Kids Treasure Hunts

A good treasure hunt is always the most memorable party game kids will play at a party.

That’s why we created versions to suit the most popular birthday party themes:

They are easy to set up and great fun to play!

DIY Treasure Hunts

A good treasure hunt takes time to make and you don't have time a kit is a great option. However, if you want to have a go at making your own treasure hunt or scavenger hunt check out our suggestions for DIY pirate treasure hunts below and on pinterest.

Indoor Treasure Hunt

I can remember indoor treasure hunts my mum used to set up for us, keeping us occupied on a rainy day – mind you she was a primary school teacher and so always had a repertoire of exciting things for us to do.

Educational Treasure Hunt

It’s fairly easy to make any of these treasure hunt ideas educational.

Simply by drawing your own map you are helping them understand direction and location, you can even introduce North, East, South and West.
If you put some instructions into your clues you can help them with counting (take 3 steps forward and 5 to the right then your next clue will be clearly in sight) or even maths (5 take away 2 is the number you need (three),take that many steps forward and the next clue you will see).

Puzzle Treasure Hunt

Very simple - Take pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and hide them around the house (though make sure you know where they are!) Send the kids around the room helping them find the pieces simply by saying warmer and colder.

Anagram Treasure Hunt

Take a word (maybe the name of your child’s favourite character) print them in big letters and hide them. Give the kids some clues as to where they are – e.g. in the place where your clothes get clean (for the washing machine). When they find them all they have to rearrange them to find the word.

Activity Treasure Hunt

Kids treasure hunts can easily be made into a longer play session by including an activity after each clue is found. Here are a few suggestions for some activities and crafts you could do but go check out our pinterest boards for more inspiration:

Dress up/face paint station – All kids like dressing up so get some of your old clothes out and let them have some fun. If you have some face paints even better!
Colouring in sheets – There are loads of free printables online to make things really easy and all you need to do is supply a pack of felt tip pens or coloured pencils. We’ve created some great designs in all our themes for you – go see our free printables.
Biscuit decorating – A great way to give them a little treat – bake some gingerbread men, and supply icing pens, sprinkles, smarties, raisins whatever you have in the cupboard.
Craft station – we’ve created some great kids craft packs ideally suited to parties where everything you need is included, but there are so many ideas for things to make we’ve selected a few and put them on our pinterest boards.

Outdoor Treasure Hunt

When we were a bit older we used to go walking in the Yorkshire Dales and mum would hand us a sheet of things to find on a scavenger hunt. I was a Girl Guide and my brother a Scout so we were always interested in outdoor activities. If only Geocaching was available when we were kids we’d be all over it!

There are so many things you can do for a kids treasure hunt outside:

Nature Trail Treasure Hunt

This is so easy, just write a list of nature items the kids need to find on their treasure hunt.

If you know a fair bit about trees how about a leaf hunt? This will help them identify trees by the shape of their leaves.

It might also be as simple as find an oak leaf, a twig with moss, an acorn, a bug, a clover, something red etc. A simple nature scavenger hunt can be found on our treasure hunt/scavenger hunt pinterest board.

Playground Activity Treasure Hunt

Give some clues relating to the equipment in the playground you are going to. Get them to complete a task you set at each piece of equipment so they can get the next clue and so on until they’ve played on all the equipment and then give them a prize. Maybe a treat of an ice-cream on a sunny day, or bring along a picnic.

Back Garden Treasure Hunt

What do you have in your back garden? A slide? A Swing? A trampoline? Garden furniture? A sandbox?

Even if you don’t have much you can still turn it into an exciting treasure hunt. Get 2 garden chairs and place an old sheet over them – bingo - you have a cave. Lie an old sheet on the floor and you can have a river they need to jump across. Do a little assault course and then they can find some treasure in the cave.