If you’ve ever tried to plan an Easter egg hunt for older kids or teens, you know the struggle…

They’re not exactly excited about running around grabbing candy-filled eggs anymore—but you still want to keep the fun alive. This year, we switched things up and did something different: A Scavenger Egg Word Hunt that I saw over on playplanparty (original post can be found here). And honestly… it was a HUGE hit.

What Is a Scavenger Egg Word Hunt?

Instead of filling eggs with candy, each egg has a letter inside. The goal? Kids collect letters and use them to spell out words that match prizes. Think words like:

EASTER
TOY
CASH
CANDY

It turns the egg hunt into a strategy game, not just a race—and that’s what makes it so fun for older kids and keeps them busy for longer than 5 minutes.

How It Works – Setup

Choose Your Prize Words

Pick a few words based on your prizes or you could use Easter for all:

EASTER
CASH
CANDY
TOYS
BEAUTY
GIFT

Tip: Keep words shorter for a faster game or longer for more of a challenge. You can also color code the words to keep them together.

Set Up a Prize Table

Lay out all your prizes on a table. Under each prize, place the word that needs to be spelled or use EASTER as your word for all of them. Example:

CASH → money
CANDY → candy or candy bundle
TOYS → SMALL GAME or CARD SET

Fill the Eggs

Fill plastic eggs with letters only (no candy inside). Make sure you include multiple sets of each letter for the word(s) so there are enough letters to complete each word multiple times

Hide the Eggs

Hide them like a normal egg hunt—but spread them out to make it a little more challenging for older kids. If you have kids of all ages diffrentiate which ones have the letters so the older kids don’t take all the ones with the candy!

The Rules (This Is What Makes It Fun)

To keep things fair:

Kids find the eggs one at a time and bring them back to the table
Egg must be opened at the table only
Letter must be used right away (no saving or hoarding)
Anyone can add letters to ANY word
Whoever places the FINAL letter to complete the word wins the prize
Limit prizes per person

This adds:
✔ strategy
✔ competition
✔ excitement

Tip: Limit prizes per person participating. Have 2-3 sets of each word so multiple kids can win similar prizes and keeps everyone engaged to avoid disappointment.

What You’ll Need:

Here are a few things that you’ll need:

Plastic Easter Eggs (Bulk Pack)

Letters AND words -Download my FREE PRINTABLE

Download my FREE Printable – Easter Egg Word Hunt here.

Prize Ideas (Tween + Older Kid Approved)

Mix it up so there’s something for everyone:

Non Candy Prize Ideas:

Cash
Gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks)
Wooden Reward tokens. Place into a bowl or basket to let your tween/teen pick as a prize. Pre-select tokens for the prizes they would want and/or you can reward.
Beauty & Self-Care: Chapstick, lotion, face masks / eye masks, travel sized products, etc
Toys & Fun Items: Card games, small electronics, fidget toys, etc

Candy

Candy variety pack
Chocolate boxes
Favorite snacks

Basket Idea

Create a mini basket with one of all of the above!

If you’ve been wondering how to make Easter fun for older kids again… this is it. It’s simple to set up, easy to customize, and turns into something they’ll actually get excited about. And honestly? It’s just as fun to watch as it is to play.

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