Treasure Hunt Clues Without Answers

Treasure Hunt Clues

I like to make treasure hunts for my kids on their birthdays, Easter and Halloween. Halloween is coming up so I thought I'd post this now. The hardest part is making up the clues. I figured I'd pass on some I've used so others can use them to make their own. First pick eight clues, then put them in the right order so each clue is found as far as possible from the next one. Then write on the back of each where that clue will be found.

For example, say you want the kids to go from the fridge to the washing machine to the mailbox.
The clue for the washing machine would be in the fridge, and the clue for the mailbox would be in the washing machine. If you write on the back of each clue where it's supposed to be hidden, then you won't get confused.

After you've done this and hidden the clues, do a dry run, just to make sure everything is in the right place and that you don't skip any clues. You can tell the kids which rooms are off limits and whether all the clues are inside, for instance. If it's done at a party, then have an adult lead each group so that everyone gets to hear (or see) the clues. Don't give hints unless they've taken more than fifteen minutes to get the answer.

Some of these clues seem easy, but that's OK- it's best if they aren't too hard- even adults enjoy these. I know because I've done treasure hunts for them too.

Clues:

Broken pictures

I know where everyone in the city lives.

If you throw things down here they will get clean instead of dirty.

Ask Mike for the next clue.

Boxes of hard water.

under a sea plus hair (hint: say it aloud)

I've got 4 legs and get plenty of food but I never eat any of it.

People are always feeding me junk.

No one can sneak up behind you if you are looking at me.

Unlike Mars, it's got channels.

You push my buttons.

I'm like a cloud that hides the sun, only I'm indoors.

I want to go for a walk!

I'm purrfect.

I look like a square spider web- but only clean things stick to me.

I'm nothing but a long string that people use over and over.

I've been framed!

Picture Clues:






Answers are here.

If you can suggest other clues, even if it's for the same locations, I'd love to hear them!

Treasure Hunt Clues With Answers

Treasure Hunt Clues

I like to make treasure hunts for my kids on their birthdays, Easter and Halloween. The hardest part is making up the clues. I figured I'd pass on some I've used so others can use them to make their own. Just pick eight clues, put them in the right order so each clue is found as far as possible from the next one, then write on the back of each where that clue is going to be hidden- that way you won't get confused. Finally, do a trial run before the kids do it just so you know it works.

Some of these clues seem easy, but that's OK- it's best if they aren't too hard- even adults enjoy these. I know because I've done treasure hunts for them too.

If you want to try out the clues without the answers go here.

Clues:

Broken pictures: jigsaw puzzle

I know where everyone in the city lives: phone book

If you throw things down here they will get clean instead of dirty: washing machine

Ask Mike for the next clue: microwave

Boxes of hard water: ice cube tray

under a sea plus hair: under a chair

I've got 4 legs and get plenty of food but I never eat any of it: dining room or kitchen table

People are always feeding me junk: Mailbox

No one can sneak up behind you if you are looking at me: Mirror

Unlike Mars, it's got channels: television

You push my buttons.: phone

I'm like a cloud that hides the sun, only I'm indoors: lampshade

I want to go for a walk!: dog (stick the next clue on their dogtag)

I'm purrfect.: cat (stick the next message to their tag)

I look like a square spider web- but only clean things stick to me.: hill's hoist

I'm nothing but a long string that people use over and over.: washline

I've been framed!: picture, painting

Bluebottle: Leads to a perfume bottle or wine bottle that's blue.

Key + board: Computer keyboard

If you have any other suggestions for clues, I'd love to hear them.

Water Fun

Here are some games to play out in the yard on a hot day. Unfortunately, the last ten years of my kids' lives have been during a drought so I couldn't really do this with them. Or if I did, they were too young to remember. But who knows, they might someday move to a place with 100,00 lakes, right?

Here's one my mother did with us when we were kids:

Everyone gets a bucketful of water and a small ice cream container and takes it to a corner of the yard. Everyone should be equally far away from each other, and maybe ten steps apart.

