Easter Hunt: Toddler Matching Activity

Want something quick and easy for your toddler to do? Try this Easter Hunt Matching activity! It's quick to set up and so fun!

Some days with kids are just plain long! One of the quickest ways to turn around a bad day (or help a long one move a little faster) is to go on a hunt.

Hunts are perfect for kids of all ages, but especially toddlers. They help them get moving, using their brains, and learning new words too.

How can you make a hunt even more awesome? Pick a theme! We did an awesome Christmas Hunt and we knew we needed to do it again for Easter!

RELATED: Check out THE BEST Easter activities for toddlers HERE.

Putting together an Easter Hunt is so simple. You only need a few materials and this activity can be played again and again!

For this activity we just used five things that I bet you already have:

Markers
White roll of paper
Scissors
White cardstock paper (cut in half)
Painters tape

Easter Hunt Instructions

Here's how I set up this simple Easter Hunt!

1. I rolled out my paper and cut off a big piece. Then I flattened it out and drew some of our favorite Easter themed items that aren't too complicated to draw (eggs, bunny, Easter basket, chick, candy tulip).

You don't need to be an artist to make this game. No one is judging your bunny that you draw (or your tulip), except you. I guarantee your kids will love this and you might get a moment to sit on the couch and relax while they play.

2. Next I drew the same pictures on the half sheets of paper.

3. After that, I taped up my large paper on the wall and I used the painters tape to stick the paper pictures around our family room.4. Now you're ready to hunt! Kids and adults look for the papers and then take them to the big paper version and match the pictures with the correct picture on the big paper. We just stuck the paper on top of the big picture.

Important: The goal of an activity like this is for your toddler or preschooler to feel successful. They will think this is fun if they do a good job pretty quickly into starting it. So when you are hiding the cards, put several in open view. Make sure that the majority of cards are pretty easy to find and then feel free to maybe add one or two hard ones in.

My kids were so excited about how awesome they were at this that we played again and again and again.

Some kids need a hint or two when they are hunting, so try playing hot or cold.

Anytime they are close to one of the cards, tell them they are "hot." If they move far away from a card, tell them they are "cold." My toddler got a hit out of this!

Not only are hunts great for practicing matching, but kids also work on visual discrimination and some simple listening skills.

Why are matching games important for toddlers and preschoolers??

Matching games help kids improve their concentration and they also help kids learn through repetition.

How can you play this with multi-ages of kids?

Hide some pictures in hard places and others in easier spots. Big kids get the hard spots, littles get the ones they can see.
Divide into teams, one older and one younger child per team. They can work together to hide and hunt.