With Spring upon us and Easter fast approaching, many families will soon be planning their annual Easter egg hunt. Whether you and your children participate in your local community festivities or create your own at home, it is important to make sure that all kids (and adults!) can join in the fun. Everyone, special needs or not, wants to be included! These tips and tricks are to help make things a little easier on the children and their families that prefer some accommodations.
I have been a wheelchair user since I was 15 years old. So I didn't necessarily take part in Easter egg hunts from my wheelchair at that age. Perhaps someday I can look back at this blog when I am setting up Easter egg hunts to accommodate myself to participate with my own children. But for now, I've asked around, done some digging, and conducted a bit of research. Here are the top 10 tips and tricks that I found to help make your next Easter egg hunt a little more wheelchair-friendly.
1. Create an Easter egg hunt indoors
Some wheelchair users find it difficult to navigate through grassy terrain. In this case, you can rent out places like community recreation centers and firehouse community rooms to hold your event indoors.
2. Hide eggs at eye level
Whether you hold your event indoors or outdoors, you can make it easier for children who are wheelchair users to reach eggs by putting them at or around eye level. People have come up with using sticky tack to stick the plastic eggs on the wall for easier accessibility. On bushes and picnic tables, on top of the couch, kitchen counters, and other places of similar height can be resourceful.
3. Hide Easter eggs in sensory bin/table
There are instances when rolling up to a table and finding eggs in a large vat of rice or beads would be easier. This also could be simpler for those who have visual impairments, too.
4. Attach a basket to the wheelchair
I know that I'm clumsy, and often when I carry things on my lap they fall off and I run them over. I have crushed my phone and other important things this way. It's the nature of the life of a wheelchair user. So, why is Easter egg hunting any different? Find some zip ties and tie that beautifully colored Easter basket to your wheelchair so that you have your hands available to snatch those eggs up!
5. Make use of a grabber/reacher
These devices can be useful for picking things up off the floor and getting them off high shelves. Using it for Easter egg hunting is no different. You can easily use a grabber/reacher with rubber tips to help pick up the eggs off the floor or ground.
6. Get creative and prop the eggs in the holes of a chain-link fence
This will make it easier for the kids to see and grab the eggs. Imagine how colorful and fun-looking that fence will be when it's filled with plastic multi-colored eggs!
7. Tie balloons to plastic-filled eggs
Helium balloons tied to the eggs on the ground make it easier for kids to pick up. Plus, a yard full of beautifully colored balloons would make anyone excited to pick up eggs!
8. Color-code your Easter egg hunts
Easter egg hunts that give each child their own color to collect can be helpful because some may be a little slower at getting to and picking up the eggs. This will give them plenty of time, since someone else won't take all of the eggs before wheelchair users can get to them.
9. Magnetized Easter eggs
Stick a magnet to the end of a pole/tube and put magnets inside the Easter eggs. Using magnets to pick up eggs; what a great idea! I know I certainly wouldn't have thought of this one on my own. The kids can trade in the magnet eggs for others that contain prizes when they're done.
10. Set a limit on number of eggs collected
Once the kids have collected a certain number of eggs, they can turn in their eggs for prizes like candy, stuffed animals, or other toys. This ensures that everyone gets the chance to collect the same number of eggs.
Whether you decide to go to your local church/community Easter egg hunt or hold your own at home, you can use some of these tips and tricks to make the day a little easier for everyone involved. My advice is to come up with your own ways of making things accessible and share them with the world! You never know whose life you're helping. Have a safe and happy Easter with your friends and family, and enjoy collecting all those colorful eggs!
About the Author
Jess lives in central New York with Jason, her husband of nine years; three Boston Terriers; a Pug; and a cat. She is the survivor of a 2003 motor vehicle accident resulting in T-12 incomplete paraplegia. She has worked at Monroe Wheelchair for the past four years in Marketing and Business Development and is an Administrative Assistant for Monroe Learning Network. Jess has also been volunteering at the local children's hospital for six years and enjoys helping to run weekly fun and educational programs for the patients and families. In her spare time, Jess has a passion for adaptive CrossFit, being outdoors, and spending time with her family and friends. Jess's proudest endeavor was holding the title of Ms. Wheelchair New York 2013-2014, competing for Ms. Wheelchair America 2015, and peer mentoring.
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