When the eldest yells "GO!" everyone scoops some water into the ice cream container and throw it at someone. If you let go of the ice cream container you'll get soaked trying to retrieve it. You also don't want to get too far away from your base or you'll get soaked on the way back. You also don't want to run out of water before everyone else because then you'll be a target without any protection. Of course there's a danger you'll slip on the wet grass and hurt yourself, but we never did.

Another thing we did was run through the sprinkler, and we actually did hurt ourselves doing that. I once landed hard on my back and winded myself, but I didn't care.

A gentler, safer game is to fill an ordinary balloon half full of water and pass it around in a circle. The idea is, you want to pass it quickly, but you don't want it to burst on you. If everyone's too good at this, then start two going around the circle in opposite directions. Or pass them across and hope they don't collide.

Home Science Experiments For Kids

MAKING CASEIN PLASTIC

I did this in a science workshop once. The tough bit was figuring out how to make this without heat, but see, I found a way.

Take two plastic drinking cups.

Fill the first cup half full of vinegar.
Put filter paper in the second one (a coffee filter works best because it's already cup shaped).

Add two tablespoons of skim milk to the vinegar in the first cup, and stir.

Then add 1/8th Tablespoon of baking Soda to the milk/vinegar mixture. Add a little at a time.
Stir. You want just enough bubbles to fill the cup, but not have them spill over.

Scoop the bubbles you get onto the filter paper in the second cup.

Wait ten minutes.

Scoop the white gunk out of the filter paper onto a paper towel. Let it sit for a few seconds.

Then make it into a shape, and let it sit on a windowsill for a week. It will shrink and harden.

You've just made a kind of early plastic that buttons used to be made out of!

To make more plastic, use bigger cups!

Enjoy!

RED CABBAGE JUICE CHEMISTRY

To make the red cabbage juice, just boil some red cabbage in water and bottle the liquid. It starts to stink after a few days, so you might not want to make it too far ahead of time, but if you do, that's OK kids will think it's funny!

You might want to do this experiment at the same time as the plastic one, so the ten minute wait goes faster. For this experiment, you put Red Cabbage juice in clear cups, to which kids can add different things to. Bases (such as baking powder and Baking Soda) turn it blue, and vinegar turns the juice bright red. Some things like milk don't change the colour at all, but if you also add oil, you get different coloured layers,which the kids really like. Be careful with the cabbage juice though- it is really messy and it stains.

SLIME

Another experiment you can do is make slime.

You get cornstarch (made from corn, not wheat) and add a little powdered paint to it. The kids can choose which colour they want. Then add water, a little at a time, letting them mix it with their hands until it's hard when they squeeze it, but runs through their fingers when they let go. It's really messy and kids love it. Have some extra in case someone adds too much water to theirs. If you want it a little less messy, give them the cornstarch in a sandwich sized ziplock bag, and get them to add the water and paint to that. Then they can close it and squeeze it, keeping their hands clean. I'd suggest half a ziplock bag of cornstarch each, but maybe try it out yourself first to get the amount right.

An Easter Tradition

Yes, I know it is the wrong time of the year for this, but I don't care!

When I was about 6 I visited my uncle and Aunt for Easter. They had a tradition that I just loved.

We went for a walk on a forest trail, with my uncle in the lead and my family and my aunt and my cousins following a distance behind him. As we walked, us kids would find foil covered chocolate eggs that the Easter Bunny had dropped out of his basket as he was delivering his eggs! We were so excited about this. The weirdest thing was though, that if one of us ran ahead to talk to my uncle, there wouldn't be any eggs anymore. Once we were all back behind him, we'd start finding them again. Because of this I started watching my uncle carefully and that's when I noticed he was putting his hands in his coat pocket and dropping the eggs on the ground. So that's how I figured out what was going on.

When my kids were young my husband and I did the same thing. We'd go to a national park (so there wouldn't be any dog droppings on the ground) and they'd find chocolate eggs everywhere. David Jones makes the nicest multi-colored eggs that don't have any logos on them, so we always used them. Fun thing was, as the kids were collecting the chocolates, they'd give them to me to hold, giving me a chance to pass them on to my husband so he could drop them again! The result was that the egg hunt went on for the whole length of the walk. Of course by the end the eggs were a bit worse for wear, but that's OK, my kids didn't really like chocolate anyway, so we gave them some we had held back from the package. Either way, it's lots of fun for us, as well as the kids.

