What to Hide Other than Chocolate Easter Eggs
It’s almost time for Easter, and that means the great Easter egg hunt. Except this year we dared ask ourselves—what if we didn’t hide foil-covered Easter eggs? What if—gasp—we went off script and did something a little bit different instead, or went half chocolate and half something else entirely?
We know it’s tradition to hide chocolate Easter eggs, but it’s also a lot of sugar. And raise your hand if there are still vast quantities of chocolate melting in your kitchen corner by the time May long weekend rolls around. Since we think the thrill of the hunt in the hunt itself, we thought we’d get creative and have some fun with a few different items—and most of these can be hidden in the hollow plastic eggs you can find at the dollar store.
Here are the selections we dreamt up—they’ll build the creative side of those brains while possibly dialling back on the sugar. Let the hunt begin!
Marbles
For every parent who has ever felt like they’ve lost their marbles, this hunt’s for you. Marbles are astonishingly beautiful and super fun to collect and trade, with a variety of different styles and colours. There’s even a game involved, although we’re hazy on the rules. Not great for the under 3 set due to choking hazards, but older kids will love searching these ones out. They’re available in a variety of different locations, but we liked this collection and the accompanying canvas pouch.
$31, available at Walmart
Lovely Environment Friendly Fruit Shaped Erasers
What is it about an eraser that is oh so very appealing? We remember adoring them as a kid as well. We’ll have a ball hiding all 50 of these ones, and the kids will have quite a collection when they’re done finding them all.
$2.80, availabe at Amazon.ca
LEGO Classic Blue Creativity Box
We’re not brave enough to hide individual pieces of a Lego set (what if they miss even a single piece? It will be ruined!!), but Lego now has Classic Creativity Boxes in which all of the pieces come in different shades of the same base colour. We envision getting a different colour for each kid so that they can each hunt for their designated hue. At the end of the festivities, the family Lego collection will have grown with a variety of pieces for fun, creative build.
MadeGood Organic Chocolate Chip Granola Minis
Shhhh – these granola bites have veggies in them and the kids still love them! This jumbo pack of 12 will keep lunch bags full for a while with no complaints, and kids will have fun finding the packages.
$13, available at Well.ca
Wild Republic Aquatic Nature Tube
Open up this tube and hide all six aquatic creatures that come inside (hold onto the playmat that comes with for later on). They make wonderful bath, beach and on-the-go toys. If you’re hiding for more-than-one-kiddo, you could buy the same collection for each kid, with instructions that each searcher can only pick up one of each animal. This slows down the hunt, as the kids have to stop, look at the animal, consider if they already have that species, and move on if they do.
$15, available at Mastermind Toys
Gemstone and Crystal Collection
These polished rocks are absolutely gorgeous, and the kids will pore over the different shapes, colours and textures long after the last bunny ear has been consumed. It might even inspire them to learn a bit about rocks and minerals, and you’ll have a budding geologist on your hands.
Clues
Maybe this is the year the Easter egg hunt turns into a good old fashion scavenger hunt, complete with a variety of hard-to-find clues, puzzles and riddles to be solved, teamwork required, all culminating in the reveal of the Easter basket itself. This works well if there are older children who either need more of a challenge in the finding or who can be enlisted to help write clues or devise challenges and riddles.
Paw Patrol Temporary Tattoos
Thank you Paw Patrol—you make it easy to hit a home run on holidays. We’re opening up these packages of temporary tattoos and cutting out individual ones to hide for some squeals of delight. They’ll be sporting the pup’s faces on their wee biceps by Easter dinner, to be sure.
Bright Starts Bouncy Balls
We always feel like you simply cannot have too many well-made bright and bouncy balls to play with, especially with the toddler and preschool ages. These will be fun to hide and find and will be a great addition to the playroom after. This package has 16 balls and they’re compatible with other Bright Starts ball toys so it’s going to be a ball popping and rolling kind of bunny day.
$17, available at Walmart
Bureo Jenga Ocean
We absolutely love that this Jenga game is made out of recycled plastic fishing nets—getting plastic waste out of the ocean where it could potentially harm marine life. We’re planning on hiding each of the Jenga pieces and then playing a few rounds over the rest of the holidays, all while supporting a really great cause.
Sea Shells
Oh my, but seashells are lovely. After the hunt is over they can form the basis of a new collection or an ocean-inspired craft—perhaps gluing them to a photo frame and adding a picture of a beach holiday, or making an arrangement in a glass jar with sand. So many beautiful possibilities!
