Egg hunt for two- to nine-year-olds - how do I make it fun for all?

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Are kids of all ages happy with just piling out the back door and hunting eggs? Or is it a good idea to make it a bit more cryptic/lengthy for the older ones - treasure map, clues, etc? Otherwise, it'll be over in a flash - although the kids will play (and eat eggs!) afterwards, I suppose.

Thanks in anticipation of advice from seasoned egg hunt organisers.

Hmm - our two ds's are 5 (in two days!) and 7 going on 30 so not quite the same but we're thinking of doing a hunt with clues, tailored to each ds.

So ds1's clues will be harder and he'll have to read them himself.

Ds2's clues slightly easier, easy words etc.

With a 2 year old you could just give them a section of the house/garden to look in that's theirs? Or draw clues so draw the egg under a chair/table and get them to have a look?

Oh joy - the things we do to entertain them for 5 minutes...!

P.S. Last year we didn't bother with clues at all but just gave each ds a side of the garden each and told them how many eggs (same amount, obviously..!) were hidden. Sorted.

Oh God, I didn't think about making it fair. There will be over 10+ kids, so fairness could be a faff, and clues for each of them?! Hmm. Thanks, though, DottyDot. Handy tips on clues, etc.

if there's loads of kids and you can possibly bear it, you could buy smaller eggs that have different colour wrapping on (or even wrap them in different colour paper) - one colour per child - so you know they all get the same amount.

Fairness of number seems to be a big thing with ds's - but it might just be them!

I've never done one before, but we have friends coming to stay, so will have 4 children between 2 and 7, and the visitors have demanded an egg hunt. Their mum tells me that it's surprising how difficult they find it to find the eggs - you more or less have to plant a flag next to them, or stand and wave.

Alternatively, do as we plan to, and take them to a National Trust property - loads of them have egg hunts over the weekend (not all on Sunday) - look at ther websites for info. We're hoping, weather permitting, to make a day of it.

Thanks again, Dotty - and midnightexpress. The hunt is this week, so an organised weekend hunt isn't an option unfortunately. I like the wrapping idea, Dotty, but seeing the pile of stuff in front of me, I can't imagine wrapping all that! DS's dad has suggested they go out with a bag each, and the big ones help the little ones, and they bring all their pickings to me when they're done and we make a big pile and divide them up between them. And they get one special little bag of treats to hunt each, which will have their name on. How does that sound?!

And as I said, they can always play when they're done ...

I'd put them in teams with ages evenly spread. Then can explain how it all works, sharing eggs out etc, to the older ones and the younger kids will be happy to be just joining in.

We had a hunt on Sunday in my Dad's huge garden - four kids aged 5, 7, 8 and 9. They all absolutely loved it, and you can make it quite tricky for the bigger ones, or give the littlies a head start. We told them they could eat the first egg they found, then we would divide up all the rest when it was over and they were all happy with that.

Great ideas. Thanks, all.