chocolate egg, inside each one. Rhyming clues and puzzles work great for this game, and you can tailor the level of difficulty for the age of your kids.
Gift Hunt
Another fun use for plastic egg cases is to fill each with a small gift. This is a great way of personalising the prizes for your child, and ensuring they are well suited, whatever their age. The items can be stand-alone gifts, such as figurines, accessories or stationery, or pieces that go together to make a whole, like jigsaw puzzle pieces or parts for a LEGO model.
On Location
As kids get older, another way to keep Easter egg hunts entertaining is to up the level of difficulty by simply changing the location. So why not take the traditional Easter egg hunt out of the living room and into the great outdoors? A playground provides lots of opportunities for adventurous kids to have to climb, swing and slide their way from one hidey hole to the next. Or why not head to a national park or walking trail for some outdoor egg hunting in nature?
Pool Hunt
Older kids who are confident swimmers also love pool games. You can use plastic egg cases and fill them with mini eggs or prizes, then float them in the pool. Make sure they’re properly sealed so they float and any prizes inside don’t get damaged. Older kids could play with their eyes closed, like an Easter version of Marco Polo. And for an added twist, the eggs could be filled with numbers to determine prizes for each child after the hunt. Remember to ensure children are supervised at all times while in or around the swimming pool.
Glow-in-the-dark Egg Hunt
Another really fun idea that even tweens are likely to want to join in with is a glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt at night. There are a few ways to make glow in the dark eggs.
- Purchase glow sticks (or bracelets) and bend them inside plastic eggshells. For safety reasons, you won’t be able to hide a prize in the egg as well so be sure to have overall prizes for after the hunt.
- Put an LED finger light inside a plastic eggshell along with a small prize.
- Paint plastic eggshells with glow-in-the-dark paint and hide a small prize inside once the egg has completely dried.
The glow-in-the-dark hunt can be held at night in the garden, or indoors with the lights switched off if the kids are too scared to hunt outside in the dark.
Code Hunt
A code hunt is a great challenge for tweens and teens. Each egg in the hunt needs to have a piece of the code either inside or attached. When the kids have collected all the pieces, they need to decode the clue to find their prize. For instance, each clue could be a letter that when rearranged spells where the prize is, e.g. E M M A S B E D R O O M. Or each clue could be a word that forms a sentence, e.g. YOUR PRIZE CAN BE FOUND WHERE FOOD GROWS IN THE GROUND. You could have two teams playing at the same time, each with their own coloured eggs, and set up the hunt as a race.
GPS Hunt
This Easter hunt is perfect for teenagers as it combines Easter treats with their favourite thing: technology. Give kids a series of coordinates to go to, and a GPS tracker or smartphone to look up the coordinates and walk to each location. There, they need to search for the hidden egg (e.g. a painted hard-boiled egg), and return home with all eggs in order to receive their prize. Just make sure the locations you choose are within the boundaries of where your teen is allowed to go and that they follow road safety rules, especially when using technology.
To get GPS coordinates, type the name or address of a location into Google Maps, right click on the pin, select ‘What’s here?’ and the coordinates will be given.
Truth or Dare Hunt
This is another great game for a group of teenagers to play. Get a selection of plastic eggs and fill each one with a slip of paper on which is written an age-appropriate truth question or dare suggestion. Kids then have to answer the question or fulfil the suggestion in order to win a prize.
Brisbane Kids has lots of great ideas for Easter fun with kids. Take a look at our 10 Fun Things to do at Easter for Kids, or our Egg-citing Easter Egg Hunt Ideas for smaller children.
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