As Easter approaches, many families are looking for fun and creative ways to celebrate the holiday. One popular activity is an Easter egg hunt, but why not add a twist to the traditional hunt with some Easter egg hunt clues and riddles?
In our blog post, we’ll be sharing ideas and tips for an Easter scavenger hunt that will keep everyone on their toes. So gather your Easter baskets and supplies and get ready to hunt for clues and surprises!
These Easter basket hunt clues for an older child will help your teenager enjoy a more challenging Easter hunt than a typical one where you just hide Easter eggs.
It is such a fun thing to do at Easter to have your child build their own Easter basket by following clues. It turns an ordinary holiday egg hunt into an Easter scavenger hunt!
I first did this when my daughter was a teenager. She still wanted treats, but didn’t want to feel like a baby.
Easter eggs are a traditional item that we see often in spring. From an Easter egg roll at the White House to Easter decorations at home, eggs are an iconic symbol of Easter.
Today we’ll be using some eggs in our fun Easter egg hunt for teenagers.
Each year, at Easter time, I print out some clues to lead her from one Easter egg to the next and my daughter builds the basket as she progressed through the clues.
This came to be called our “Easter egg hunt with clues” and Jess loved it each year.
This fun experience gave us a chance to keep the Easter scavenger hunt going long after kids normally think they are “too old for it.” The idea is great for older kids and teenagers, alike.
You can make the Easter basket clues for teens as hard or as easy as you like. I also liked to add some other teen stuff to the basket too, and not just candy.
The basket was fun to shop for. Mini sized candy bars are perfect to put inside of plastic eggs and I also gathered together some fun beauty items, candles and a cute coffee mug.
Once kids become teens, they still love the sweet treats, but teenage items also really appeal to them and makes the hunt more grown up.
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Supplies for an Easter scavenger hunt
This Easter scavenger hunt with clues can be a fun activity for older kids. Here are some supplies you might need to organize a successful Easter egg hunt for your teen or tween:
- A straw or wooden basket with handle
- White spray paint
- Green paper tape
- Candy and other Easter treat goodies
- Toiletries for a teenager
- Coffee mug
- 2 silk butterflies
- Colored raffia
- Plastic Easter eggs
- Colored card stock or photo paper to print the Easter basket clues
- Hot glue and glue gun
Note: Hot glue guns, and heated glue can burn. Please use extreme caution when using hot glue. Learn to use your tools properly before you start any project.
Starting your Easter scavenger hunt clues project
All fun Easter egg hunts need a basket to hold the goodies in. Also, what good would Easter be if I didn’t have a chance to do something crafty? 😉
I chose a medium sized wooden basket and spray painted it white.
Next, I wrapped the handle with some green paper tape and hot glued a few butterflies to it.
Jess loves all forms of nature, and I know she will want to use the basket in her room later to hold makeup and jewelry. I wanted the basket to be decorated in a pretty way for her.
The basket stayed hidden until the morning of the Easter egg scavenger hunt. Overnight while she was sleeping, I put the basket on her bed and the first Easter egg hunt clue got tucked into it with a hint about where to progress next.
I made the clue ambiguous enough so that she had to think a bit. After all, “she is a teenager, not a baby!” as she is fond of telling me.
Keep reading to see how my hunt went as it progressed to building an Easter basket by following the clues. You will just need a bit of creative thought and clues that are hard enough but not too frustrating for your own hunt.
Here are some tips that I use each year to make my Easter scavenger hunt a success.
1. Easter egg hunt clues make this day special
Building an Easter basket hunt with clues and riddles means that the hunt will be a bit of a challenge. Jess’ father has a lot of old shoes, so trying to find just the right pair was not easy!
Patience is not a strong suit with teens, so I mixed some easy Easter basket clues and some hard ones as the scavenger hunt continued.
Each time Jess found an Easter egg, she added it to her basket and then moved on to the next place that is hinted at in the clue.
Easter egg hunt clues for teenagers are best if they are both hard and easy
You will want to make this day fun and not too challenging, so mix your clues so that some are easy to figure out and some take a bit of thinking.
