5 Easter Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Despite its habit of sort of… hopping around the calendar, Easter is typically the sign that spring has indeed sprung, so very much worthy of celebration. 

And if your little ones are eager to soak up some long-overdue sunshine after months of dreary skies and biting cold, you’re in luck: we’ve got a batch of easter scavenger hunt ideas, freshly picked and ready to go. 

From brain-teasing cryptic clues to egg-cellent displays of athletic prowess, we’ve pulled together a batch of Easter activities that the whole family can enjoy—and won’t eat up your budget. 

And sound that child development klaxon, because each of our activities is designed to nourish your little one’s body and mind and truly make the most of Easter.

FYI: Most Easter scavenger hunts revolve around foraging for chocolate eggs, but as you’ll see below yours doesn’t have to! Our ideas include brilliant basket-fillers such as toys, games, and activity books. 

Let’s get adventuring, shall we? 

1. Find the animals

Easter doesn’t sit still on the calendar (it’s Sunday, April 5th this year, FYI), but that’s actually quite on-brand for the first entry on our list of scavenger hunt ideas.

A simple yet satisfying twist on the traditional hunt, a find-the-animals hunt is, well… exactly what you think it is. You set your little one off to find pictures of animals sneakily stowed around the garden, each holding a clue to the hidey-hole of the next. 

As well as being an excuse for your little one to fill their lungs with fresh spring air, this hunt is also a chance for them to learn about the types of animals you can expect to see as the weather warms up, including rabbits, lambs, calves, and chicks. 

Like all good scavenger hunts, this zoological odyssey should lead to a final bounty of whatever combination of treats and prizes you’ve decided on. 

2. An interactive adventure

There’s a problem in the garden. A villainous vole (sorry, vole-kind!) has stolen the easter treats and prizes, selfishly stowing them in his burrow. 

You can see where we’re going with this, right?

Another interactive twist on the classic Easter egg hunt, this activity is guaranteed to fire up your little one’s imagination as they play detective, hot on the trail of the greedy vole who stole Easter. (FYI: Your villain doesn’t have to be a vole.)  

The setup’s simple enough and can be tweaked as you see fit, so let your inner storyteller take the lead here. The only must-haves are missing prizes and clues. 

And the best bit? Your little one will be having so much fun that they won’t notice they’re developing their deductive reasoning skills—like tiny Sherlocks—and getting swept along with an engaging story. 

Don’t panic if storytelling’s not your strong suit; the tale can be as simple as you like. Just make sure each animal hints at the location of the next, and so on. 

3. A big, brain-teasing puzzle

There’s no feeling quite like earning a prize; that rush of endorphins that gives you a big case of the warm-fuzzies and a pleased-as-punch grin. 

And so, for the third entry on our list of Easter activities, we figured we’d serve up something that’d let your little one soak up that joy and hone some fundamentals. 

That’s right, we’re talking about puzzles. 

Puzzles are a go-to in preschool education for a variety of reasons. They improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and perseverance.  

There are several ways you can approach this idea, but, as is often the case, the simplest are the best. For us, it’s a coin toss between two options. 

1. Hide pieces of a puzzle around the house/garden. Hunt the pieces down with your little one, helping them if they get stuck. Once they have all the pieces, encourage them to solve the puzzle. 
2. Draw an Easter-themed picture on a large piece of card, before cutting it into several puzzle pieces. Encourage your little one to solve the puzzle. 

Whichever version you choose, your little one’s reward for putting the pieces together is the same: a basketful of treats/prizes and the self-esteem boost that can only come from a puzzle well-solved. 

4. Exciting Easter athletics

If you’re hosting an Easter shindig, you’ll need an activity that’ll keep everyone occupied. (Especially if you’ve got things cooking, cooling, and baking.) 

And let’s face it, after months of dreary skies and enough layers to melt a snowman, your guests—big and small—will leap at the opportunity to stretch their legs in the sun. 

If you’re eager to (literally) get your party moving, why not eschew the traditional easter scavenger hunt and opt instead for a morning of athletics? 

As activities go, it’s pretty self-explanatory. A competition of athletic prowess, with prizes awarded to the winners. (And the runners-up, FYI). 

The events in your Easter Olympics are entirely up to you, but you might include:

• Bean bag toss
• Relay race
• Hula hoop challenge (i.e. who can hula the longest?)
• Obstacle course (with age-appropriate obstacles)
• Three-legged race 

Sidenote: Whatever events you include, be sure to keep safety and accessibility in mind—it isn’t fun unless everyone can get involved.  

A healthy dose of outdoor exercise that’ll support your little one’s physical development and teach them how to work as part of a team?

Sounds egg-cellent to us.  

5. Chuckle-worthy challenges

Our final entry dials up the silliness, and there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, who doesn’t need a big dose of joy to chase away any lingering winter blues?

The premise is simple: a typical easter scavenger hunt, with treats/prizes sneakily stowed in secret locations around the house, each with a clue to the location of the next. 

But there’s a twist. You have to earn the clue. How, you ask? Well, it’s simple:

You complete a challenge, set by whoever’s drawn hunt-master duty. 

The challenges themselves are entirely up to you, but the sillier they are, the funnier they’ll be. Need a few ideas to get your brain ticking? We’ve got you.

• Cluck like a chicken (with actions)
• Juggle beanbags 
• Pat your head, rub your tummy, and sing your favourite song 
• Mime ‘angry cow’
• Yell your name backwards

FYI: The adults should absolutely get involved with this scavenger hunt; there isn’t a child on earth that won’t laugh themselves silly at the sight of their parents doing an impression of an angry cow. 

And there we have it. A batch of easter scavenger hunt ideas that won’t break the bank but will get brains whirring and bodies moving. 

Need more activity ideas? Check out our blog, where you’ll find articles on everything from indoor activities for children to fine motor skills activities.