Children's birthday is always fun, funny and incredibly touching. For guys, this is primarily memorable entertainment. An excellent option to start the holiday day will be a fascinating quest - search for a gift.
The essence of the game
Game quest "Find a gift" is a series of tasks, usually logical, the implementation of which should lead to a cache, where a surprise is hidden for the birthday man. Usually, the path is “paved” with the help of notes — they contain information about the direction in which to conduct a further search, where to follow in order to find a long-awaited gift. The answer to each question means the beginning of the next round of search.
Quest should be made taking into account the age of children. For kids, the task is simplified, and the number of tasks is reduced to 3-4, but for teenage children it is possible to complicate the task, the number of stages can be increased to 9-11 - it will be much more interesting. A child can search for a gift on his own, or he can attract his friends - in this case it is desirable that memorable gifts be waited at the end point for all participants.
To prepare the quest you need quite a bit - plain paper, scissors, colored pencils, duct tape, and of course, a little imagination.
The main point of the preparation of fun will be the development of the script and careful thinking over the search route.
The best thing draw in advance a map of the house or area where the quest will take place, and arrange all the main points for finding hints clockwise from the starting point. Thus, participants will not be able to detect the gift too quickly, since it will, in fact, be hidden almost at the point of reference, but the game will take the guys off in a different direction.
In order to determine the required number of prompts, you need to consider how long your quest will take. The easiest option with riddles usually takes no more than two minutes to complete one stage, so a task of 10-11 points will take about 15-20 minutes. However, you can always complicate a task by encrypting a question with crossword puzzles, anagrams, or cryptography.
It is possible to turn the receipt itself into sports fun, for example, a note with a question can be placed on a tree, in a piñata or in an inflatable ball - then the guys will have to spend time and ingenuity to get the coveted cipher.
Tasks
The message may be:
- custom note;
- message in local networks from instant messengers;
- e-mail;
- postcard.
Tasks in the quest must be different from those offered to the child and his guests as part of the game program. They should be easier and faster to solve, since the main task of such a quest is not to assess the child’s mental abilities, but to give him a maximum of emotions from the task solving process itself.
However, too primitive clues should not be selected - otherwise the children will simply be uninteresting to solve them.
It does not hurt to prepare small souvenirs at each point of the route. It can be sweets, small toys, inexpensive stationery - then searching for a gift from a scrapbook will become even more pleasant and joyful.
For younger children
For preschoolers, it is best to prepare such mystery questions that will directly indicate one or another object in the house (or a house adjoining the site). For example, the riddle about the refrigerator will mean that you need to approach it and find the next clue inside.If the hint about the bed, therefore, the baby will have to go to her and find there another question. In this way the child will reach the secret place.
For school children
These guys are no longer very interested in riddles, they will show much more interest in encrypted phrases. We give the best ideas.
- Phrases written backwards. In this case, the guys will have to try to figure out how to read this confusing phrase. Do not tell the children the rules - it will be much more interesting if they themselves guess.
- Words written in "invisible ink." Everyone knows that the text written in milk or lemon juice is not visible, but if you only warm it over the fire or iron it, the letters immediately appear and form words.
Keep in mind that such a hint should be given complete with the heat source itself. For example, hide both the note itself and the iron in one cache, or invent a chain of tasks so that the child first finds the iron and then the riddle. The child must understand what the decryption method should be.
- An interesting option - mirroring. Any text can be “flipped” using simple computer programs, printed and hidden along with the mirror itself. If children guess to look at the reflection written, they will see the conceived word.
- You can give children a set of numbers - The point here is that each of them means a certain letter of the alphabet, or the number of a letter in some text. As in previous cases, the prompt should go along with the text that will be decrypted.
To make the treasure hunt more atmospheric, make your own notes with tips in the style of scraps of old scrolls. To do this, you need to grease the paper with a strong brew, dry it, and then set fire to the edges - then the quest will be like a real treasure hunt.
- Always with a bang themed decor. For example, you can play pirates, Indians, superheroes - then each child before the start of the quest must be given some attribute, this makes immersion in the holiday atmosphere even more complete.
For older children
All teenagers love gadgets, and this is the reality of our day. Search for notes may seem to them too childish - but there is no reason to despair. To date, there is a huge selection of mobile platforms for creating quests. With their help, you can create an "electronic assistant" who will "lead" the search.
Usually, children receive a quest activation code on their smartphone, and then tasks are given to search for a hint, all guessed answers must be inserted into the program, and in case of an incorrect answer, the system will give a new hint. Teenagers really enjoy such fun, and such services are quite inexpensive.
Where to hide the gift?
Quests may not necessarily contain questions and answers, for the smallest players, an excellent idea would be the prints of the paws of large animals and a map that indicates on what tracks they need to move. For example, at first the child may have a task to follow the tracks of an elephant, then follow the dog’s tracks, then you can suggest looking for a hare path or running after the tracks of wild horses, which will lead to the treasured treasure.
In this case, the quest must be prepared in advance. - draw or print the prints of the paws of animals, spread them out, confusing several paths and, of course, draw a map, hiding the gift in an unexpected place.
For teens, a gift can be hidden in a cache. A good idea would be to design a safe in an old book - to do this, you need to cut out a recess between the pages and hide a gift there. Just imagine the whole range of teenager's feelings, when, having solved all the riddles, he will find only a textbook on hateful geometry - how surprised he will be when he opens the book and finds a brand-new smartphone inside!
Alternatively, you can hide a gift in a briefcase with a combination lock, but the child will have to guess the code by the last hint.
An interesting quest can always be organized on your own in an apartment without the participation of animators, the main thing is to approach his preparation creatively, taking into account the interests of boys and girls. Even if you do not have the opportunity to arrange a child's party with friends, such a search for a gift will surely please him!
How to make a cache in the book, see the next video.
