Think Easter? Think chocolate? Think Easter egg hunt – scores of children toddling, or dashing off to collect as many eggs as they can…Is the picture in your head one of serenity or complete chaos? The tantrums which follow when parents say their children can’t eat them all at once make many think, why do we do this every year?
Perhaps it is time for a rethink. They enjoy the process of ready, steady, go. They enjoy the process of searching and the joy of finding and we parents love the fact they are being active and enjoying the great outdoors but why does it have to all have to be chocolate (although of course, a little chocolate is not a bad thing).
Try getting them to find pieces of a puzzle. If you don’t have a suitable puzzle, print a simple colouring sheet off the internet, do your best adult colouring in J, cut into pieces and hide (the number of pieces depends on the age of the child).
Or, you could get some colourful wrapping paper, stick it onto cardboard – an old cereal box will do – and cut into puzzle pieces. Be imaginative with the shape of the puzzle – an egg, a chick or a rabbit (templates on the internet are available for those of us for whom art is not our best subject!).
The reward for finding all the pieces could be a small chocolate egg or it could be a new book, ball or toy (haha dare we say, even a Naturelly!).
If you want to give a prize per piece, here are a couple of options:
Buy a pack of simple figures from your child’s favourite TV programme and give one for each puzzle piece found – or you could hide the figures instead.
Or, you could swap every puzzle piece for a grape or a strawberry (just remember-child size portions! – not 20 grapes!). It needs to be fruit your child likes otherwise it is not fun for them L. They could have the fruit reward for dessert with some plain yoghurt for added calcium. Or as a special treat, you could make a pancake with them (without sugar) and add the fruit and yoghurt. The fun options could keep going…
Are you ready for your Easter hunt? Ready, Steady, Go! Have jelly GOOD fun!
These simple steps keep the fun in the Easter hunt and keeps them active but help teach your child or children that there is more to the hunt than just find the choccies.
Sugar Daddy Alert
Just in case you didn’t know, 1 small foil wrapped chocolate egg contains about 4g sugar (that’s almost a teaspoon!), most children would want 4 or 5, and then you have quickly gone above the recommended maximum of 19g per day for 4-6 year olds (not to mention the big Easter Eggs they’ll be chomping on too) which means no more breakfast cereals, fromage frais for dessert, no more readymade pasta sauce or pizza for the rest of the day (check the labels and you will see how much sugar some of these contain).
Written by Registered Nutritionist
Aliya Porter
