Free printable indoor scavenger hunt for kids (6 clue cards, PDF)

Looking for a quick activity for a rainy afternoon, a birthday party or a slow Sunday? This free mini treasure hunt takes five minutes to set up. You print two pages, cut out six clue cards, hide them around the house, and the children follow the riddles until they find a small treasure.

Download the free PDF:

• Mini Treasure Hunt, A4 (PDF)
• Mini Treasure Hunt, US Letter (PDF)

It prints in black and white and works for children aged about 4 to 8. Younger children need a grown-up to read the riddles aloud.

What’s inside

• Page 1, for the grown-up: how to play in four steps, and a hiding list that tells you exactly where to put each card.
• Page 2, the six clue cards: each card has a short riddle that describes the next hiding place (the fridge, a pillow, a towel, a shoe, a bookshelf and the sofa).
• The treasure is up to you: a treat, a sticker, a small toy, a note promising a story at bedtime…

How to set up the scavenger hunt

1. Print the PDF and cut out the six cards along the dotted lines.
2. Keep card 1: you will hand it to the children to start.
3. Hide cards 2 to 6 using the hiding list: card 2 in the fridge, card 3 under a pillow, card 4 in a bathroom towel, card 5 inside a shoe, card 6 between two books.
4. Put the treasure under a sofa cushion.
5. Call the children, give them card 1 and let them run.

The order matters: each riddle describes the place where the next card is waiting. If you change a hiding place, change the riddle that leads to it too, or simply give a spoken hint.

Tips to make it work

• Check the route first. Walk through the hunt once before the children arrive. It takes thirty seconds and avoids a card that has slipped behind the fridge.
• Avoid unsafe places. Never hide a card near the oven, sockets, stairs or medicine.
• Mixed ages: let the youngest child read or “find” one card in two, so everyone gets a turn.
• Make it last longer: ask the children to bring back each card and line them up on the table. At the end, they can flip them over and draw their own map of the route.

How to create your own scavenger hunt clues

Once the children have played, they will probably ask for another one. Writing your own clues is easy:

1. Choose 5 to 8 places the children know well and can reach safely.
2. Describe what the object does, not what it is. “You use me to get dry after a bath” is better than “towel”.
3. Add a direction to the riddle: “look inside”, “lift me up”, “look under my cushions”.
4. Write the clues backwards: start from the treasure, then write the clue that leads to it, then the clue that leads to that place, and so on.
5. Number the cards so you can check the order at a glance.

For children who can read, swap simple riddles for small puzzles: a word to unscramble, a short sum whose answer is a page number, or a code where each symbol is a letter.

Want a bigger adventure?

This mini hunt is a quick, free taste. Our printable escape rooms go much further: a real story, suspects, clues to collect on every card, puzzles at two levels (Junior and Expert) and a culprit to unmask at the end, for children aged 6 to 12. Try the pirate treasure hunt, the spy escape room or browse all our games.

Free for personal and family use. If you’d like to share it, please share the link to this page rather than the file.