1. Women are obligated in all the mitzvos that apply on the Seder night. This includes eating matzah, maror (bitter herbs), recounting the story of the Exodus from Egypt and drinking the four cups of wine. Although these are all time-bound mitzvos from which women are ordinarily exempt, nevertheless they are obligated in these mitzvos because they too were part of the miracle of the Exodus (Shulchan Aruch and Mishnah Berurah 472).
2. It is a mitzvah to give the children nuts and the like to prompt them to notice the changes of this night and ask the Mah Nishtanah(“Why is this night different?”). They should be stimulated to stay awake and not fall asleep until after the paragraph of Avadim ha-yeenu (“We were slaves….”), so that they hear the essence of the story of the Exodus (ibid.).
