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14 fun ideas for an indoor Easter egg hunt

It's time to get creative!

Brother and sister wearing bunny ears playfully hold up colored Easter eggs Credit: Getty Images / evgenyatamanenko

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Who said Easter egg hunts have to be an outside activity? Be it due to inclement weather or continued commitment to social distancing—inside may be the place to be for this year’s holiday hunt. Just because you need to keep your egg hunt at home and indoors doesn’t mean it can’t be terrific.

Here are some of our favorite ideas that will ramp up the wonderment and excitement of Easter morning, no matter what your space. All you need are some clever hiding spots (some of our favorites are fruit bowls, backpacks, shoes, tissue boxes, and laundry baskets) and some smart stuff to fill the eggs with. Some are stand-alone events, while others lead kids to the ultimate prize: their Easter basket!

Whatever your reason for being indoors this year, here are 14 of our favorite indoor egg hunt ideas that are so much fun you may never want to do egg hunts outside again.

1. Alphabet hunt

A printout of alphabet letters beside Easter eggs and scissors.
Credit: Aboutamom

Get some pre-reading skills going as they hunt for eggs with this preschool-perfect activity.

If your little bunnies are still learning their letters, this is an easy and adorable hunt that is perfect for the pre-readers in your family. Stuff a letter of the alphabet into each of the eggs and send the kiddos on a search until all 26 are found. Aboutamom.com suggests filling some eggs with two or three letters to keep things exciting and to ramp up the anticipation. Hop on over to About a Mom blog for a free printable of colorful letters that are perfectly sized for egg-filling, or fill the eggs with adhesive letters and numbers that they can piece together to form the alphabet or words.

2. Scrambled word hunt

Siblings hunt for eggs with their mother
Credit: Getty Images / RgStudio

Decoding word scrambles inside is a blast for older kids.

If your kids are well beyond the age of finding excitement in the alphabet, fill a dozen eggs with one or two words each. Once all the eggs are found they can put all the words together to decode a secret message just for them. If your family veers towards sweet, the message can spell out a holiday note of affection. If your family is more of the mischievous sort, you can spell out a riddle they have to crack in order to find their coveted Easter basket.

Get the pastel multi-purpose printer paper 400-pack at Staples for $19.99

3. Nursery rhyme clues

Sisters sit on the floor of the living room during an Easter egg hunt
Credit: Getty Images / mediaphotos

Flex their problem-solving skills with clue-filled eggs.

This one gets them giggling when you swap out known words in nursery rhymes for places around the house where eggs are hidden. Jack is supposed to jump over a candlestick, but he can also jump over a clothes hamper—which is exactly where their next egg is hidden. Hickory, dickory dock? The mouse is supposed to run up the clock, but what if it ran up the bookshelf, which just so happens to be filled with Easter eggs? Start out by giving your kids their first egg with their first clue and let Mother Goose—with a little bit of editing done by you—do the rest.

4. Treasure map

A finger points to an area on a pirate treasure map.
Credit: Getty / Imgorthand

Bring a pirate-inspired spin to your Easter tradition.

Argh, matey! An Easter basket certainly is the ultimate springtime treasure hunt. This pirate-inspired spin on hunting for ye colored eggs adds a level of adventure to things. This idea is perfect if you have kids with varying levels of egg-hunting abilities.

Hide eggs by color and make maps for each child showing them where each egg is hidden. It gets them learning map-reading skills and will have them concentrating deeply enough for you to enjoy your holiday mimosa. If you're feeling ambitious, you can sneak some extra learning in there by giving them a compass to find eggs hidden in the north, south, east, and west of your home.

Get at a six-pack of neon compasses at Oriental Trading Co. for $5.39

5. Puzzle hunt

A child's hands piece together a rainbow printed puzzle alongside opened Easter eggs.
Credit: It's Always Autumn

Fill eggs with puzzle pieces to reveal the ultimate prize—a new puzzle!

There are so many ways to make puzzle pieces work in an egg hunt. It's Always Autumn suggests giving your child a certificate for a bigger prize once the puzzle is completed.

We also like the idea of painting over an old puzzle or buying a blank one that you can decorate yourself, and having the completed puzzle turn into a riddle or a treasure map to lead them to their Easter basket.

Get a 16-piece blank puzzle at Amazon for $10.94

6. Scavenger hunt

A cute riddle with a bunny face on the side.
Credit: Happiness is Homemade

Have them solve the riddles to lead them to their Easter basket!

Flex their problem-solving skills with these adorable, kid-friendly scavenger hunt riddles that lead kids to common areas of any home. You can either put a riddle and some candy in each egg, or make this a game that leads to their basket. For the pre-K set, you can make it visual. Print out pictures of areas in your house and watch them toddle on over to find their next egg.

