How to Have a Unique Easter Egg Hunt Next Year

By Grandma Sandy | April 8, 2026 |

On Sunday, we had Easter lunch in our garden. Miss T is out of the country on a school trip, so there was just one grandchild to hunt eggs.

Children hunting for Easter eggs. — **Easter egg hunt past–grandkids at 10 and 7 years old.**

Usually the Easter egg hunt is a lively affair, with the children actively competing to see who can find the most eggs (even if they have to divvy them up equally after the hunt).

So, I decided we’d have a unique Easter egg hunt this year, to keep N more engaged.

The Easter Egg Treasure Hunt

To do a treasure hunt, you’ll need clues that direct the child from one location to another, ending with the “treasure.” The clues go into plastic eggs, with a treat inside for immediate gratification.

We’ve had fun with various kinds of scavenger hunts and treasure hunts in the past, but never an Easter egg hunt. It’s a great way to entertain kids and since a treasure hunt knows no season, you could even do one now.

You’ll find more games and activities to do with the grandkids in Grandma Fun.

Child opens a plastic egg to find a clue for the Easter egg treasure hunt. There's also a Peep in this egg. — **N opens the egg to find his clue. There’s a Peep in this egg.**

How to Write the Clues for the Easter Egg Hunt

To make it more of a challenge, I wrote the clues as rhymes and eliminated the last word so N would have to guess the rhyming word, such as:

I know you’ll use some common sense,
You’ll find an egg around the ____. (fence)

Search very hard if you are able
The egg is sitting on a _____. (table)

Can you find it? It’s in your power
There is an egg by a yellow _____. (flower)

Type up all your clues and number them in the order you want the child to find the eggs. Print the clues in different colors of type and cut them into strips.

Stuff plastic eggs with a clue printed on strips of paper, and a treat. — **Stuff plastic eggs with a clue and treat.**

How to Hide the Eggs

You need an egg to start the child off with the first clue; set that egg aside. Then, go to the place mentioned in that first clue and hide the second egg in that location.

It can get confusing, so it helps to have the list of clues printed out and numbered on a cheat sheet, with corresponding eggs also numbered.

Plastic eggs are numbered with Post-its in the order that they will be found. — **Eggs are numbered with Post-its in the order that they will be found.**

By numbering the clues and keeping a printout of the numbered clues, you can keep abreast of the hunt, to ensure it’s going according to plan.

Make sure you don’t have ambiguous clues that can refer to more than one hiding place. N found the treasure before the end of the hunt because more than one hiding place qualified as the answer to one of the clues.

Despite finding the treasure before the end of the game, N still had fun completing the entire hunt.

More Easter Egg Hunt Tips

Child cracks a real egg-hollowed and decorated--with the first clue inside. — **N cracks a real egg with the first clue to start the hunt.**

Child reads the first clue after cracking the egg. Now the hunt begins! — **N reads out the first clue, and the hunt begins!**

I put the first clue in a hollowed out, decorated real egg. N had to crack the egg open to get to that first clue. Make this egg as you would cascarones, Mexican confetti eggs, but without the confetti.
Think about the age of the child when creating the clues. At 10, N could come up with the missing rhyming words instantly. Next time, I’ll have to make the clues more challenging.

Egg with a clue sits in a hose pot, one of the hiding places. — **One of the hiding places for an egg was in the hose pot, with lid covered.**

For example, here are two versions of a clue for the egg in the hose pot.

EASY: In the garden is many a rose,
Find the pot with a garden ____. (hose)

HARDER: Find the egg, no need to roam,
A snake is resting in in its ___ . (home)

Wash out the plastic eggs and add some candy, along with the clue, so there’s a reward for finding every egg. I filled the eggs with small chocolate bunnies, hazelnut eggs, Peeps, and Sour Patch Glow Ups (the grandkids love sour candy more than chocolate).
What to give as the treasure: I’m embarrassed to say I rewarded N with some cash in the last egg. I’d have preferred an actual gift, but I didn’t have an idea what to get, nor the time to shop. The kids are at the stage where it’s hard to find little gifts they’d actually want. Next year I plan to do better.

Our Easter Lunch

It was a glorious spring day, so we had lunch on the deck. I had a basket of chocolate eggs on each table and a plastic egg with a few sweet treats inside, at each place.

**Napkin tied with air-dry clay Easter bunny.**

Each napkin was a different spring color and each was tied with one of the air-dry clay Easter ornaments I made recently. Here are the directions for how to make them.

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