A Easter bunny lurking near Newhaven Fort. Courtesy Newhaven Fort

There’s plenty of eggcitement to be had at museums this Easter with Easter egg hunts just about everywhere you look. For example, the National Trust reckons it’s hidden more than 1.5 million chocolate eggs in its castles, Tudor halls, landscaped gardens and industrial mills – they’re waiting to be found!

But the egg hunts count for just a fraction of the eggstravaganzas in store over the next ten days (sorry, but it’s best to get all the egg puns out of the way). The 24 Hour Museum has picked out a few of the things going on below.

Costumed re-enactments and historical themed fun

Travel back to the 1st century AD at Caldicot Castle, Monmouthshire, on April 8 and 9 when the Vicus living history group come to demonstrate life in Britannia under Roman occupation. Expect spinning, weaving and stone carving alongside the soldiers’ camp. The Kiddie Drill will get children involved with miniature wooden spears and shields.

Concentrating on the same era, Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre near Peterborough has a Romans vs Celts re-enactment lined up for April 9.

An actor monk at Rievaulx Abbey. Courtesy English Heritage

Rievaulx Abbey, North Yorkshire, is welcoming back its founding father, Aelred, on Easter Sunday and Monday (April 8 and 9) when medieval themed fun is planned to mark the 875th anniversary of the Cistercian abbey. Join a three-mile pilgrimage from Helmsley Castle to the Abbey to really enter into the spirit of things (12pm each day, booking advised, call 01439 770442).

The Tudors will be at St Fagans, National History Museum of Wales (7-11 April), and on April 8, The Cumberland Guard circa 1860 will return to Newhaven Fort, East Sussex. The soldiers, in period uniform, will perform displays of musket drills and firing.

The Home Guard will be patrolling Crich Tramway Village on April 8 and 9 as it holds a 1940s weekend for Easter. While visitors avoid unexploded bombs and spivs selling black market goods, wartime vehicles will be on the roads and tracks.

On April 10 and 12, Pollok House in Glasgow is giving special grandparent and grandchild tours. Costumed guides will explain some cleaning techniques from the past, such as using crushed up mice instead of toothpaste and urine for whitening sheets. Book a place on 0844 493 2202. Children will also receive a free copy of The Wee Guide about Pollok House.

Never fear, the Home Guard will protect visitors to Crich Tramway Village at Easter. Courtesy Crich Tramway Village

Unusual games and traditional crafts

Eggspress yourself in some creative crafts, or learn a new old game (okay, no more eggy words, promise).

Try your hand at kayles, tip cat, archery and spear throwing at West Stow Anglo Saxon Village, Suffolk, or just enjoy demonstrations of crafts like weaving and metalworking in between browsing the Saxon and Viking market stalls. The Heritage Fayre will run on April 8 and 9.

The Weald and Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton, East Sussex, meanwhile is inviting youngsters to try candle rolling, egg painting, lino printing and more on April 9, and traditional games on April 12. Easter Saturday will see a market in the square and visitors on Easter Sunday will smell roast lamb coming from the Tudor kitchen.

A medieval couple playing a game at West Stow. Courtesy West Stow Anglo Saxon Village

Traditional games on offer at the Victorian Village Fair (April 6-9) being held at Chiltern Open Air Museum, Chalfont St Giles, include swede bashing and the more usual egg and spoon race and coconut shy. Or how about competing in a spot of egg croquet at Papplewick Pumping Station, Leicestershire, on April 8 and 9?

Colchester Castle is holding workshops where you can make your own miniature shop front in clay (£1, book places on 01206 282940), while families can come along and make dancing lions, tigers and water buffalo at the Pitt Rivers and Natural History Museum in Oxford on April 7 (1-4pm).

Shadow play at Eureka. Courtesy Eureka

Science, Nature and Transport

Sensation science centre in Dundee is unveiling an Easter Solar System show on April 7, which has a giant crystal ball-like Magic Planet as its centrepiece, projecting 3-D images. Hands-on activities include make your own cosmic viewer and have-a-go keyhole surgery, using ‘Headless Harry’!

Children over five can get eggsperimental at Halifax’s Eureka science centre with a range of tricks to try out with eggs (real, not chocolate). Youngsters will see how to make an egg bounce and discover why they float in salt water but sink in tap water, among other activities on April 8.

Coalbrookdale at the Ironbridge Gorge is revealing how Abraham Darby’s cast iron cooking pot changed the world in its Castaway event, running until April 13. (The pot demonstrated how cast iron could be mass produced and used for other purposes, from making engine gears to chocolate bars!) Cross over to Enginuity and you’ll find drop-in workshops where visitors as young as five can cast some metal themselves (10am-4pm).

Medway Festival of Steam and Transport. Courtesy the Historic Dockyard Chatham

The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent is hosting the Medway Festival of Steam and Transport on April 8 and 9, featuring a combination of steamed-up traction engines and locomotives and a huge inflatable play area! Shire horse wagon rides and quad bikes will also be available, amongst much more.

Sticking with steam power, April 9 is the last chance to catch the Windermere Steamboat Museum before its new owners, the Lakeland Arts Trust, close it off for the boats to be restored.

Easter Farm Day on April 8 marks the start of the Museum of East Anglian Life’s lambing and farrowing season, and visitors will be able to feed lambs and roll around in the mud with piglets (optional). Easter bunnies will be on hand to entertain and there’s even the possibility of some Easter chicks hatching.

The kids get a go at being Legionaries at Caldicot Castle. Courtesy Caldicot Castle

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, meanwhile, is celebrating the arrival of its first Highland calf and first Konik foal of the season. Visitors can see the animals, plus an unusual art installation of giant cones, and follow an Easter trail to win a chocolate prize from April 6-9.

So, there are a few ideas for all the family to enjoy this Easter. Check the 24 Hour Museum What’s On section to find more events, or look for a historic site, garden or gallery to walk around on a nice spring day.