Meeting Place: Decide on a meeting place.
Parts of Prospect Park that folks have met-up, in the past, include: in front of the Picnic House; in front of the Lafayette Monument at 9th Street; the north end of the Long Meadow, between the two tunnels; at the 3rd Street entrance, by the wildcats; in front of the boat house; and the 15th Street entrance.
Date: Decide which day works best. Most of the organized Hunts are on Saturday but since it will be spring break, you might want to consider a Friday (i.e., Good Friday). Park Slope Parents’ Easter Egg Hunts have been on Sunday/Easter and we’ve had a great turnout.
Time: Consider nap schedules and plan for a time when kids are at their best! (If you want to get more feedback from people on their best time, use a Doodle poll https://doodle.com/). The hunt itself is usually over quite quickly (e.g., 10 minutes or less) but if it’s a nice day, stay out and enjoy the Park!
Organizational tools: A simple Google spreadsheet can help you track who is attendees (and make it easy to email the participants). Here is a model you can copy and paste into your own Google spreadsheet: http://bit.ly/
WHAT TO BRING:
- Eggs: a dozen, or so, Easter eggs per child, filled with goodies (such as small toys, stickers, coins, shells, temporary tattoos, candy, etc…). Make sure the goodies are age-appropriate (that is, no ‘choke-ables’ for the little ones). NOTE: Get your eggs now because they can be hard to find during the last week, before Easter. Here's a link to earth-friendly eggs. You can also use real eggs that have numbers written on them to correspond to treats! Or make your own eggs by layering tissue paper and glue , then cutting a place to put the treat and tape the egg shut. If you must use plastic eggs (NOTE: they can't be recycled), you can use them for other things like making popsicles, musical shaker eggs, or as seed starters (more ideas here).
- Props (Easter books, music, etc…) for entertainment. Musicians, bring an instrument; shakers, a pot and spoon, anything!
- Lunch and a blanket if you want to enjoy a picnic in the Park, afterward.
- Bubbles—Bubbles make for lots of fun!
GUIDELINES:
- Your group should go off to an area of its choosing (away from the beaten path). Some folks from the group can keep the kids occupied with music, tattoos, or other little activities while others hide the eggs.
- Avoid wooded areas and don't bury the eggs.
REMINDERS:
- No pushing/shoving. No egg is worth a trip to the emergency room!
- Oversee Kid Egg Intake. Find ONLY the number of eggs you've brought +-3. Once they find this many, have your child: (1) help someone else (especially the littler ones); (2) POINT to where eggs are hidden rather than pick up each and every one; (3) open a few of their own eggs to keep them occupied.
- KEEP THE PARK CLEAN—Pick-up after yourselves (candy wrappers, eggs, this piece of paper, etc…)
- Help kids understand the importance of sharing, taking turns and being patient. Let this be fun for everyone.
Being a part of a small, simple hunt in a beautiful natural area is great. It's only as good as what people bring to it, so bring a generous heart and jolly disposition! If you do plan something as a group, I’d love to know about it. Please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
