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What you need

 Compass

 Tin foil

 Metal detector

 Camera

 Map

 Plastic collection bags/sandwich bags

What to do

1 Provide approximate distances (in child’s paces, ‘lengths’ of a school playing field or similar, or metres) and compass directions to follow to get to the point at which the next clue is hidden.

2 Wrap objects in tin foil and hide them in the ground, under leaves or under non-metallic objects for your child to find with their metal detector. This could be a prize or the next clue.

3 Set challenges of things outside that they have to photograph along the scavenger-hunt route. Only when they’ve correctly found, identified and photographed all the items you’ve listed do they receive the next clue or prize.

4 Set them a route to follow on a map. Maps are wonderful things and map-reading a brilliant skill to grasp early on. They are fascinating pictorial views of the countryside, and learning the symbols and markings is great fun. Setting a route together and allowing your child to take you along the route is a hugely rewarding experience.

5 Set the route based on items they can collect. Leaves, interesting stones, wood, tree bark, pine cones can all be collected in a bag. If all the items have been correctly identified and collected they have successfully completed the scavenger hunt.

Using a combination of some or all of these ideas you can create an incredibly interesting, exciting and varied scavenger hunt, in which your child has to use their brain as much as their energy in order to complete it!

Challenge

As you and your child become increasingly accustomed to the process of a scavenger hunt you can start adding in extra components to make the hunt even more exciting. Switching between a clue they have to work out, a clue or item they have to find, even a challenge they have to complete before you give them another clue, is a great way to extend and enhance this game.

My dad was a master of treasure hunts. For years my birthday parties would involve long hunts over miles and miles of countryside. Up and down hills, across fields, along rivers, up trees and straight through woods. A clue or riddle would lead to the next point, and so on until we eventually found the prize. This would sometimes take all day to complete. His clever little cryptic clues were difficult but we always managed to get a hint out of him as he followed on behind, sending us off in the right direction. It was so much fun and such a thrilling way to spend the day.