2. Don’t make the clues too hard
My daughter moved around the house, back and forth, as she built her own Easter basket. Jess knew that if she saw an Easter egg anywhere but didn’t find it with a clue, she had to wait till later to gather it.
Still, I kept most of the eggs hidden out of plain sight, so it was a challenge pretty much all the way through.
Even though I led her to the bathroom sink, the treat is still hidden behind it, not IN it. A little manicure and pedicure set was hidden there as a special teen treat.
3. Easter egg hunt clues outside are fun too
Be sure to have a mix of both indoors and outdoor clue areas. This makes things more interesting and also makes sure that there is some fresh air as part of the hunt.
Since the candy bars were all foil wrapped, having them outside is fine. Plastic Easter egg holders also protect the treats.
I placed three treats in a plastic Easter egg behind a planter near the outdoor candle so it is a bit out of sight.
4. Easy Easter basket scavenger hunt clues
Throw in some really easy clues. Don’t make them all hard, or there is sure to be frustration.
This mailbox clue was a great one to have about this time in the Easter egg hunt for teenagers, since it’s a big enough place to put something really special like this coffee mug filled with candy treats.
The mug has one of Jess’ favorite cup shapes and the colors are perfect for her basket.
Easter egg hunt clues indoors
Behind closed doors are good spots for hiding clues for the Easter basket scavenger hunt.
5. The pantry is a perfect indoor hiding spot for Easter basket hunt riddles
Even though Jess walked right by the pantry earlier, she didn’t see the Easter egg in it because I closed the pantry door.
Since I had a few cake mixes, she had to look a little to find this treat! A purple plastic egg held 2 more sweets to add to her basket.
6. Keep the clues out of sight, so they’ll be out of mind
The oven was a great hiding place to use during the hunt. It was big enough to add a plastic egg with Easter treats that will start to fill up the basket, but the closed door kept everything well hidden.
Just be sure no one decides to make a breakfast casserole today!~
7. More outdoor Easter egg hunt clues
The family car is a great place to hide Easter eggs. There are lots of nooks, crannies and places where they can be placed to make the hunt challenging.
I used the glove compartment as a hiding place for the hunt today. Even though she had been out there earlier, this clue was hidden from sight.
Time for a tricky clue!
You child will get used to the rhythm of the hunt early on, so now is the time to throw in a challenging clue. This will keep the interest up and make your child feel as though they accomplished a real discovery when the find the treat.
8. Find a tricky place to hide the next Easter hunt scavenger clue
This clue was a challenge for Jess, since there is a big hutch filled with plates, glasses and bowls as well as a large credenza in our dining room.
I hid the treats and the clue inside one of the soup bowls in the hutch!
9. Have a really easy Easter basket hunt clue near the end of the hunt
No matter how much your teen likes the hunt, they will be getting eager for it to be over now, so throw in a clue that basically gives the location away.
Now is the time for another teen treat instead of candy.
This time, some emery boards, a small bottle of perfume, and pink nail polish were hidden in the clothes dryer.
10. Keep the biggest stash of treats until the end of the teenage Easter Basket scavenger hunt
Just like fireworks, a good Easter scavenger hunt builds momentum. I started with one egg, moved up to a couple, and left the big stash of treats until the end of the hunt.
It made it like having all the fireworks come at one time at a fireworks show. The last bunch of Easter eggs got placed in a fun colored bucket near her old playhouse along with a cucumber melon candle.
My girl loves candles!
I love the mix of candy and teen things in the basket and so did Jess.
Doing this kind of Easter egg hunt with clues is something you can do right through the high school years, just by adding new items that they like in each teenage year.
Would you like to build an Easter Basket with clues?
This project is geared to turning an Easter Egg hunt into a scavenger hunt by hiding treasure hunt clues around the house and garden.
Preparing for this project to build a teenage Easter basket is as simple as taking a shopping trip to gather your goodies, treats and teen things.
