Each year on our first day of the new school year,
we enjoy a fun Treasure Hunt. This activity involves team work,
problem solving and a lot of laughter with some fun prizes at
the end.
RULES:
The rule at our house is that the girls must work
together. They take turns reading the clues and they work together
to guess where the clue is leading them. They must stay together
at all times. No one runs off by themselves. If, for example,
a clue seems to be leading to the bathroom, they have to check
all of the bathrooms together. No arguing or squabbling is permitted
... ever! It's a great activity for reinforcing honor and care
for one another.
CREATE THE CLUES:
I start by creating ten clues. When our kids were
younger, the clues were easier. As they've age, the clues get
a little trickier to decipher. Each clue leads them to another
clue and so on until they have found the last clue.
Here a sample clue. If I want them to find their
way to the dryer in the laundry room, the clue might read:
Tumbling, tumbling, hot inside
Within this drum you'll find us all dried
I write the clues on one side of 3x5 index cards
and number them 1 through 10 on the back of the cards.
The first clue is not hidden. I give them the
#1 clue card when we begin (after explaining the rules) . The
#1 card has a clue that leads them to the #2 card which is hidden
and so on.
HIDING THE CLUES:
If clue number #1 leads them to the dryer, for
example, I would tape the #2 clue card inside the dryer or on
the side where it's not easy to spot. The kids love the challenge
of finding the clues so they shouldn't be super easy to find.
But the clues shouldn't be so difficult to find that they get
frustrated and give up.
I hide the clues late at night after the kids
have gone to bed or early in the morning before they get up.
It's fun to sneak into their rooms and hide clues there too!
Be creative and have fun with this. We've hidden
clues all over the inside of the house, outside in the yard,
and one year even in the back seat of the car which was parked
in the garage.
THE TREASURE:
We have done this two ways.
Some years I have placed a small "treasure"
with each clue with a final "treasure" at the end.
Doing it this way, they would collect 9 prizes altogether. When
I've done this I've placed the treasure in paper lunch sacks
that are stapled or decoratively sealed, labeled one for each
child, at each place where the clues lead them.
Other years, I've placed one big "treasure"
at the end. Either it's a bigger prize (like bean bag chairs
one year), or it's a gift bag with a variety of prizes and treats.
Here are a few treasure ideas:
- School supplies ... pencils, notebooks, scissors, glue,
ruler, pencil erasers, 3-ring binders, etc.
- Electronic dictionary
- Art supplies
- Handicraft supplies (knitting, crocheting, embroidery, cross
stitch, sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, woodworking, etc.)
- Small toys
- Board games
- Building toys or playsets (Legos, Knex, Magnetix, etc.)
- Puzzles
- Puzzle books (crossword, word find, sudoko, etc.)
- Books
- Treats/Candy
- Gift cards to their favorite place (i.e. Starbuck's) or
homemade coupons for something special (trip the park with
mom, popcorn and an Icee at Target, etc.)
Happy first day of school!
