How to arrange a real holiday and fairy tale at home for the New Year? There is a great solution - to conduct a New Year's quest for children. This is a very exciting search game, where the child will solve the secret mission set in the starting message (for example, save Santa Claus), solving various puzzles one after another. And in the final, of course, he will find his well-deserved reward - gifts.
We offer a ready-made script for a New Year's quest to find gifts - “in search of Santa Claus's hat.” Suitable for children 5 - 8 years old. If your child cannot read yet, your help will be needed.
According to the scenario, the participant(s) finds a letter from a snowman under the New Year tree, which says that Santa Claus decided to play hide and seek with the guys, hiding his magic red hat. If you find it, a New Year's gift will appear in the same place, and if the children do not have time to do this during the day, the hat will disappear.
What you will need:
- red New Year's hat (cap)
- disposable cup and straw for drinks
- installed Christmas tree
- prepared notes (or printed ready-made cards from the set)
- a bag (you can use any gift bag) in which to put: a straw for drinks, thread and colored pencils/markers, scissors.
Quest scheme (involved hiding places): starting message - Christmas tree - any place of yours - table - ball - window - comb - pan - chair - tangerines - bed - oven (or any other hiding place where gifts will fit).
How to write a quest for the New Year?
Games and competitions for the New Year's quest can be completely different, but in general they can be divided into:
- movable;
- table
It all depends on the idea of the quest, the time available, the capabilities of the location and other details. For a private house and street, you can choose one game scenario, which is not suitable for an apartment or cafe hall.
For a children's quest, it would be ideal to combine both types of entertaining competitions, since children like to actively have fun, but also do not refuse several intellectual tasks. But for adults, on the contrary, give preference to the table format of playing the game. Such participants will definitely not want to run and jump for 1-2 hours, unlike kids.
To create fun riddles, analyze available materials on the Internet. You can find many suitable tasks for both home and street quests.
It is important not just to take a set of competitions, but to create a set of entertainment from a sequential chain. The team must play and with each new stage open the so-called next door of the adventure. And don't forget about the tips. They can be placed in secluded places on the territory of the location, which players can find in envelopes.
Features of the New Year's quest
You need to start with how long the participants will play and what the average age of the participants is. How to arrange the further game will depend on this. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the main stages of organizing a quest to make it easier for you to achieve the final goal and prepare a magical New Year's quest.
How to start a New Year's quest?
If you are planning a surprise for a child or family, then try not to show signs during the preparatory part.
You can start the game in an original way: give the child a large box, supposedly with a gift, and inside there will be a letter with a note, which will become the first task for the players. With the help of the “hidden” quest format, you can give children more emotions and joy than when they are ready to play.
After delivering the first note, announce the conditions to the participants and you can begin the main game according to a pre-prepared scenario.
Another interesting way to start the game is to hide a note in an unusual place. For example, if you are planning a family quest in the morning, then place the letter in the drawer with washing supplies. The baby will not guess what kind of letter it is and why it is intended for him. And to make the holiday game more interesting, let the authors of the first letter not be the parents, but Father Frost or the Snow Maiden.
What props will be needed?
Depending on the games and competitions chosen for the children's quest, the props will be different. But since we create entertainment ourselves, we can use improvised objects that can be found in any home on the eve of the New Year and Christmas to help us decorate:
- New Year tree with themed toys;
- a toy in the form of a favorite cartoon or fairy tale character, or a symbol of the New Year 2022;
- skis, sled, snowboard, if needed for playing outside;
- paper and stationery;
- sweets and fruits;
- other things that cannot be avoided during the quest.
Selection of places and objects
A themed winter quest can be held absolutely anywhere. There are many locations in Moscow that are conducive to organizing a children's event.
If the holidays have not yet arrived, then it is quite possible for preschoolers and junior and senior school students to do an original quest trip within the walls of a group or class. To do this, educators and teachers prepare the room, find props and gather the children in a designated place at a certain time.
For a home quest, everything is much simpler. It’s easy to organize, since any household item can become a decorative element or prop. However, it is worth deciding on the quest route and drawing up a plan for the movement of players. As a rule, the task of a quest is to find a specific item. At home, children will do this quickly, as they know every corner. Try to make the tasks not trivial and original in order to prevent the game from being completed quickly.
Registration of assignments
It’s not enough to just come up with cool and interesting tasks. It is important to present them to the participants in an original way. It’s one thing if a player finds a white piece of paper with a riddle in plain text, another thing is an original box or box with a code, which contains a hint to the next stage of the game.
Modern children love technology, so try to create tasks in an interactive format:
- electronic crossword;
- competition with Shazam;
- QR codes;
- challenge in the style of YouTube or Tik Tok, etc.
This way the game will be more interesting to the little participants, and they will be more involved in the process. And if you use phones and tablets, the players will not be taken away from the quest.
New Year's quest In the footsteps of the Snow Queen.