Another thing my Aunt and Uncle did was to hide Easter baskets in the sand dunes behind the house for my cousins and us to find. Funny, we should have tried that as a well, but I never thought of it. Well, maybe the next generation can carry on that tradition.....

Witches Brew- Recipe

We like to do this for Halloween

Can of Fruit Punch
Can of Pineapple Pieces
Can of Fruit Salad
Peeled Lemon, cut into slices
Peeled Orange, cut up into slices
Assorted fizzy fruit flavoured drinks

Mix together a bit at a time until it tastes right. Make sure you put it in a big bowl with some room to spare. Then add a fist sized piece of dry ice. (Do not touch with your bare hands- wear winter gloves and use tongs) The drink will bubble and a fog will come out of the bowl. This is Carbon Dioxide. so it isn't poisonous- it's what you breathe out all the time. Still, have doors open to other rooms if you are worried. The fog can be scooped up with a ladle and poured into glasses- kids really have a lot of fun with this.

Obviously you'd want to be careful that you don't swallow the frozen dry ice. That's why you put big chunks in, rather than smaller ones. You can find dry ice by looking in the yellow pages- they give you way more than you need, but that's OK- just keep it in the freezer, and you'll have enough to use at night. By morning of course it will all be gone.

Swine Flu Party

My boys are teens now so they decide on the party entertainment. My youngest chose to have a Pinata for him and his friends to bash. He picked one that was in the shape of a pig because that was topical. I stuffed it with Fizz Wizz (when hit the sugar powder looks like smoke),candy,poppers(the kind where pulling the string makes streamers shoot out),glowsticks and 1 cm long coloured wooden beads that represent different viruses. The idea was you wanted to let the candy out but you didn't want to be struck by one of the viruses!

Here's him hitting the pig:



Here's the chart that told you which virus you'd been hit with.



Since you could be hit by more than one bead, you could turn into a Westboro Baptist Sarah Palin pirate, which you had to act out. All in all they had a lot of fun!

Party Ideas for Younger Children

I've always had a treasure hunt for my kid's Birthday Parties. Here's some ideas I came up with.

Before my kids could read I'd give them stepping stones, footprints, or arrows to follow. I'd give them balloons and feet to decorate. If you use heavy enough cardboard, these creatures always land on their feet. You can also use disposable gloves, like I did here.



Another activity I liked to do with them was a balloon war- you split the children into teams, give each team an equal amount of balloons, face them off across a rope or a line and see which team can get all their balloons on the other side first. Kids love this. Pass the water balloons can also be fun, as long as the parents don't mind their kids getting their clothes wet.
Kids of all ages like the balloon games.

When the kids got older I would give them clues to follow. The hunt would usually end with UFO's.

To make them, you just have to blue tac two plastic bowls together. Inside, there would be three dimensional fingernail stick-ons. You can find them in any supermarket. The children would use these to decorate the outside of it.




You also put in the party candy of course, ideally with a little finger puppet alien, or a do it yourself alien made of a blown up water balloon and a cut out set of feet. You'd get the kids to draw a face on it.

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I'd also include bubble solution, because that's a fun activity they can do after, and also cornstarch in a zip-lock bag. The kids add water a little bit at a time, until they get a slime that is dry and hard if you close your fist around it, yet runs through your fingers when you let go. This is very messy and ideally you'd only do it outside. If you're doing this make sure it is cornstarch made of corn, not wheat, because wheat won't work.



The bowls hold a lot so you can get everything in.



Hope you can use some of these ideas!

Halloween 2008 Treasure Hunt

This year my kids wanted an easy fun treasure hunt, so what I did was fill disposable gloves with treats, blew them up, tied them and then hid each pair with a mask. Each kid got a hand as a handout. We have to do it this way because we live in Sydney Australia where Halloween really hasn't taken off. Hardly anyone knows when it is, let alone has candy to give out.

Here's some pictures of the better mask/hand combinations hidden around our house and garden: