by Alison It seems that our indoor activities need variety, especially as we’d rather be outside. To shake things up, I planned a treasure hunt for my daughter and her friend during a recent play date.

Our hunt consisted of five clues spread around the house. Each clue led to them to the next location, and the final clue brought them to the treasure. The girls are both new readers so I made sure that the clues contained words they knew or could sound out. This was more difficult than I'd expected. I wasn’t sure how engaged they’d be in solving my riddles so I only planned five. Also, my clues weren’t very difficult. "I wash dirty clothes" led them to the laundry room. The girls got very excited when they figured them out and would run off to the next location. The fifth clue brought them to the kitchen and a treasure of stickers and fresh cookies.

For older children, the clues can be more complex or be written in simple codes that need to be broken. This also makes a great activity for a detective or spy themed birthday party.

Alison is a mom of two energetic children, ages 5 and 1. She just started a blog, Ali’s Adventures.