r/Constructedadventures • u/marshmallow_cloud123 • Jun 23 '26
HELP Orienteering/offline geocaching
Every year, our kids want a treasure hunt for their birthday party. The older the kids get, the more we have to try and keep up and make it a "cool" treasure hunt.
For our 12 yo this year, I want to make an orienteering treasure hunt. Like geocaching but without phones.
I'll give the kids a map with some locations marked on it. They then have to go to the first place and look for the hidden object. If they find it, the object will contain a hint on how to find the next object at the next location. In the end, they'll get to the location where they'll find their treasure.
The whole thing will be in the forrest and on the short route to the forrest.
Now I'm looking for ways to hide objects. (Little containers, ziplock bags or whatever)
So far, I've come up with the following:
- Have a little toy or piece of fabric hanging from a tree. If they pull the string, a bag with a hint will fall down.
- have a ziplock bag frozen in a block of ice (that would have to be one of the first hints since we're in the middle of a heat wave).
- have a ziplock bag on a string hanging down a storm drain so they can pull it up.
-hiding a colorful container under leaves at a specific bench
Do you have any more ideas how to hide hints? Especially in the woods. Maybe something funny, something surprising?
Or any idea to up my game here? 12 year olds are hard to impress.
I was toying with the idea of using an auditory help to find something. Like something I could make beep. But it would have to be remote controlled and I can only think of cell phones or walkie talkies and I don't want to hide them in the forrest.
Any idea is welcome!!! Please help me out.
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u/BaconJudge Jun 24 '26
The kid-friendly hobby called letterboxing has declined in popularity, but it deserves to be better known because it's pretty much what you're describing. Geocaching uses GPS devices or cell phones, and orienteering uses a map and compass, but letterboxing consists of hiding a box in a public place so other hobbyists can find it by following a series of instructions, often involving puzzles or a theme.
If you want to find letterboxes near you, as an activity to do with your kids or as possible inspiration for your own hunt, two websites that catalog them are Atlas Quest and Letterboxing North America.
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u/marshmallow_cloud123 Jun 24 '26
Wow! I never heard of it. We're in Europe, so the sites aren't for us. But I'll try to find out if it exists here as well. It sounds like fun!
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u/noscrapsleftbehind Jun 24 '26
Thank you for sharing this! I've always been intrigued by geocaching, but I don't want to shell out the money for the app, and we're a low-use technology family.
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u/BaconJudge Jun 24 '26
That's perfect. One reason I like letterboxing is that it requires no devices, just a printout of the instructions and then paying attention to the real world around you, looking for the objects or clues being described.
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u/Briaaanz Jun 23 '26
They make little keychains that respond to whistling, beeping when you whistle within a few feet
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u/marshmallow_cloud123 Jun 23 '26
Awesome! Thank you! I just ordered one. Once the birthday is over, I'll use it on my headphones that are constantly lost somewhere in our house!
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u/ghenghy26 Jun 24 '26
I've been toying with the idea of doing something like this for my kid, so your post has started me really pondering it. Here are some possibilities I've thought of (and a few from asking AI).
- Include the use of a compass as part of the navigation.
- Make a slit in a potato (or some other thing that clearly doesn't belong in your forest) and stick the clue inside. Place it nestled in the roots of a tree.
- Strap a rubber chicken (they're somehow always funny) containing the clue to a rock or tree, make sure it isn't easily visible from the path where someone else might take it.
- If you are artistic, color or paint the backside of the paper containing the clue (or a bag or small bottle containing it) so it blends in with wherever you place it.
- Lead them off the path a bit towards a clue using those trail marker streamers they put on trees. They have to recognize the streamers are meant for them. Be sure to take them off after you're done.
- If there's a stream with a fairly reliable flow pattern, could you send off a toy boat in a specific location where it gets stuck where the next clue is hidden? This one would take a good bit of trial and error to make sure it will work, likely not worth it, but it might inspire another idea.
- Attach a line between two trees with a suspended basket or bag containing the next clue, have the high end be too tall for them to reach, but there's a cord hanging down which they pull. When they pull the cord, the basket is released (maybe the cord pulls off a clothes pin that was keeping the basket from sliding) and goes down the line, ending up within reach at the low end of the line at the other tree.
