Grammy on the Go
By Karen Shadrach
It’s that time of year for another egg hunt! Many egg hunts were cancelled last year but, hopefully, some will be available to attend this April. If not, you can always have your own egg hunt for the grandkids. Besides the traditional egg hunt, I have other egg games we can set up for the children to enjoy!
The egg roll is mostly associated with the egg game played at the White House every year on the front lawn. The children kick the egg or use a spoon to roll it across the lawn to a finish line. Real hard-boiled eggs are used, so a gentle touch is required. If an egg breaks open, that person loses! You can use real eggs or substitute plastic ones to run an egg roll race. The children are chosen for the White House egg roll by an online lottery system a few months before the event. If you want to try to enter your grandchildren next year, the tickets are free and traditionally held the first Monday after Easter.
Putting jelly beans in eggs gives the egg hunt a different twist. Enclose different amounts of jelly beans (or pennies) in each of your plastic eggs. Children collect eggs in a basket, but the winner isn’t the one that gets the most eggs. Instead, the one with the most beans wins this game! You can also include winners with the one collecting the greatest number of blue, green or pink jellybeans.
Egg spoon races are fun and easy to set up. Give each player a spoon and fill a plastic egg with something to add weight, such as coins or beans. Using one hand, the player must balance their egg on the spoon and walk or run to the finish line without dropping the egg. This can be done once or can be repeated by running back and getting another egg. We usually have a total of three eggs, and the first person to successfully transfer their eggs to a bucket at the finish line wins!
Treasure hunt eggs provide clues in eggs to locate the next egg. The children can work together to read and think about the directions to the next clue. You may need to assist the younger children to read each clue as each egg is found. The final egg will include a prize or an additional clue to bring them to their treasure.
A true egg hunt, where the kids really need to look hard to find the eggs, instead of just running and collecting as many as they can, provides more of a challenge. Hide eggs within the bush and not just on top, or, up in a tree between branches, under a pile of leaves or twigs. Remember to count the number of eggs you hide so you know all have been found! Maybe, if younger, all of the children can work together as a team to find the eggs. They may even want to take turns hiding the eggs for each other to find.
An egg toss game is fun for older grandkids to play. Standing opposite from each other, an egg is tossed back and forth. If both catch it, then they take one step backwards and throw once more. This continues until someone drops the egg! This game could me messy, so I would provide old shirts for them to wear over their good clothes. Younger kids could play this also, but use plastic eggs and see how far apart they can be to still be successful in catching the egg.
Lots of EGGcellent ideas for a fun spring day with the grandkids!
Photo by Karen Shadrach
