Easter is a great family holiday, and especially fun for children, as there’s not only the treat of chocolate in lots of different fun shapes like eggs and rabbits, but also the excitement of the Easter Egg hunt. For parents this hunt can be a bit of a dilemma, as finding hiding spots for the Easter treats gets harder and harder each year. If you’ve used all the hiding spots in your home and garden, you can either go on an Easter holiday and use the brand new environment for hiding, or create a maze. I know you’re weighing up the costs of a family holiday and building a maze in your garden, but the maze is the cheaper option, as it’s a simple hay maze that you can build yourself in your own garden shed or garage.

Along with the venue of shed or garage, you’ll need some hay and a plastic tarp. The tarp which needs to be stapled to the floor if the venue is a shed, or weighed down well if it’s a garage is to protect your floor from bits of hay and dirt. At the end of the day you can roll up the tarp and clean -up is done. Hay can be purchased from local farms or horse stables, or even online. If you don’t know where your local farm is, then research a bit online by simply typing ‘hay squares’ or ‘small hay squares’ and you’ll soon find some very useful results. Hay squares are more suited for the maze creation as opposed to hay balls, as squares are easier to stack and create maze walls with. The walls of the maze needn’t be too high, just be sure that your oldest child can merely peek over the top of it.

Keep the entrance of the maze clear, and have a bunch of everyone’s treats at the end of the maze as the goal of finishing the maze, but also hide some within the maze. Remember to consider your children’s ages when hiding their treats, as a too difficult hunt will spoil the day. Eggs and rabbits can be hidden on top of walls, at dead ends of the maze, at the beginning and end of the maze, as well as inside the walls of the maze. The inside is only recommended for the older children. You can ‘egg’ (sorry, for the pun, couldn’t resist) your children on by giving them hints of ‘Warm’ or ‘Cold’. To avoid unnecessary arguing attach ribbons or post-its in the children’s favourite colours to the treats, and instruct them to leave a treat that isn’t theirs where they found it. If one of the children is struggling with the hunt, you can always suggest that the others help by finding the treats for the child in question or by guiding the child to some possible hiding areas. Once the hunt is over, the maze can still be enjoyed with the children finding their way to the end individually, or it can be reconstructed into a hay fort.

Happy Easter!

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