How to organize a treasure hunt?

For a child’s birthday, an end-of-year party, a pajama party or simply to have a fun time, the treasure hunt is an ideal activity. Children love to search for treasure by solving puzzles. They will enjoy participating as much as enjoying the treasure, which can be a toy, sweets, a book, etc. But how to organize a treasure hunt? We give you all our advice and ideas to have a great time with your children.

Choose the treasure theme

Before you start making clues and puzzles, choose a theme: pirates, the jungle, marine explorers… When it takes place at home, organize a treasure hunt according to the age of the participants: with younger children, restrict the perimeter to one room. It will be easier and it will limit the duration of the game. From around 6 years old, you can hide clues all over the house. If you do not want adventurers to enter certain rooms, you can stick warnings on the doors concerned, if possible in keeping with the chosen theme. For example, if the hunt is supposed to take place in the jungle, you can write: “Watch out, crocs!”

Which puzzles to choose for the treasure hunt?

start to prepare the puzzles which will unlock the clues. They must be adapted to the age of the children and their knowledge (for example, we do not propose calculations to be solved before first grade). You can also imagine challenges to recover clues, like singing a song, reciting the alphabet backwards, doing the somersault… It’s all about vary the challenges and puzzles so that no one gets bored.

Where to hide the clues in the house?

As for the clues, they must also be appropriate for the age of the participants. With the youngest, prefer to give clear indications such as “We must now look towards the sofa”, “Look in the kitchen“, etc. For the older ones, we can allow ourselves a little more mystery, for example by writing: “The next clue is in the room where Mom sleeps”, “The treasure is hidden near something red””... For the treasure as for the clues, they must be hidden in an affordable way according to age : we prefer to put them more in evidence with the little ones, at their height, while the hiding places may be more difficult to find for the older ones.

Where to organize an outdoor treasure hunt?

Start by defining the perimeter : in the garden only, in a park, in the whole street (if it is secure)… Above all, you must also think about safety. Thus, an adult must always be present with the children, and there must be as many as there are teams. Depending on the place chosen, give instructions: do not leave the park, do not enter people’s gardens, etc.

Hide clues and treasure well

For clues, don’t forget to write on the paper that it’s for a treasure hunt, so that little jokers or people thinking of littering don’t throw it away. Ditto for the treasure, we advise you not to leave it outside, at the risk of it disappearing if you are in a public place. Either you can make the clues come all the way home, or you keep it on you and give it to the kids when they’ve solved the last riddle. You can even wait for them at the point of arrival…

A treasure hunt in the garden

If you organize your treasure hunt in the garden, as long as the weather is nice and the treasure is not fragile, you can place it in the right place before the game starts, or even bury it or place it in the plants.

printable scavenger hunt

What treasure hunt for a birthday?

For a birthday party, the treasure hunt is an essential activity! At the organizational level, you can change a bit, especially at the batch level. It can be sweets to taste all together, of course, but you can make it more original by planning a small gift for all the guests, a bit like those found in duck peaches: bracelet, spinning top, bouncing ball, hand spinner, etc., or a group gift like going to a show or the cinema together.

Treasure can also be the birthday cake that disappeared and must be found to be able to blow out the candles. In terms of clues, you can ensure that the child whose birthday it is is put in the spotlight. The questions to find them may concern him, the challenges may be around him (singing “Happy Birthday” to him, everyone gives one of his qualities…).

Finally, there is another very fun way toorganize a scavenger hunt for a birthday out partying with friends. The parents hide the gifts all over the house, and the child must find the clues to find them. We put the smallest first (a card for example), then towards the gifts which have more and more value, until finding the main gift as a jackpot!