Printable teenage Easter egg hunt clues
If you want to copy my clues for hiding Easter basket supplies for an older child, you can print out the filled in clue sheet that I used here in PDF format.
It is a high resolution 8 1/2′ by 1 1″ file. I printed mine on photo paper so the wording stays intact outside. Heavy cardstock also works.
To print your Easter egg scavenger hunt clues, be sure to choose “fit to page” in your printer settings to fill a whole sheet of cardstock.
Blank printable Easter egg hunt clues sheet
If my Easter scavenger hunt clues won’t work for you, you can use these blank Easter egg cards and make your own Easter basket hunt clues for by hand printing them.
You can print the PDF file here, or click on the image below.
What other things will you hide as well as Easter eggs to build an Easter basket with clues for your teenager? Let us know how your hunt went in the comments below.
Share these clues for a Easter egg hunt for teenagers on Twitter
If you enjoyed this Easter egg basket hunt project, be sure to share it with a friend. Here is a tweet to get you started:
Hop on over the the Gardening Cook to learn how to make a teenage Easter Basket with clues. 🌷🍭🐰 Share on XPin these Easter egg hunt clues for later
Would you like a reminder of this teenage Easter basket scavenger hunt project using riddles? Just pin this image to one of your Easter boards on Pinterest so that you can easily find it later.
Admin note: This post for the Easter egg hunt for teens first appeared on the blog in February of 2017. I have added a printable project card, new photos and a video for you to enjoy.
DIY Teenage Easter Basket with Clues
This Easter scavenger hunt for teens will keep the fun of an Easter egg hunt going long after your teenager has decided she is too old for a baby activity.
Materials
- Candy and other Easter treat goodies
- Toiletries for a teenage girl
- Coffee mug
- Large straw basket
- White spray paint
- Green paper tape
- 2 green silk butterflies
- Paper straw
- Plastic Easter eggs
- Card stock or photo paper
Tools
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Instructions
- Spray the basket with white spray paint and allow it to dry.
- Wrap the handle of the basket with green paper tape and attach it in place with a dab of hot glue.
- Glue on the two silk butterflies on the handle.
- Add some paper straw in the bottom of the basket.
- Print out the clues using the printout below , or print out the template in the post above for clues and add your own handwritten clues.
- Place the basket on your child's bed overnight with the first clue in it.
- Each clue leads to a new spot, which has a new clue and treats.
- Alternate between candy treat, toiletries and other items for the basket.
- Have the last clue lead to a treasure trove that will fill up the basket. Perhaps it's time for a more expensive gift here.
- Enjoy!
Notes
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Heather
Thursday 29th of March 2018
I love this! I used your clues and made them into QR codes for my 12-year-old to follow.
Mommy Hates Cooking
Friday 3rd of March 2017
Thank you so much for this! I've always wanted to do a scavenger hunt, but I have just never taken the time to figure out all of the clues and stuff. The printable is so cute and you've given me some great ideas!
Carol
Saturday 4th of March 2017
I hope you enjoy it if you do one!
Ali Rost
Friday 3rd of March 2017
Your post made me smile. It reminded me so much of something my grandma did for us when we were little. Every year Easter was at her house and she'd go all out on the baskets and tuck the most clever clues inside. I haven't thought about it ages. Guaranteed your daughter will look back one day and think "Good job Mom .. that sure was fun!"
Carol
Friday 3rd of March 2017
Once I started them, they were the only type of hunt Jess wanted to do!
Betty
Friday 3rd of March 2017
This is so fun! My toddler is a little young for this but I will have to keep this in mind for when the kids are older!
Carol
Friday 3rd of March 2017
Enjoy your Easter fun with him. Each year is special!
Ady from VGB
Thursday 2nd of March 2017
This is a wonderful idea for older kids that feel like egg hunting is too "little" kids. I love the clues that you left, some hard and some easy perfect combination!
Carol
Thursday 2nd of March 2017
Thanks Ady. Jess got better at it as she got older. I had to end up making them harder!