Making a treasure hunt for two nine year old girls in the local park in January. Working out how to make it challenging and learning some lessons for next time. Setting up a more wide ranging birthday treasure hunt in March. Then a wayfinding based treasure hunt for Christmas Eve.

348 – The first treasure hunt of the 365 day nature play challenge

Saturday 18 January.  Cloudy.  7°C.

It’s time for another big effort.  B has a playdate today so I hand over to her and ‘K’ to decide what they want to do.  “Anything – so long as it’s outside somewhere in nature”.  Two days later I check in and find there is no doubt. 

“Treasure Hunt!”

That’s a lot of work for me then!  Scavenger hunts are so much easier!  It’s probably my own fault.  In the covid lockdown, when B was 5 & 6, I got a bit obsessed with treasure hunts.  It felt like a great way of getting her outside walking and I went to some lengths to get out ahead and hide clues along established routes.  One Christmas Eve I managed to walk her all round the town, leaving her with my mum and rushing on ahead to plant clues.  She’d spot that a mile off now at the advanced age of 9. 

Treasure hunt planning

I ponder options.   I think they think we’ll do it in the garden but I strongly veto that.  The big issue with treasure hunts now is that I spend hours setting it up, only for B to find all the clues in about five minutes.  If we’re going to counter that happening we’re going to need a lot of space and variety of options for where to hide things.  I’m determined to make them work for it and that’s going to mean hiding stuff, making them climb and putting things which they need some ingenuity to get down.  It’s going to have to be at the local park again.  We’re over visiting it at the moment but it’s so well resourced and easy to get to that I roll with it.

On Friday I do a bit of a rekey and come up with a rough plan.  I started out wondering if I could get them to do some sort of task to win a clue (make a den, do a challenge etc) but I can’t think of a way to do that which means they can find the clues themselves (which must be the most fun).  Instead I opt for hiding the clues well and putting some high up so they have to climb to get them.  I intend to get them occupied somewhere first where they can’t see me and go armed with string and poles to get it set up as quickly as possible. 

Treasure hunt set-up

Treasure hunt day arrives and the big issue, as I suspected, is getting it set up.  It’s only me with the two girls so I need to leave them somewhere where they can reach me but not see me.  I settle for finding a little copse of trees in the park where they can play quietly and set them the task of making the days ‘348’ sign.  I’ve pre-prepared the clues in little cardboard advent calendar boxes we had in the attic from years ago.  All I need to do is put them up.

I rush around the park, using the notes I made the day before to hide them quickly.  I aim to get it done in 10 minutes but it takes me about 15-20 and I get back to find them watching youtube videos on my phone and playing with a tubey thing they brought with them.  They have done the numbers though and they’re ready to go.

The treasure hunt itself

In order to stop them racing away with it I’ve put a lot of the clues high up in the branches.  They either have to climb to get them or find a stick and use it to either pick them off or hit them down.  They get into that and are clearly finding it fun.   There are also clues I’ve hidden and, in a couple of places, I’ve given them drawings of key features and they have to find them. 

They spend ages looking for a door that fits the pattern I’ve drawn and I’m really impressed when they work it out.  They get used to clues not being obvious always and having to dig or look hard for them.  The ones they find most difficult are the most hidden ones.  They’re not as good as I expected at searching in piles of branches or ivy.  Only one fails them completely and I’ve probably hidden it a bit too well in the deadwood hedge.

I’m surprised how quickly they get into climbing for things.  Neither of them is particularly sporty but they really enjoy it.  It’s like they’ve been given permission.  Both moan a bit as it goes on.  They want to get back to their tween games, but they stick it out without any major rants and are buzzing when they get home and filled with energy. 

The hunt itself takes about 45 minutes after the set up.  On the way they’ve stopped to admire the squirrels (one doing some amazing acrobatic tree jumping) and are interacting with the environment, searching for different features and getting side tracked by cool things they notice.  I think it was the best treasure hunt we’ve ever done and would do one again, though next time I’ll factor in the set up time a bit better! Four months later B gets asked what her favourite challenge has been – and this one comes out the winner.

A conclusion

One big conclusion: It was great having disposable clues that they need to fetch. This is obviously not possible with treasure hunts designed for lots of kids to do. The advantage was that you could place them loosely and the fetching (getting a stick to hit them down, climbing up for them, finding them under a pile of twigs) was a big part of the fun.

292 – Birthday Treasure Hunt

Saturday 15 March.  Sunny. 9°C

It’s B’s 10th birthday and she wants another treasure hunt. I’m quite chuffed by this. She’s having a party elsewhere so it’s just for her and I have a lot of fun planning out a route that will take her round the town. I write out fairly straightforward clues that should use her wayfinding skills. They’re placed about 100-300 metres apart and are things like ‘go to where brownies is and look up in the trees’; ‘find the train station and look for where plants are growing’; ‘find the steps down to the sea nearest the pier and look underneath them’. Some have maps rather than written clues and all are places B knows well and has played in before.

In the past I’ve left chocolate treats with the clues but they’re harder to package so I opt for small rolls of paper tied with string that can easily be hid. I head out to set it up armed with a grabber and try again to get them places where she’s going to have to work to get them down. I put them high in trees so she has to climb and tell her to come armed with sticky so she’s got something to reach with.

I’m ashamed to say it’s not as successful as the previous hunt was. I suspect this is because she’s doing it on her own without a friend and there’s a reasonable amount of walking involved. I had hoped that she would get excited and run from clue to clue but she struggles to get the first few down and then lost motivation. The wayfinding bit she enjoyed I think but again struggled when she couldn’t find things easily. I’m left with lots to ponder about motivation and how far you can push a good thing! The general conclusion is that it’s probably better to put clues closer together in one place. Also that it’s more fun with friends. If you can get those two things sorted they’ll appreciate being challenged a lot more. I was proud that B found all the clues in the end… and I think she was too.

8 – A Christmas eve treasure hunt

Wednesday 24 December.  Sunny and then dark. 5°C

It’s Christmas eve. We’ve had a few more treasure hunt type things since March. We did the Maize Mazes back in the summer and did an August scavenger hunt type thing. I also set up a couple of public treasure hunts which B tested for me. Now it’s Christmas eve and it’s time for our traditional Christmas eve treasure hunt.

Looking back at the first one set up for the challenge I realise there’s no way it’s going to compete. It’s Christmas Eve! I’m knackered and there’s family stuff all over the place . Plus B is overwhelmed from lots of treats and parties. She’s still happy to do it though. The issue is finding the time.

In the end we squeeze it in to early evening. I run round a local route with clues. It’s not as long as the birthday treasure hunt or as condensed as the park based one we did first. It follows a route she’s used to walking round on her own now, so I’m testing her wayfinding skills.

I haven’t time to make the clues clever or rhyme so settle for things like ‘our usual bench at the park’; ‘a big tree behind the school’ and ‘a sleigh near some reindeer’. I wrap them in Christmas material and tie them on to whatever’s available with string. It’s light while I hide them but by the time I get her out and ready it’s getting dark fast. It’s also bitterly cold. We’re on the edges of a winter storm.

That said, she still enjoys it. I think treasure hunts always work. This one has clues closer together than on her birthday and she’s enjoying working out which way to go. The final clue tells her where in the house to find a present.