Lets go Treasure Hunting!

Activity: Treasure Hunt

Target participant group: Treasure Hunting can be adapted to a wide range of individuals that’s why it’s so much fun!

Therapeutic potential of this activity: problem solving, team work, endurance, communication, gross and fine motor skills.

What other groups may benefit from this activity? This activity may benefit youth at risk, individuals with addictions, physical and cognitive disabilities.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity? This activity may not be appropriate for individuals who may have major cognitive disabilities.   

Activity description: There are a couple different treasure hunting games.

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which you use a global GPS or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers called caches anywhere in the world.

Letterboxing is another treasure hunt game. It is played outdoors and combines elements of orienteering, art and problem-solving. Letterboxers hide small, weatherproof boxes in publicly-accessible places (like parks) and distribute clues to finding the box in printed catalogs, on web sites, or by word of mouth. Individual letterboxes usually contain a logbook and a rubber stamp.

An armchair treasure hunt uses a book or a puzzle as basis, in which clues are hidden.

Resources needed: depending on which treasure hunt your are planning on doing your going to need different things. If you’re going geochasing you’re going to need a GPS, coordinates for the cache and if you’re placing the cache yourself then you could need to find a small item for that. The cache can be anything from a self made coin to small toys. If you're going letterboxing you're going to need to find where there are letterboxes in your area, a logbook and a rubber stamp.

Best leadership style for this activity: The best leadership style for this activity would be a combination of laissez-faire and democratic. Depending on your participants and your goals you may want to use one style more than the other. The important thing is to give clear directions, be encouraging and allow for your participants to accomplish the goals that were set for them.

Where did you find this activity? 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_hunt_(game)

Where can others find more information on this activity?
The link below is to a website that has everything about geocaching. This is a great resource to get started and to find caches in your area.

http://www.geocaching.com/

The following link has all the information that you may need about letterboxing.

http://www.letterboxing.org/

The following link is a great website that can help you get started with letterboxing.

http://www.letterboxing.org./GettingStarted/getstart_finding.htm

The link below will take you to a website that can help you find letterboxes in your area.

http://www.atlasquest.com/

The link below is to the armchair treasure hunt club. It has information listed about the club as well as public hunts.

http://www.treasureclub.net/