Easter Games for Youth Groups

When most people think of Easter these days, it's a fact that the vast majority will think of chocolate as the defining element of that holiday season. Possibly, some will think of spring and new life; still fewer will think of the real reasons why Easter has been a part of the Western calendar for such a long time. However, for a youth group leader trying to think of some effective games and activities for the group to play and do around Easter, the first of these concerns will be foremost in their mind.

With all that chocolate being consumed, it's even more essential that kids are given the chance to play games which link into the season, but also burn off some of those calorific treats!

Easter Egg Hunt

This is of course the best known game for children to play at Easter, combining the rampant consumption of chocolate with some good old-fashioned intellectual and physical exercise. It is also extremely versatile, and easily adaptable to the needs of different youth groups. If the weather is poor, it is easy to do a small-scale version with mini-eggs indoors, or if you have a large group and it's sunny, you can go outdoors. The clues can also be made as difficult or easy as you like, or if the space is small you can just let each group search randomly for the "treasure". All the eggs should be collected and brought back to the starting point so that the winning team can be identified, and perhaps given another (small) prize!

Easter Egg Bowling

This needs some preparation, in the form of several hard-boiled eggs (one for each child present), and the purchase of one large chocolate Easter egg. The children must prepare their eggs by decorating them in a unique style with paints, pens or whatever else is to hand. Then the chocolate Easter egg must be placed a reasonable distance from the children (this will vary depending on age) and each child must attempt to 'bowl' their egg as close to the Easter egg as possible without touching or moving it. Whoever gets closest wins the egg. You may want to consider having some other chocolate treats as smaller prizes for the other kids.

Egg Rolling

This is a classic English Easter pastime, still practised in many small villages across the country. Again, it requires hard-boiled eggs - you could even use the same ones as were used in the Egg Bowling game earlier. The game is usually played on top of a hill, and the winner is the one whose egg rolls furthest, but it can be adapted for youth groups' facilities, too. One popular variant is to play the game indoors, and to attempt to roll the eggs between two goalposts; you could give each child five attempts and see who has most success. You can have a tie-breaker from increasing distances if more than one child gets the highest total.

Bunny Relay

This requires very little preparation - you will only need two large paper eggs for each team. This is a simple relay race with an Easter twist. Each player must cross the room by only stepping on the eggs. The method for this is to step onto one, and then put the other one in front, so that you can step onto it. Of course, this takes longer than one might think at first glance! The winning team is the one whose players all manage to cross the room first. Players can bring back the eggs for their team mates once safely across the room.

There are many other Easter games for youth groups to play, but these are the most obviously seasonal, and they are most enjoyable too. Other examples of Easter games include the egg-and-spoon race and Bunny Hop. Have fun playing these Easter games with your youth group!