Preparation makes the game: choosing the route
The smaller the children, the shorter the route: If your little treasure hunters are only three to four years old, it's best to hold the scavenger hunt inside the house or in your own garden. Here the dangers are limited and you can more easily keep an overview. If the children are a bit older and you want part of the treasure hunt to take place outdoors, you should walk the route beforehand and carefully check for hazards. Watch out for roads or intersections with poor visibility, but also for rivers, embankments and construction sites. Try to take the child's perspective and remember that searching for the next clue reduces the little hunters' attention. Also remember to keep an eye on the clock. The rule of thumb is that 30 to a maximum of 45 minutes is sufficient for all children under seven years. After that concentration and curiosity wane and the risk is high that the initial joy will turn into frustration. No children's birthday party should end like that!
Play and fun: ideas for the little ones
Time to get creative! Once the route for the scavenger hunt is set, it's time to choose the games and tasks. Here too, the age of the treasure hunters plays a decisive role.
Children up to 4 years:
In this age group you should primarily use pictures, colors and very simple instructions. Either you draw a map with easy-to-understand images or you host the scavenger hunt yourself. Prepare eight to ten stations and mark them clearly, for example with colorful balloons. At each station a task must be solved and for each completed task there is a stamp. When the stamp booklet is full at the end, the treasure hunters can collect a small prize. Some of the tasks could look like this:
Sleuths: The children must find a specific object or animal in a seek-and-find picture and circle it in red.
Builders: Using building blocks they must build a little tower that reaches a certain height without falling over.
Collectors: Small chocolate ladybugs are hidden in the garden that the little ones must find and collect — without eating them.
Hoppers: The little ones must show athletic skill and hop a certain distance on one leg or in a sack.
Flower child: Do you have yellow and red tulips in the garden? Great. The children must find out which color is more common.
Children up to 7 years:
If you design the treasure hunt for older kids, individual games take a back seat. It's more exciting for five- to seven-year-olds to wander around and follow individual clues. Choose an interesting route and leave a marker about every 20 to 30 steps that reveals what comes next. But don't make it too easy for your little treasure hunters. You can confidently lay a false trail now and then.
Trail: It is most common to draw arrows on the ground with chalk. If you want it to be less obvious, you can also work with other clues and, for example, use pebbles, chestnuts or sawdust.
Notes: Hide one or two little notes with a riddle along the route. The solution tells the little hunters where to go next. For example, draw a street name.
Puzzle: In order for the treasure hunters to prove that they've really followed all the clues, they must find a puzzle piece at each station. Only when they can assemble the whole picture at the finish do they receive their prize.
The modern scavenger hunt: geocaching for the grown-ups
It is usually said that scavenger hunts are only suitable for children up to about seven years. Nowadays that's somewhat different. Smartphones & co. have even made the scavenger hunt socially acceptable for adults under the name "geocaching." And here's how it works: Take a small box and fill it, for example, with chocolate coins and vouchers. Then hide this treasure somewhere in the city or in the forest, preferably so that not every passerby will discover it. Take out your smartphone and note the exact location of the hiding place. You then give the coordinates to the younger or slightly older treasure hunters. Also provide them with a smartphone with a preinstalled geocaching app. And then you can start!
