Life
Nothing says spring like watching children lose their ever-loving minds running around a lawn in search of pastel colored eggs. (Bonus points if they're in little hats and impossibly clean shoes.) When I was a kid, my dad would put cash in the hard-to-find eggs and we would spend all afternoon hunting for every last one of them. In retrospect, maybe he only did that to get a few hours to relax. Well played, Dad. While older kids have the attention span and critical thinking skills for that sort of thing, knowing where to hide Easter eggs for toddlers is a different story. Luckily, I've had some practice and I'm here to help.
In order to successfully make it through this egg hunt with your toddler, the key is to lower your standards. Go ahead and put aside your childhood memories of climbing an oak tree to claim that hidden green egg or cutting up your hand in a rose bush to grab that pink one; those adventures will be a few more years down the road for your tot. This, my friend, is a different kind of Easter egg hunt. Will it be cute? Oh yes, yes it will. Will it be a little bit boring as well? Also, yes.
Unwrap yourself a chocolate bunny, because here's where to hide Easter eggs for toddlers.
1
Low To The Ground
When hiding eggs for toddlers, you've got to remember how low to the ground they are — and how their world pretty much revolves around only the things that are at their eye level. Place most of the eggs at their height or lower, like on top of a small bush, if you want to avoid long stretches of aimless wandering.
2
In The Grass
For your 1-year-old to have any hope of finding anything on this hunt, you've got to leave the eggs in places that are painfully obvious. I'm talking leaving the majority of them lying right smack in the middle of the lawn, here. Easter Sunday is not the time to mercilessly push the boundaries of child development.
3
On His Everyday Playthings
Watch the wonder in your toddler's eyes as he realizes his ordinary toys have become gatekeepers for the ecstasy of Easter candy. Place a few eggs on her tricycle seat, the bottom of a slide, or inside a sand pail, then sit back and enjoy the show.
4
On Something Whimsical
No Easter egg hunt is complete without a little dose of the unexpected, and a toddler's hunt is no different. Hide an especially decorative egg to an unlikely place that's still not terribly hard to find, like attached to the dog's collar or in the hand of a sleeping baby sister, and watch your tot go nuts.
5
In Her Sandbox
If you have a sandbox in your backyard or at a local park, you might consider doing the entire egg hunt right there for the youngest of toddlers. Just hide a dozen eggs in the sand, give her a shovel, and watch the magic happen. Parents often make holidays unnecessarily complicated and forget how happy our kids can be when we simplify things.
6
Indoors
Hunting random eggs might not have the allure that parents imagine it will for very young children, and if the weather isn't great, your toddler's mood might plummet right along with the temps. An indoor Easter egg hunt might be a better fit on a rainy or cold day; just be sure to hide them all in one room, like her bedroom or the living room, to avoid overwhelming your kid.
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