Easter is right around the corner and egg hunts are already happening. We had our Easter celebrations at preschool this week and having an egg hunt for the kids is one thing we include. In order to make it more educational, we write the kids names on the eggs. Then when hunting they have to collect only the eggs with their name on it.
This is a great tool for helping with name and letter recognition. Plus this is a good exercise for hand eye coordination. Not only do they have to pick up the egg, look at it and determine if it says their name but then they have to place it into a plastic bag.
When the weather is nice we go out in the grass to hunt for our eggs. But sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate, so we go in the gym. It's not quite the same but the kids still enjoy finding their special eggs.
After they have collected their eggs, we tie up their plastic bags and put them in their backpacks. They get to take home their eggs and discover what is inside with their family.
I don't know about you but when my daughter does an egg hunt she comes home with lots of eggs. So what do we do? Have egg hunts over and over again at home! You can do a variety of egg hunt games while sneaking in some learning as well!
NAMES....As I mentioned earlier, write your children's name on some eggs and hide them around the room. Have them hunt and try to find only the eggs with their name on it. If you only have one child, like me, write names of family members, friends, or even pets on a few eggs.
COLORS...Hide several different colors of eggs around the room. Then give your child a specific color to find each round.
SIZE...Eggs come in all shapes and sizes. Why not try hiding different ones around the room and each time they hunt, instruct them to find a different type of egg....large, small, animal shaped, sparkly, etc.!
EXERCISE...Another fun idea is to put little slips of paper in each egg with things for the kids to do. Have them find one egg at a time and bring it back to you. Then have them do whatever the slip inside says. Some ideas are...touch your toes, run in place, crawl around the couch, jump as high as you can, balance on one foot, hop like a bunny, etc...
After your child has exhausted the egg hunts (or YOU are done hiding and rehiding them...lol!) check out Pinterest to discover some fun uses for those plastic eggs you now have an abundance of!
