This one wasn’t my game – it was devised by the oldest of the junior players, on our recent holiday. Â It worked really well, so I thought I’d share it with you.
(As I’m on catch up on posts, I’m writing in early April, after Easter – but putting the date as a post in March, because of the game theme. Hope that helps if the timescales don’t seem to add up.)
Hunt the single item
If you have a junior player who has any level of interest in pirates, a treasure hunt is a great idea. Â But you don’t need to read too much Famous Five, or indeed other picture books, to realise that finding some form of treasure is a key part of many stories.
This makes it exciting – but it can also lead to tantrums if other junior players feel hard done by. Â So it might help to have some form of treasure that everyone can share at the end.
Hunt the multiple items
This particular hunt that I observed recently was an Easter egg one – but it could work well with other smaller items. Â It makes it a bit different from a treasure hunt with a single prize, but it can cut down on squabbling if everyone finds some things.
Writing about this now, I could imagine a version of this with hunt the Lego minifigure – as long as you were prepared to let the finders keep them all. Â Or they might get to trade them in for a larger item?
(Clearly, you would need to know that you had planted the minifigs, rather than just coming across them in random places, as is more often the way…)
The maps
What made this so good was that each player had a different map – same landmarks, but different arrow clues to help them find the mini eggs.
This meant that everyone got some eggs, no one was competing to grab all the eggs, and everyone had to read their maps to find their bit of the treasure.
It also meant that everyone had a personalised map to keep as a souvenir afterwards.
You will have to decide if you want to hand draw the maps – if time is short, you could hand draw one, copy it, and then write in different arrows on each version.
If you really want to get into the pirate theme, you can always try ageing the paper for your map e.g. leaving it to sit in cold tea to get brownish ‘age spots’, distressing the edges of the paper, and so on.
However, the lust for chocolate eggs may be such that these extra touches are just overlooked – so don’t feel you have to.
Indoors or outdoors?
When it comes to Easter egg hunts, it’s easy to think it has to be outdoors. Â Heavy rain on Easter Saturday meant that this wasn’t really an option.
However, an indoor hunt, set up before a spot of fresh air on Easter Sunday, meant that the younger junior players had something fun to do on getting home – and the grownups had time to cook tea.
If you do plan to do an outdoor one, it can be good in a garden where eggs can be tucked into flowerpots, hidden behind garden hoses, and so on.
Match the number of eggs to your junior player’s stamina – no point telling them there are 10 more to find if they’ve already had enough!
Try to remember how many eggs you planted, and where they are, in case the junior players can’t find them. I have a few wooden eggs from Eastern European craft shops, and these can be good to hide a) because they are sturdy and b) because the colours usually make them easier to spot.
Longer prep, shorter hunt
The law of treasure hunts is something like the law of lasagna – it takes a lot longer to get them ready than it does to do them (or eat the lasagna). Â But, in both cases, the results are worth it, both for the hunters, and the person who’s set up the hunt.
Having occasional treasure hunts (such as Easter ones) means it’s an occasional effort – and an event that stands out in everyone’s memory too.