Family Days Out: Treasure Hunts For Kids That You Can Do Around A City | HuffPost Life

Who will find the gold?

By

Life editor at HuffPost UK

If you want to head out for a day with the kids but don’t want to break the bank, why not explore a local area or new city and get the whole family involved?

Treasure hunts, treasure trails or scavenger hunts - whatever you like to call them - are put on in the many cities and the best part of it all is that everything’s done for you - simply purchase the pack and off you go.

Packs usually cost under a tenner, and send you off with your family on a self-guided tour, giving you a map, clues and details on where to find the treasure. If a city near you isn’t featured below, see if anything is near to you on Treasure Trails.

If you feel your kids are a bit too young for those, do your own DIY hunt at home in the garden (there are some great tips here).

1. Manchester Spinningfields Hunt

Price: £6.99, buy here.

Head out and explore Manchester Spinningfields, with a treasure hunt all prepped and ready to go for a bargain price. Follow the trail route, solve sneaky clues set on existing buildings and obviously discover the location of the treasure. The trail takes about two hours to complete and is suitable from kids age six and up. Find out more.

TreasureTrails

2. Bournemouth Hunt Fun

Price: From £5.99 for the family. Buy here.

You purchase a treasure hunt package online and head out with your family for the day. The pack is pre-written and you’ll be set with everything you need including directions, clues, a map and the answers. This hunt takes you past local attractions including St. Peters Church, Lower Gardens, Bournemouth Pier and Bournemouth Pavillion. Find out more here.

Kathy Collins via Getty Images

3. Brighton Treasure Trail

Price: £6.99. Buy here.

The Brighton trail is a family affair, having clues for everyone to solve - young and old. The trail is two miles, but you’ll no doubt be too busy spotting clues to realise that you’re going on a jolly walk, too. Seek out clue answers on plaques, buildings and monuments in order to reveal the location of the treasure on your fictional treasure map. Find out more here.

coldsnowstorm via Getty Images

4. Liverpool Family Treasure Hunt

Price: £34. Buy here.

Purchase the pack, then choose to go the time you wish throughout the year. This hunt is slightly longer than the others and takes around three hours. It’s recommended for slightly older kids, aged eight and up. There are two different sets of clues which are based on things you will see as you follow the route. The straightforward clues ask you for a fact that you should be able to observe on the route, for example information on a plaque or statue. In the cryptic version, the clues are generally a bit more challenging. Find out more here.

Alexander Spatari via Getty Images

5. Edinburgh Old Town Treasure Hunt

Price: £6.99. Buy here.

Get the kids exploring Edinburgh Old Town on this self-guided themed hunt where, like the others, you simply follow the route (1.75 miles long), solve the clues and see the sights while you’re at it. The answers can be found on permanent features around the historic streets of Edinburgh. You’ll be taking in the sights of the Scottish Parliament, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and returning back up the Royal Mile. Find out more here.

Photography taken by Mario Gutiérrez. via Getty Images

Before You Go

Yes, You CAN Make A Family Walk Fun

Don't say 'who wants to go for a walk?'(01 of08)

Reframe a walk so it's enticing and exciting using words like explore, play, adventure.Who wants to climb a castle or who wants to find some treasure or skim stones? (credit:Alexander Nicholson via Getty Images)

Don't plod in a straight line - and back again.(02 of08)

Choose a wiggly walk and terrain made for adventuring. "It's all about keeping children's minds off putting one foot in front of another," says Clare Lewis. (credit:Stephen Lux via Getty Images)

Always have an appealing destination - and make pit-stops along the way.(03 of08)

It could be a café with their favourite hot chocolate or their 'secret' place like a climbing tree. Make regular stops to admire natural curiosities, make a den, whittle a stick or play in water or whatever you fancy. Encourage your kids to take photos. Clare Lewis's family always take 'scroggin'; a New Zealand name for a hikers' mix of nuts and seeds, dried fruit and chocolate to keep energy levels up. (credit:ArtMarie via Getty Images)

Join forces with another family or get the kids to bring their friends.(04 of08)

Children love the sociability of a walk and bringing friends increases their activity as they challenge each other to jump the highest or widest, splash in puddles, climb trees or find the best stick. (credit:Alistair Berg via Getty Images)

Walk together in a chatty clod, not a single line with you barking 'come on, keep up'(05 of08)

There may be times you have to walk in a line, but take turns with who's the leader. Also, let your children choose the route (within reason!). (credit:Bounce via Getty Images)

Play games as you go.(06 of08)

Hide-and-seek, capture the flag or ambushes - sending kids on ahead so they can jump out on you - are all favourites. Bring a ball or a Frisbee to play with too. (credit:JLPH via Getty Images)

Turn your walk into a treasure hunt. Or an obstacle course.(07 of08)

Children love places to clamber over like a rocky beach or challenges like climbing trees or jumping over streams. Challenge children to touch that tree and run back, hopscotch between the pavement cracks or run along the low wall. "You could go on a shape walk, finding stones, shells and leaves that are all the same shape," suggests Clare Lewis, co-author of Adventure Walks for Families in and Around London. (credit:Imgorthand via Getty Images)

End on a high.(08 of08)

Match a walk to your kids' ages. You don't want want to leave them exhausted. Talk up what fun you had, so next time you suggest an adventure walk they leap at the chance. (credit:ArtMarie via Getty Images)

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