If your children love minecraft, then they’re going to love this! Do you want to get your children outside more and away from their video games? Well, you can lure them out by using the very video game they’re into – Minecraft!
How about having an adventure hunt in your own back garden, minecraft style? I first got the idea from an awesome website called www.mykidsadventures.com but I adapted it and made up my own clues based on what my sons told me about how they interact with minecraft. I even made them rhyme (I enjoy making up riddles. I’m weird that way 😉 ).
So here’s how you can do it too –
What You Need :
1. Pen and pieces of paper (for the clues). Alternatively, you can type out the clues and print them out.
2. Ideas of approximately 5 activities that kids do in minecraft (you can use mine, see below, or ask your children for activity ideas.)
3. A few ‘props’ related to each activity – just borrow from amongst your children’s toys or use household items.
4. Treasure to be found after the final clue (preferably an edible treat for your children to further incentivise the whole game).
1. PLAN OUT YOUR MINECRAFT ADVENTURE HUNT IN YOUR GARDEN
I decided where my clues would be, and where each one would lead to. You need to do the same.
So, for our adventure hunt, Clue #1 started by the garden hose. Look in the left hand bottom corner of the diagram. (and excuse my terrible drawing skills!), and Clue #1 told them how to look for Clue #2. Clue #1 also told them what activity to do at Clue #2’s location. Then Clue #2 told them how to find Clue #3, and what activity they needed to do at the location of Clue #3. And so on, until they found their treasure after the final clue.
I decided that each clue would do 2 things :
1. Lead them to the next clue
2. Give them a minecraft themed activity they had to do. This activity was something they would normally do in minecraft. They had to complete this activity (‘challenge’), before finding the next clue. It made it more interactive and fun for them, especially as they were doing in real life something they were familiar with doing online.
Here was my first clue :
So, once you’ve planned out where your clues will be, and what activity your children have to do at each location, move on to creating your clues. {Yours don’t have to rhyme if it’s not your forte…}.
2. WRITE UP YOUR CLUES, WITH ACCOMPANYING ACTIVITIES
Now just write out your clues, with accompanying activities.
Examples are :
– Like my clue #1, you can create a clue that leads to some pretend lava and blocks. The explorers have to use the blocks to cover up the lava and keep them safe.
Other Minecraft Activity Ideas you can use in your clues are :
1. Get your explorers to ‘destroy some wood’.
2. Have them ‘punch a tree’ to get some wood.
3. Get them to escape a zombie or creeper.
4. Tell them to dig for diamonds.
5. Lead them to a clue where there’s a recorded minecraft sound (on a phone or other device). Get them to play the sound and identify it. Or a recorded minecraft song which they need to identify.
6. Tell them they have to ‘walk the plank’.
3. FIND PROPS THAT GO WELL WITH YOUR CLUES AND ACTIVITIES
These could be pieces of wood, stones, a spade or shovel from your garden shed, lego pieces, toy swords, blocks, costume jewellery or any other household items you can think of that ‘fit’ the activity. What I found is that it really doesn’t have to be perfect – the children’s imaginations fill in the gaps and they happily go along with your lego mini-figure disguised as a zombie!
4. PLACE YOUR CLUES AND PROPS IN THE RIGHT LOCATIONS
Now, with each clue in mind, you just need to put clue #1 in your chosen location. Then, depending on where clue #1 leads, go to that spot and put clue #2 there, along with the activity props you’ve collected. Continue until you’ve put all props and all clues in place.
5. HIDE YOUR TREASURE IN THE FINAL LOCATION
Don’t forget to make sure your final clue leads to treasure at the end – the most exciting part for the explorers! Hide it in the final location.
6. SHOW THEM THE MAP AND LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
And now you’re ready to begin! Show your explorers the map which shows them where to find clue #1, and watch them have fun!
If, rather than making up your own clues and activities, you’d rather create an adventure hunt using my activity ideas, feel free! Follow my instructions below.
This is what you’ll need :
- Pen and pieces of paper (to create your map and your 4 clues)
- For Activity #1 :
- About 3 orange pieces of card paper, or an orange cloth/item that serves as ‘lava’.
- Any wooden blocks you have (Jenga blocks/toy blocks/lego or paper minecraft blocks) that ser #2ve as minecraft blocks
- For Activity #2
- A spade
- Red stones (or any stones); I used red table decor stones I had
- For Activity #3
- A toy sword
- Minifigures to serve as a skeleton and villagers. Use any play figures, minecraft figures if you have them, or lego minifigures. I used a skeleton lego minifigure and lego mixels.
- For Activity #4
- Edible treats
- Optional: A treasure chest (we had a paper one handy)
HOW TO DO OUR HUNT :
Create your Adventure Hunt Map as I’ve outlined earlier in this post. Then create these clues –
Clue #1
This clue started at our garden hose and led to our trampoline. My explorers found orange pieces of paper (AKA lava) on the trampoline and their challenge was to cover it with minecraft blocks. They really got into it, as though they were playing minecraft itself.
Clue #2
I hid my red stones and buried them so that the explorers had to use their sword to find them. You can adapt this clue to include a landmark in your garden, replacing our ‘lamppost’ in our garden with an item of your own. They loved digging up their red stones and finding the next clue in the dirt.
Clue #3
This clue told them to use their sword to fight villagers and a skeleton -and to get under something (that’s because I did the clue and props under our garden table). And here they found Clue #4 which was their final clue to lead them to their ‘treasure’.
Clue #4
This clue led them to our shed where hidden in there they found their edible treats – their treasure! I hope your enjoy doing this hunt with your children as much as we did….
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