Age of participants: 6+
Duration : from 60 minutes
The imperious Snow Queen stole the symbol of the New Year. Now all city residents will be left without a holiday! Quest program: Forward on the search. The guys go in search of this symbol. Following the snowflakes left by the Queen, they make their way through the Frosty Maze, find a secret letter and fight Blizzard's mischief. Will children save the holiday? It won't be easy. But will they be able to find all the clues and return the symbol of the New Year? The heroes of the quest will help them with this. It will be difficult, but very interesting!
New Year's quest tasks
Letters on the Christmas tree
A simple and intelligent task where you need to collect all the hanging letters from the Christmas tree that need to be put into one word. This word can be a clue to the next step or the answer to a riddle.
Snow plateau
For this task, you will need a saucepan or a flat mold, at the bottom of which we place a hint, and fill the container itself with white cereal (rice, semolina). Each participant receives a brush with which they need to clear the snowball and read the message.
Snowballs
If the game takes place outside, then organizing a task with snowballs is as easy as shelling pears. For the home format, you will need several dozen white sheets that can be crumpled into balls and used as snow balls. The goal can be to hit the basket, shoot for accuracy or range, etc.
Book miracles
The continuation of the game can be tied to a line from a book. In the prompt, write to the child that “Alice in Wonderland” will help the children in the game. To do this, you need to open such and such a page and read a certain line.
Cold note
One of the tasks may be to search for a note in the home “museum of cold”. To do this, hide the clue in one of the freezer compartments. And a given point in a QR code or a homemade map can lead kids to this point.
Home quest competitions
Guess
You need to put toys in a large bag. Their number must be equal to the number of players. Children take turns putting their hand into the bag, choosing one toy. By touch they must understand what they come across and describe it in detail. When everyone takes a toy, we can say that this is a New Year's gift.
Carrot
The competition involves a relay race. To do this, you will need two extreme points, for example, small Christmas trees or Santa Claus figures. Participants are divided into 2 teams and given the same props - a carrot. Players must run around the end point and pass the carrot to the next team member. The group that finishes it faster wins.
The brightest tree
Again the players are divided into 2 teams. Everyone receives a box with New Year's toys and clothespins. The teams' task is to choose one player who will symbolize the spruce and dress him up. You can use clothespins to attach toys to any convenient places. Whoever manages to create the funniest New Year's beauty is the team that wins.
Catch
Participants are divided into pairs. One participant receives an empty bucket or bowl, and the second receives a dozen paper snowballs. Participants stand at a distance of 3-4 meters from each other. The task is to catch as many snowballs thrown by your partner using the container.
Blue-yellow-red
The game perfectly trains dexterity and speed of reaction. All participants stand in a circle. Merry New Year's music plays, during which the presenter talks to the participants. As soon as the music dies down, the presenter sharply says a color. The participants' task is to grab the neighbor on the right by the named color. If the player does not have time, he drops out of the quest.
Quest scene No. 3
The room should have a TV, an oven, a shoe box, and a refrigerator.
If this is a school, then you can attach pictures with these items to simple medium-sized cardboard boxes or paint the boxes to look like equipment.
Objects (boxes) are located in a variety of different and unexpected places, so that children are interested not only in solving riddles, but also in searching.
Snow Maiden in disguise: Listen to my first Riddle.
1. It’s cold not only there in the distance,
It's cold behind these doors too! What is this? (fridge).
One of the guys runs up to him and finds Snowflake there with the following riddle. It is written there:
2. Soft silent walks
We walk with our feet on...(we wear slippers!)
The kids must find the shoebox that contains the next Mystery Snowflake. It says:
3. We watch it day and night
And we watch all the cartoons (TV)
Children find a TV or a box depicting it and take out the next riddle Snowflake. It is written there:
4. Pies and pies
There they bake “one, two, three” (oven)
Children find an oven or a box with a picture of it. Snowflake is there with the next task.
An indignant Snow Maiden in disguise jumps onto the stage. A smiling, satisfied Santa Claus is walking.
Disguised Snow Maiden: What is going on, good people!!! All of them, these children, win and win in all tasks! And I? When will I win! Oh... I'll run... Oh... In short, when will you lose?
The children laugh at her.
Santa Claus: And I didn’t doubt our guys at all, by the way!
Disguised Snow Maiden: But wait! What is written in the next Snowflake? Come on, read!
Santa Claus takes Snowflake from the children with a task.
Santa Claus: Here, kids, is the next difficult task of our New Year's quest! Reads: “Complete the New Year’s obstacle course,” consisting of two tasks. 1st – “Letter Classics”, 2nd – “Winter Web”
Quest script for children for the New Year
Leading
: Greetings, players. The New Year 2022 promises many interesting events. But for it to pass brightly, you need to find all 4 of its digits in the room. Each of them has a password word written on the back; if you say a 4-letter phrase, we can move on to the next game.
You need to hide 4 numbers made of cardboard in the room, behind which thematic words or expressions will be written, for example: “The Snow Maiden forgot to take the gifts.”
Leading:
They say that in Cuba the New Year's holiday is celebrated so that everyone has 12 grapes, which must be eaten during the chiming clock. Imagine that we are in Cuba. Find 12 photos of grapes, each of which is like one chime. Without 12 strokes, the New Year will not come.
