10 Awesome Non-Candy Easter Egg Fillers Your Kids Will Actually Use

Easter will be here before we know it, which means that it’s time to start thinking about how we’re going to fill all of those plastic Easter eggs! We love a few good quality chocolate treats as much as the next person, but for the most part, I try to fill our eggs with fun non-candy surprises simply because sometimes too much is just too much. I actually really enjoy the challenge of finding things that a) are small enough to fit in plastic eggs, b) my kiddos will truly use and enjoy, and c) won’t break the bank.

If I’ve purchased an item to put in a plastic Easter egg, you can almost be certain that it’s one of three things — a consumable (something we use and need to replace regularly), an addition to a collection we’re building, or a larger set of items that I plan to split and share over several eggs.

Here are 10 fun Easter egg fillers that your kids will actually use:

1. Small musical instruments

We have a small bin of musical instruments that we add to every now and then, so for us, this falls under the 'collections we’re building' category. Most munchkins I know adore music and making noise and small instruments like egg shakers and bird whistles are the perfect addition to any Easter egg hunt.

2. Stickers

Which child doesn’t like stickers, right? My six-year-old hoards them and my one-year-old is obsessed with them, so they’ll both be finding stickers hidden in their eggs this year. These sheets that you tear off of the big rolls are perfect because they can be folded or rolled to fit in even the smallest plastic eggs.

3. Egg-shaped crayons and chalk

These festive little eggs seem to pop up all over the place just before Easter and they often fit inside plastic eggs just perfectly, or you can just hide them as is. We go through crayons and chalk like mad in our house, so replenishing our stock is always a good idea.

4. Matchstick cars

A classic and something my littlest one is absolutely obsessed with at the moment! They fit perfectly in the slightly larger plastic eggs and I love finding really vibrant candy-coloured vehicles to add to our collection at Easter time.

5. Stamps and mini-ink pads

My personal opinion? You can never go wrong with creative supplies. We have a stash of stamps that we pull out once in a while and they’re always such a hit. And stamp pads always seem to need replacing sooner than you’re expecting them to, so having a few new ones in the house and ready to go means avoiding future ink pad disappointments, which is a very good thing indeed.

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6. Small figures

These are by far some of the most used kids’ items in our house and it’s always so much fun to add a figure or two to our collection. We use these guys for sensory play, small world play, story retelling, play dough play and more, and despite the fact that we already have a very decent collection, I can always find one or two creatures we've yet to have.

7. Mini markers

Aren’t these just the sweetest thing ever? And useful too!  They can obviously be used for all kinds of creative projects at home, but because they’re so tiny they’re also great in take along kits and road trip binders.

8. Play dough

I really can’t say it enough — we love play dough. I often fill up several plastic eggs with our favourite homemade no-cook play dough (like I did here), but the mini pots you can purchase as party favours fit perfectly into the larger size of plastic eggs if that’s more convenient for you too.

9. Washi tape

Both of my kiddos love washi tape and so do I! It’s inexpensive, available in hundreds of cute designs, and comes off of surfaces easily too. It’s the perfect tape for letting little ones enjoy without worrying too much about wasting or it getting stuck all over the house, so I always like to keep a good stock of it on hand.

10. Magnets

This is a perfect example of a larger set of items that I plan to split up and share over several eggs! I’ve had my eye on this set of wooden magnets for my little one for quite some time now, and since the set consists of several small parts, it can be used to fill a bunch of eggs. You can do the same thing with LEGO sets and puzzles, and once they’ve found all of the eggs, the kids can come back together to build the structure or put together the puzzle as a team.