Easter is fast approaching and given what’s going on in the world, you might be on the hunt for some great craft ideas that your kids can do at home. MiniZoo is healthy, operational, and able to provide you with animal figures to support your child’s home learning and activities.

Whether you’re religious or not, Easter egg hunts are arguably one of the best part of Easter celebrations for the kids. This craft allows for a little more personalisation and encourages your kids in their love of animals when hunting for treats.

This DIY Easter craft will require:

• An empty egg carton – You can use whichever size you like, but we’ve used one dozen and half dozen cartons. We made two because we wanted to send one to an Australian-animal-loving friend who had moved interstate.
• Paint and other desired decorations for your egg cartons (as well as paint brushes and potentially glue)
• Plastic eggs – These can be found at your local craft store. I found a good range at Lincraft as they had both clear and coloured eggs, in a range of sizes. Though keep in mind that a regular egg is about 6x4cm so if you want them to fit nicely in your carton, that’s the size to look out for. Be aware that they usually only have these on the shelves in the lead up to Easter, but I did manage to get some back in November (I’ll explain why later) by asking the lovely Lincraft lady if they had any out the back leftover from last Easter, which they did (FYI She told me that they typically do, so if you’re ever after plastic eggs when it’s not Easter, it never hurts to ask nicely).
• Small chocolate eggs (if desired)
• Any other small Easter related items e.g. paper nesting, coloured rice, mini carrots (I made these out of coloured polymer clay, which I also found at our local craft store). 
• A basket would be handy for the hunt as well.
• And of course, MiniZoo animals! If you're after Easter bunnies only then go for the CollectA Rabbit, Papo Lop Rabbit, Mojo Rabbit Sitting, Papo Brown Rabbit, Schleich Rabbit, and the Bullyland Rabbit. The number you’ll need will depend on the size of the carton you decide on using. For other smaller animals, be sure to consider the measurements of the figures to check they’ll fit in your eggs, but the ones that was able to fit in my 6x4 eggs are: CollectA Lamb Grazing, CollectA Piglet Sitting, Schleich Piglet, CollectA Chicks Hatching, Papo Kittens Playing, Schleich Dalmatian Puppy, Schleich German Shepherd Puppy, Schleich Golden Retriever Puppy, CollectA Doberman Pinscher Puppy, CollectA Dachshund, Papo House Mouse, Papo White Mouse, Schleich Yorkshire Terrier, and the Schleich Cat Sitting. There are a number of others that would also fit.

As I said previously, we made a half-dozen carton for an Australian-animal-loving friend, and so for that one we chose to use the Southlands Platypus, Southlands Echidna, Southlands Northern Koala Female, Science and Nature Wombat, Science and Nature Red Eyed Green Tree Frog, and the Science and Nature Quokka.

If you would still like to include a chocolate egg inside your plastic egg, the Safari Mini Rabbits are a great option. They’re approximately 2-4cm in size, so you could fit 1-2 in each, plus a chocolate egg, and perhaps even some paper nesting, a mini carrot or something else Easter themed.

We began by painting. For our egg cartons, we used two coats of spray paint that we bought at our local hardware store. Miss 2 chose pink (why was I surprised?) and we also found a beautiful aqua blue for our smaller carton. We also decided to spray paint the clear eggs with gold as that gave them even more of a treasure-like quality. The coloured eggs we bought were perfect the way they were, but you can definitely get creative with this step.

Once the paint was dry, we began decorating the cartons. We decided to personalise them which was so much fun to make together as my daughter loved being able to choose the colours and ribbon and make it her own. You could also make a generic Easter one if you wanted to and use it each year, or pass it down to younger siblings if desired. We used mosaic tiles and diamanté stickers, as well as acrylic paint for finer details, fabric ribbon, and a very small amount of glitter (though I know how messy that can become).

The last step is for Easter Sunday fun. Parents, you can now place your animal figures (or if you’re using the Safari Mini Rabbits you could probably also fit a small chocolate egg and/or other Easter related paraphernalia, such as polymer clay carrots) inside the eggs and hide the eggs all around the house or garden ready for your little ones to begin their hunt. They can place their eggs inside a basket upon finding each one, and then place their treasures in their cartons once they’ve all been found. If you intend on using the Safari Mini Rabbits, then perhaps a larger MiniZoo animal prize, such as one of the Folkmanis Cottontail Rabbit Hand Puppets could be given once all twelve eggs have been found.

This activity is perfect for families with dairy or chocolate allergies, or families that might wish to minimise chocolate consumption at Easter time in general, as finding a little animal inside an egg is likely going to be just as exciting, or perhaps even more so than finding a sweet treat in the garden. Plus, MiniZoo figures can be used time and time again in many different playtime activities, and while chocolate eggs are delicious, they are unfortunately only enjoyed for a short time.

As I mentioned earlier, I sourced some plastic eggs late last year for a non-Easter related exercise. I set out to toilet-train my 2-year-old and while she LOVES stickers, a sticker chart just wasn’t cutting it for helping her understand the action-reward concept. The excitement of opening an egg and finding a little animal inside each time we had success helped her to learn very quickly. You could also reward with a larger MiniZoo animal once all 12 eggs were opened.

MiniZoo ships worldwide and offers free shipping for qualified orders within Australia. Help to encourage your child’s love of animals at Easter time with a prize that can be loved and played with for a far longer amount of time than they can bear to draw out their stash of Easter chocolates.

Happy hunting!

Jenna @ MiniZoo