Easter Games and Passover Activities that Welcome the Return of Spring

What is it about spring holidays that encourage a tradition of hide-and-seek? Those who celebrate Easter hide real eggs or plastic treat-filled eggs; and, a Passover custom is to hide a piece of matzo and then send the children to go look for it – the finder gets a treat. Is it that flowers are popping out of the ground where nothing but dirt was for months and leaves are starting to crack open the tight buds that hid them for so long that games of hiding and revealing seem appropriate?

Celebrate the season with a game of hide-and-go-seek. For variety, try the game probably best known as Sardines, in which everyone goes searching for “It” and then joins her when they find her. The challenge is for the increasingly larger group to remain hidden from those who are yet to find “It.”

Plan a scavenger hunt – there’s no reason it has to be for eggs. Theme Walks with Children describes six different scavenger hunts that you can do in nature or in an urban or suburban neighborhood. Or, play a game of Hot and Cold. Hide something, indoors or outdoors, and as seekers get closer to the object, call out, “tepid, warm, warmer” and as they move away from the item tell them, “cool, colder, icy.”

Although children might not care for the symbolism of these games, they are a reminder that Nature is revealing herself throughout this season.