Treasure hunt

Currently, the entertainment of children, and not so children, is directly linked to the use of mobile phones, tablets or watching television for several continuous hours. But, children and their families also need physical activity, and if it is done through games of finding things, it is much more fun. 

When we have children at home we cannot let monotony and a sedentary lifestyle take over our free time. We do not deny that it is fun to spend the weekend in pajamas watching movies and eating sweets. But, those times are the ideal moments to create emotional memories and have a great time with few things. 

One of the fun ideas that we propose is to make games of searching for clues, in which all the members of the family can participate, including grandparents, uncles and cousins. 

But, if there is only one child at home you don’t have to worry, you can also place some clues to find gifts at home, the perfect excuse to take it off the screens, put it in motion and search every corner of the house to find those gifts. They do not need to be toys or expensive things, with small sweets distributed in strategic places the search can be carried out.

You can also choose some of the little one’s favorite toys and hide them, leaving him encrypted messages for children with the clues to find the hidden characters.

treasure map for kids

If the curiosity bug has awakened you and you want to learn how to organize your own gymkhana for children in search of treasure, we will discuss some ideas below.

Map and tracks: 

• You can design a map with the strategic places where the children can find new clues to discover where the treasure is hidden.
• In the clues you can use puzzles according to the age of the little ones to stimulate critical thinking and problem solving in them. 
• In addition to the puzzles, on the clues you can place challenges and challenges in which the children must work as a team to get the next clue.
• In the case of children who cannot read, you can draw a picture or print a photo of the places where the clues may be, such as their favorite stuffed animal or the dollhouse, these are good hiding places.
• If the children already know how to read, you can place instructions such as “take two steps forward and 4 to the right” or “look for an object that begins with the letter C”, among other ideas.

Themes

A themed scavenger hunt can also be fun, so you can use some special celebrations like Easter or Halloween to recreate a treasure hunt set to your chosen theme. If you like monsters and ghosts, you can put scary riddles, dark challenges (according to the age of the children, of course) and decorate the house with everything you find for Halloween. The treasure can be a cauldron full of sweets to share with friends and everyone who participated in the search.

For the little one’s birthday, you can prepare a search just for him, so that he can find that gift that he has longed for so much for this special day.

Also, you can liven up the party and all the guests with a treasure hunt in which all the children participate with small prizes and riddles to solve as a team, without forgetting the fun games and challenges such as hopping on one foot to the next clue or make a balloon race and then break them because the next message is hidden inside one of them. 

The fun pirate treasures

Another fun idea is to use everything related to the pirate world, a theme present in toys for children from 3 years old, and up to approximately 8 years old, because during this stage most of the little ones feel a lot of affinity for everything that has to do with with pirates, ships and more. 

So they can dress up with recyclable materials , make their own pirate objects and go on a treasure hunt with the help of the guide, that is, the person who has organized the clues and has hidden the treasure well.

For this activity you do not need a big house or a spacious garden, clearly if you have them it will be an additional advantage. But, even if you live in a small two-bedroom apartment, you can also organize a fun treasure hunt with what you have at home. It’s all a matter of having a lot of creativity and the desire to have fun as a family, having a different time that can even become a tradition for the family nucleus, a very nice memory that will last in the hearts of children when they are adults. 

Printable Tracks and Games

If after these ideas, you still feel that you lack the creativity to develop the puzzles and design the clues, but you have all the desire to make the game, then you can take advantage of all the facilities offered by the information superhighway and speed up the game. your family’s trip to fun.

It is clear that we are talking about using the Internet resource, because it is enough to write in the search engine “Ideas for clue games” or “ printables for the treasure hunt ” to display thousands of results, images and clues ready to print, cut and prepare your treasure hunt at home without any more excuses.

You can be sure that it will be a pleasant surprise for the children to see the dedication and work behind the organization of these games, as well as the incentive of knowing what the great treasure they will find will be. So don’t hesitate any longer and get to work, invite your partner to help you, call your friends or grandparents on the weekend and share this activity with your family.