Easter Egg Hunt: Teach your little ones map skills!
Posted by Gav Grayston.First Published Apr 2019; updated Jun 2023.
Make a fun Easter Egg hunt for your kids...and teach them to use a map at the same time!
Right from when our kids were little to the present day, we've created an Easter Egg hunt. It's nothing too elaborate: some clues for them to follow and find some treats.
An Easter Egg hunt is also the perfect opportunity to introduce maps to small children.
No, not Ordnance Survey maps and compasses, but a simple treasure hunt map.
One of the critical skills in map reading is the ability to relate what's around you to what's printed on paper. After all, things around us are 3D, and the map is 2D.
A proficient map reader should be able to read the contours and features on a map to work out where they are.
We don't need anything that complicated for an Easter Egg hunt though! A simple treasure map is all part of the Easter fun.
Building your Easter Egg Treasure Map
First off, decide where you will have your Easter Egg hunt. We keep ours around the house and garden.
The map can be combined with clues too, for an extra challenge.
We've put together an Easter-themed map background that you print and draw on, as well as some clue cards with some clues you can re-use.
Easter Egg Hunt Map
Download and print this map background, then draw a map for an Easter-themed treasure hunt.
Easter Egg Hunt Clues
Download and print these Easter Egg hunt clue sheet. There are blank cards for you to create your own clues and for your own prizes.
An Example Easter Egg Treasure Map
For this, we've created a 'Follow the Easter Bunny' set of clues and map.
For example...
- When the Easter Bunny visited, he needed a drink of water. See if he left a clue there.
- After delivering eggs, the Easter Bunny had to wash his hands. Did he leave a clue there?
That could get your kids started. You could then leave clues like these in each of the locations...
- The Easter Bunny says, “For the next clue, Look in a shoe”.
- The Easter Bunny says, “Go to the seat, For something to eat”.
- The Easter Bunny says, ”Fly like a bee, To under the tree”.
- The Easter Bunny says, “Hanging on a peg, You might find an egg”.
To help them out, draw a simple treasure map.
Draw a simple treasure map to go with the clues
And you don't have to fill your kids with too much sugar either, as some prizes can be other gifts or 'vouchers' that the kids can use for particular family treats that they like, such as a movie night or going on a picnic.
You could put prizes throughout the hunt. They don't all have to be sweets and chocolate.
Over to you!
Grab our Easter-themed clue and map templates, print them out at home, and write on your own clues and draw your own map.
Happy Easter!