Easter egg hunts can be a lot of fun—but with chocolates and candy as the prize, they’re not a very healthy activity.
Luckily, with a little creativity and a few simple swaps, you can make Easter a healthy holiday as well as a fun one! Just try one (or a few) of the following ideas.
3 Easter Egg Hunt Ideas
1. Healthy Snacks
One of the simplest alternatives is to simply replace sugar-filled chocolate and candy with healthy snacks. Grab some plastic Easter eggs and fill them up with your child’s favourite healthy goodies
Some options include:
- Trail Mix
- Nuts
- Small Crackers (like Goldfish)
- Popcorn
- Pretzels
- Healthy Cereal
- Dried Fruit
- Small Fresh Fruit (like blueberries or grapes)
- Veggies (like carrot sticks)
2. Tiny Toys and Treats
Another fun alternative is to tuck fun small items—like tiny toys—inside the plastic eggs you hide. You can find lots of fun mini toys and novelty items at the dollar store.
Some possibilities include:
- Toy Cars
- Crayons
- Sidewalk Chalk
- Hair Clips, Costume Jewelry and Other Accessories
- Chapstick or Lip Gloss
- Mini-Bubbles
- LEGO or LEGO Minifigures
- Bouncy Balls
- Stickers
- Temporary Tattoos
- Marbles
- Novelty Erasers
3. Creative Egg Hunt
Another option—and one that’s best suited for older children—is to get creative with the Easter egg hunt itself. There are plenty of ways to do this and you can mix and match ideas (or come up with something completely new) to suit your family. Why not start a new tradition?
Some ideas include:
- Collect for a Prize—If you like, you could skip putting anything in the eggs altogether (or fill them with slips of paper or tokens) and have your child trade them for a larger prize after the egg hunt. This is a great option if you’d rather skip the small toys in favour of something bigger. This larger prize could be a physical thing—like a toy, movie or game—or an experience—like a trip to the movies.
- Scavenger Egg Hunt—Rather than simply hiding the eggs, you can up the fun factor by devising a series of clues, riddles and puzzles to help your child find the eggs. This gives them the opportunity to work on problem-solving skills while having fun. The egg-finding scavenger hunt can also lead to a larger prize if that’s your preferred treat.
- Puzzle Eggs—Hide individual puzzle pieces (or small groupings of them) inside plastic Easter eggs. After the fun of finding the eggs is done, your child can enjoy putting together the puzzle. Bonus points if you can find an Easter-themed puzzle featuring bunnies, chicks or eggs!
- Colour–Coded Eggs—If you’re hiding eggs for more than one child—especially if the children are different ages—you may want to consider assigning each child (or age group) a specific colour of egg to find. That way, no one kid ends up finding all of the eggs. For example, you could hide the purple eggs for your toddler so that they’re easy to find and the blue eggs for your seven-year-old so that they require a bit more thought and skill to find.
- Egg-ercise Hunt—If what you’re really looking for from an Easter egg hunt is the opportunity to encourage your child to be more active, you could opt for an “egg-ercise” hunt. In this option, each egg contains a slip of paper with an activity on it that your child needs to complete before they keep searching for eggs. Bonus points for including fun, Easter-themed exercises like bunny hops!
- Golden Egg—In addition to whatever your regular egg hunt includes, you can hide a “golden egg” (it doesn’t have to be golden, just different than the other eggs). Make sure to be sneaky in choosing your hiding place for this egg. Then, whoever finds it gets a special prize.
By Kendall Walters for True Potential Health Services