7. Crack the code

A toy decoder and scrambled words for decoding
Credit: Uplifting Mayhem

Scrambled clues, when decoded, will lead them onto the next hidden egg location.

If your kids love riddles, tilt towards STEM and science, and are the types to find all of their Easter eggs in five minutes, this is a great idea for stretching out your egg hunt and making it a bit more challenging.

Start the search by giving them a decoder, like this colorful one by Uplifting Mayhem, and their first egg. Fill the eggs with scrambled clues that, when decoded, lead them onto the next hidden egg location. Industrious scouts will love the challenge and it'll pace out the steady intake of sugar long enough to possibly put a sugar meltdown on hold for the day.

8. Night hunt

Glow in the dark Easter eggs and fillings.
Credit: A Pumpkin and a Princess

Easter morning may be the traditional time to go on an egg hunt, but a night time hunt is just as much fun.

Who says an Easter egg hunt has to take place first thing in the morning? We love the idea of glow-in-the-dark eggs nestled around the home, leading your little ones on a colorful and luminescent search. There are so many fun ways to make glow in the dark eggs. You can fill eggs with mini glow sticks, cover them with glow-in-the-dark stickers, or paint them with glow-in-the-dark craft paint. This video from A Pumpkin and a Princess easily takes you through simple steps to give your eggs that midnight glow.

9. Get them eggs-ercising!

Easter eggs filled with candy, crackers, and fun exercises for little ones to do.
Credit: Alice & Lois

These activities will help combat sugar highs.

This is a clever way to burn off a sugar high! Hop on over to Alice and Lois and print out these fun and very physical challenges for kids to complete. With each egg they crack open they need to undertake a physical challenge, like bunny hopping, or running in place, in order to move on and find their next egg. After a morning of somersaults and puppy impersonations you might even get them down for an early nap.

10. Blindfolded hunt

Young Black child goes on a blindfolded Easter egg hunt with his family
Credit: Getty / fizkes

You're gettin warmer!

Turn your egg hunt into a game of hotter and colder. Wake your scout with a blindfold and a mission that can only be completed by following the sound of your voice. (This will prove that they can really hear you when you're talking to them.) This one is great for smaller spaces or if you want to keep your egg search to one room. For toddlers, you can fill the eggs with noisy prizes like coins, beads, or jelly beans that you can shake until they find you.

11. Yarn trail

A young child follows a yarn obstacle course
Credit: Hands On As We Grow

When your kids are sleeping, snake a long length of yard to lead them to Easter eggs.

While your kid is asleep, snake a long length of yarn from their bed, around lamps, over the couch, under tables, and anywhere else you can wrap it. You can get some inspiration here, at Hands On As We Grow. Be sure to back-track often to keep kids on their toes! Have them unwind all of the string to find their basket. Use a different colored string for each child.

Get 285 yards of Impeccable Brand yarn in assorted colors at Michaels starting at $1.47

12. Trade places

Mother finds Easter egg hidden by child.
Credit: Getty / RgStudio

Let the kids hide the eggs and watch them excited with anticipation as you hunt for them!

Switch things up and let the kids be the Easter Bunny. This is a fun twist for older kids. Let them hide the eggs and leave it up to you to find them. A twist they will love is having them write their chores on a piece of paper and put it in the eggs. Any eggs Mom and Dad don't find are chores the kids don’t have to do!

13. Lego my Easter egg

A Lego-built Easter egg hanging upside down from a table after using brick tape.
Credit: Brought to You By Mom

Brick tape lets you hide Lego-built Easter eggs in the most unlikely of places!

Kids will look for any excuse to get new Legos, which makes this hunt not only fun for little ones, but engaging for kids who may otherwise be losing interest in the Easter Bunny. This tutorial at Brought to You By Mom uses block tape that can stick anywhere, to make Lego builds pop up in the most unlikely of places, like under a table or on the side of a book shelf. Make bricks into all sorts of Easter-themed shapes like bunnies, chicks, and—of course—eggs.

Get the Build Bonanza self-adhesive tape at Amazon for $5.48

14. Family truth or dare

A boy and girl show off their egg hunt findings to their grandmother
Credit: Getty Images / RgStudio

Whoever finds the egg gets to ask anyone in the family to tell them the truth, or submit to a dare.

It's the moment of truth...or is it? This is another hunt that puts a spin on Easter egg hunting and puts parents in the hot seat—to the delight of their kids. Let kids in on making up the hard questions. Then hide the question-filled eggs around the house. Whoever finds the egg gets to ask anyone in the family to tell them the truth, or submit to a dare.

For little kids who don't want to answer such pressing questions as, "Did you really brush your teeth this morning?" you can give them the dare of having to run in place until they count to 20. For older kids you can make chores hinge on telling the truth.

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