Network Child Care Services c 2020

Title: Treasure Hunt – Detective Game Age Group: Kindergarten / School Age Submitted by: Cherrie (Annunciation)

Type of Activity: Secret hunt with clues

Materials: -Paper -Lock -Markers -Box -Book -Tape -Any things could be found at home (Options)

How to Do it:

Detective game is one of our children’s favourite activities. The children love to go everywhere to find the clues and figure out a chain of clues until they find the hidden prize. It is also fun to watch the children work together to figure out the clues.

I prepared and set up this game at home and let my child try it. My child is four years old, so he needs his dad to work with him together.

To start the game, I gave him a letter and the 1st clue—A piece of puzzle to give to the children. (Pic 1)

Network Child Care Services c 2020

Although dad helped him to read the letter, when he saw the puzzle piece, he went directly to find his DINOTRUX puzzle box, where this puzzle comes from.

When they got the puzzle box, he opened it and he saw the 2nd clue, which is a paper roll with word puzzle. (Pic2)

Network Child Care Services c 2020

(Pic 2) This idea is from The Activity Mom. It would not be hard for school agers, but it is still fun to find and figure out the puzzle.

My son does not know these words, so his dad helped him. After they figured out the puzzle and got the message, my son went to check all the doors on the 3rd floor, and then he checked the doors on the 2nd floor. Eventually he found an envelope taped on the back of the bathroom door, which is the 3rd clue.

He opened the envelope: it was paper puzzles inside. My son loves puzzles so much, so he was so excited and started to work on the puzzle right away. He recognized it was a book he has before he completed the whole puzzle. He ran to his room and found the book.

Network Child Care Services c 2020

In the book, there was an envelope. He took the envelope and came back to his dad. Inside the envelope there was a piece of paper with Morse Code, a small piece of paper with code on it and a math question (Clue 4).

His dad helped him to figure out the code using the Morse Code paper, and the message they got this time was a location “Under the Couch”. Then they worked together on the math question, and they got a number, 7, which is part of the code they need to unlock the lock at the end.

My son went to look under the couch. He found the box that was locked and there was an envelope on the top.

Network Child Care Services c 2020

He opened the envelope, and there was a message and a picture which was also a math question (How many triangles you can find in the cat?) in it. I found this math question from Puzzles Brain, and the answer is part of the code to unlock the lock.

Network Child Care Services c 2020

Both of them were counting the triangles in the cat, and they got the answer, which is 20.

Once they figured out all the clues and got all the numbers that they needed to unlock the lock, my son wanted to try the code on the lock. However, I asked them to try to use the “Crack the Code” Clue. Then his dad was explaining to him the messages on the clue. They figured out the code was 720.

It was not difficult, because that was the order in which they got the numbers.

If the school agers play this game, we could make the code a bit harder. They could try different combinations on the lock first, but the “Crack the Code” Clue would be very helpful to get the correct code faster.

My son finally unlocked the box and enjoyed the treats!

Network Child Care Services c 2020

Root Skill / Extension: Finding and solving the clues could help children improve their cognitive skills like memory, problem solving, and math skills, social skills like helping and cooperative skills, and communication skills. It could also improve children’s physical skills by walk around the house. Extension: This game could be set up either indoors or outdoors (Backyard). It could also be prepared regarding children’s ages and stages of development. The lock in this game also can be changed to the lock and the key. Children love keys!