I first thought of creating an Easter Treasure Hunt one year when the weather was less than desirable, rain makes for a soggy hunt. So, I put my brain to work thinking of what ways I could still make the day fun for the kids without us having to be outside. Here are some great ideas (if I do say so myself) I came up with and have used throughout the years!
#1 Glow in the Dark Easter Treasure Hunt
I got some inexpensive eggs from the dollar tree and purchased some small glow-in-the-dark mini sticks from amazon (like these,* I am an Amazon Associate which means I get a small commission if you choose to purchase from my links at no extra cost to you). All you need to do is put one in each egg, hide, and turn off the lights! It helps to have this hunt at night. Also helps if the room you hide it in doesn't have any overt trip hazards! Ask me how I know this...
This was one of my kids favorite hunts and they ended up taking turns hiding the eggs for each other. It ended up being an evening of fun from such a simple concept.
#2 A Night Outdoor Easter Treasure Hunt with a Map
This was even more exciting and only requires a few extra steps to set it up.
- A flashlight for each child
- A map of your backyard's "landmarks", doesn't have to be fancy but does have to be legible enough for a child to understand. So try to make them clear. You can number each landmark or name them.
- A Treasure Chest of sorts.
For this to work your first egg must have a hiding spot written on a paper for the next egg. Each egg you hide will have a sequential clue, or number/name of the next eggs' hiding spot. The very last egg will have the "treasures" hiding spot.
I found small ones at the Dollar Tree and made them into a personalized treasure chest for each of my children. I then put $5 in each chest! Way better than candy! If you can't find any at your local store there are some on Amazon here*. (See my disclosures here. I am an Amazon Associate and make a small commission at no additional cost to you!)
#3 A Grid Map Egg Hunt
This one I thought of last year and we had a blast, so we'll likely use it again this year. Take a pen, paper, & a ruler. I chose to use a cardstock 8 ½ x 11" paper so I made 5 2" grids long by 4 2" grids wide. So you have a rectangle 8"x10" then draw in your grids.
Then you draw in your landmarks of your area (yard or whatever) into each grid where it would most likely be on a map. Then I used numbers A, B, C D, on the side and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 lengthwise on the bottom. This creates a grid location or coordinate.
This is great for learning map skills as well as physical geography! So, you have fun while you're getting some education in!
Now I took 10 eggs for each of my kids and chose 10 hiding spots on the map. The first egg holds the second egg's coordinates, and so on and so forth. Make sure to not put in the coordinate paper until you're hiding it, otherwise, you can easily mistake what order they go in and the hunt will not be successful. The last egg will hold the coordinate for the treasure! We used the treasure as their actual Easter Basket. I reset the game for each child, but they all used the same map.
I chose to color in my map with crayons and then laminate it so we could use it later on for more fun. Barring no real changes to the yard happened we could use it the next year.
#4 A Picture Hunt
This one I actually used for Christmas Eve for my kids to hunt their stockings location. It was an added fun activity that really made the day adventurous! It is definitely going to be a new tradition.
To start I purchased 4 packs of monetary gift cards from Dollar Tree, but you could simply use small envelopes like these. There were 8 cards in each pack so I took 8 photos of different hiding spots around the house (with my phone). I made them small enough to fit in the card by inserting them into a word document and printing them out. Multiple photos fit on one page. Then I cut them out and taped them inside each card. I chose which one would be first, then labeled that envelope with the child's name.
The photo inside the first envelope is where the 2nd envelope will be found. So make sure you hide it there and continue that way until you get the the last envelope! The last one has the location of their prize.
This particular hunt is so enjoyable for little kids! My 3 year old had a blast because it was much more precise having a picture to go by.
Now it's time to go have fun creating a totally unique Easter Treasure Hunt!
Of course, these ideas can be used for many other occasions as well! Don't feel boxed in by Easter. You could use the treasure hunt or grid map for birthday fun, or other holidays.
Thanks for stopping by!
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