Children look for images of grapes that are pre-attached to walls, windows, furniture and other places.
Leading:
Our New Year is about to come. The chimes will strike soon. But bad luck, a gear disappeared from the clock. She needs to be thrown into the mechanism. To do this, you need to test your dexterity.
It would be appropriate to hold the “Catch” competition described above here.
Leading:
Finally, our chimes can strike the cherished 12 beats. The holiday is already coming. The President will now speak. You are ready? But only he lost his speech. Help me collect it. Find 5 envelopes containing text.
To make this moment more interesting, place in the envelopes links to books in the house and an indication of certain lines from them. This will make it more interesting for children to collect speech.
Leading:
Congratulations! The New Year has finally arrived. You tried very hard so that the birth of the holiday would not be disrupted. That's why Santa Claus has prepared gifts for you. Where is he? Let's call him!
At this moment the participant's name is Santa Claus. You can call an animator, who will unexpectedly enter the room with a bag of gifts and hand them to the children.
Start of scenario
“Song about Summer” (from the film “Santa Claus and Summer”) plays in the background.
Santa Claus comes out.
Santa Claus: Hello, my dear children! From afar, I rushed to you on a reindeer sled, but there was confusion. My granddaughter Snegurochka got lost, and with her a bag of gifts. Tell me, children, will you help me find them?
All children in chorus: Yes!
Santa Claus: I called the Snow Maiden, I called. He shouted and shouted, but she didn’t hear. Let's all call her together?
All children in chorus: Yes!
At the command of Father Frost, the children call loudly in chorus: Snegurochka! Snow Maiden! Snow Maiden!
New Year gift-quest for children
If you want to surprise your child, plan the quest so that he doesn’t guess anything. To do this, it is better to choose a third-party premises rather than an apartment or house. Since for the quest you will need to make a little decor, place areas with riddles, and think through the little things. And at home, the kids will quickly understand that something is wrong.
Also invite actors, animators and a presenter. A professionally assisted quest will look much more realistic and exciting than one organized independently.
But rest assured that giving your child a quest for the New Year is one of the most original options for congratulations, which he will definitely remember for many years!
New Year's scene No. 4
The song “Three White Horses” (from the film The Sorcerers) plays in the background.
Task No. 3. "Letter Classics"
Squares are drawn in the shape of classic “hopscotch”. Instead of numbers, letters, vowels and consonants are written in a chaotic order.
Assignment: the guys take turns jumping at the command of Santa Claus, for example, only on vowels, or, conversely, only on vowels. The task is considered completed if the children make no mistakes and jump on the correct letters. Depending on the age, you need to jump on one leg; if the children are older, if they are younger, they are allowed to jump on two.
Task No. 4. "Winter Web"
Three chairs are placed at a distance of about 70 cm from each other, the other three chairs are placed opposite the first (in a mirror image). Between the two rows of chairs a certain corridor is formed, through which the children will pass the web. The chairs are wrapped with a thread of cobwebs - tinsel (several ribbons tied together). The wrapping should not be too tight so that children can crawl, crawl or step over somewhere.
The task is considered completed if the children pass the “cobweb” without tearing it. At the finish line, the next beautiful Snowflake with a task awaits them.
Santa Claus applauds with his parents, and the Snow Maiden in disguise shows her displeasure.
Disguised Snow Maiden: Stop this immediately! It doesn't happen like that! Look how perfect they are here! I'm the only ideal person here! Wow, what a beauty! (spins, grimaces). That's it! You made me angry. Since we can’t beat you and confuse you, come on, your parents come out! I’ll give you a New Year’s quest now!
Adults come to help children.
Dressed up Snow Maiden: So, if you want your children to receive their gifts from Santa Claus, you will also have to try and guess not just riddles, but words from the poem. I’m sure... Oh (switches to a high-pitched voice) I’m sure you’ll never guess! Otherwise, everyone here was so smart and resourceful... I’ll check now!
Santa Claus stands a little behind and sometimes tells the parents, but so that the Disguised Snow Maiden does not see it.
The Snow Maiden in disguise reads a poem.
Task No. 5 “Prompt the word!”
Assignment for parents: guess the words and name them, inserting them into the poem. Santa Claus prompts, silently pronouncing words and taking objects out of the bag.
The disguised Snow Maiden reads the poem with expression, pausing where the word should be inserted:
Snow outside...WINDOW (Santa Claus points to the window)
Quietly, quietly melting,
The earth... SWEEPPING (Shows as if sweeping) all around.
With a blanket... WHITE (points to the beard, which is white)
He's around...FLYING (shows with his hands how the wings work)
Everything around becomes... WHITE, (again on the beard and finger!).
Looking out the... WINDOW (points to the window)
If you honestly wish,
So that your Santa Claus doesn't forget (points to himself)
Bring it under...THREE (points to the New Year tree)
More gifts for everyone
And it’s important that…YOUR (points to parents) bring it personally!
Everyone applauds and rejoices. The disguised Snow Maiden grabbed her head.