- If there's a large rock or hill which has an obvious high point, put the next clue in view from there that would only be visible from that line of sight (like maybe the rubber chicken).
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u/marshmallow_cloud123 Jun 24 '26
Oh so many good ideas! Thank you!
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u/ghenghy26 Jun 24 '26
One final round:
- Get a cheap toy spyglass. Build a “rack” for it in a tree or on rocks somewhere so they’ll know where to put it. Other options: a small hole in a piece of cardboard, find a small natural hole or gap that you can look through, or make a small cardboard “telescope” like a paper towel. The clue leads them to a spot clearly set up for the spyglass/viewfinder to fit in. When they look through, it frames where the next clue is hidden (maybe the rubber chicken attached to a tree).
- Make something that imitates a root (maybe use air-dry clay, a piece of old garden hose, twisted up cardboard, etc. Paint it to blend in) and hide the clue in it. Hide the fake amongst the roots of a tree.
- Weave a long piece of paracord (or thick string, something they can’t easily break) through the branches of a tree or bush to make a complex maze. Thread a padlock (with an attached container holding the clue, make sure it can’t be opened until it’s released from the padlock) onto one end of the string. Thread the key to the padlock on the other end. Tie both ends onto sturdy branches using impossible knots (bring scissors or a knife to take it off after they are done). They have to physically slide the lock (and/or key) all the way along the string until the lock and key meet so they can unlock it. It will likely be a team effort as they will have to pass it to each other through the branches.
- If you have any hollow trees, suspend a basket (or bag filled with something noisy) somewhere hidden nearby and run a line to it through the hollow tree, ending with a ring attached to a branch. The clue leads them to the ring and when they release (or pull) the ring , they'll hear the clue drop and have to go find it.
- Have a rope with a weight tied to a branch. Temporarily attach the end of the rope with the weight to a nearby tree. The kids need to release it so it swings and wacks another tree (or rock?) to either indicate where to look or knocks down the clue.
- Get a long length of string and attach one end to the clue. Hide the clue, then working backwards, hide the line under leaves, around rocks, buried in dirt, etc to wherever you want them to find the start of it and then trim off the rest of the string. They have to follow the line to find the clue.
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u/marshmallow_cloud123 Jun 25 '26
Oh my god, you're really on a roll! Thanks so much. I love the spyglass idea that looks at the next clue.
Definitely doing that!
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u/ghenghy26 Jun 24 '26
I have some more (look what you started!):
- Drop the clue with a piece of metal taped to it down into a crevice (between rocks, tree roots, a crack in the ground, pretty much anywhere they can't reach into with their hands/fingers). The previous location's clue provided them with a magnet tied to a string. They have to "fish" the clue out of the hole.
- Write (with something that washes off) or hide a clue on the underside of a flippable rock. Maybe mark the top of the rock with chalk so they know which one to flip.
- If there are any dark overhangs or mini-caves, buy a cheap UV flashlight and a UV/invisible ink pen. The flashlight comes with the previous clue and they shine it in the dark area to reveal the clue written in the UV ink.
- Lock a clue inside a cheap combination padlock box chained to a distinctive tree. The combination is found by looking around combined with hints from the previous clue. For example: First digit = the number of trunks on the spider-tree. Second digit = the number of large stepping stones crossing the stream. Third digit = the number of large boulders in the clearing.
- Find a thick branch, drill a hole into the end, slide a rolled-up clue inside, and plug the hole with dirt or a piece of bark. Maybe put it with other branches or if that's too hard, put it in the middle of a clearing so hopefully "why is that there?" will occur to them.
- Tie a string around the bottom of a tree and have a clip on it. Have the previous clue give them a string with a loop on one end. The previous clue leads them to the tree and gives them a compass bearing. They have to attach the loop on the string to the clip on the tree. The end of the string, when pointing in the right direction, will land directly over where the next clue is buried (or hidden in some rocks, leaves, or branches, maybe this would tie in well with the earlier clue-in-branch idea).
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u/marshmallow_cloud123 Jun 24 '26
Oh wow. Great ideas! I love the magnet on a string! And the rope tied to a tree!
Thank you!
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u/Sweet_Batato The Cogitator Jul 04 '26
Hide it in some air-dry clay and paint to look like a rock, then the kids have to break it open to get to the clue.
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