Just a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t plan to write new articles about the Advent calendar; it seemed to me that there was little of value that could be added to the last article. But as soon as I started planning our 2021 calendar, new ideas rained down on me from all sides, and I urgently wanted to share them!
This year I decided to make not just separate messages-tasks from Santa Claus, but to combine them all with a single plot and arrange a real New Year's quest to save Santa Claus and solve pre-New Year's problems in one small winter town.
New Year's quest for children at home. Start
So, our New Year's story begins with the fact that one fine day (December 12), a cardboard town suddenly appears on the windowsill, and with it the main character and envoy of Santa Claus - the girl Vesta. Trouble happened in this town - Santa Claus, who was supposed to come to the holiday, disappeared. And a lot of other things have gone wrong in this city - no snow, no decorations... All these problems that have befallen the city must be solved in the last 20 days of the year.
The main character of the quest and the “signalman” will be this winter girl named Vesta. It is she who will report every day what happened and suggest how to get out of trouble. Tasya really likes all the girl characters, so I hope that this little heroine will only increase her interest in the upcoming adventure.
Messages from Vesta will appear in the form of small notes. Since last year, Tasino’s “reading skills” have improved significantly and now I can afford a couple of small sentences. It is worth noting that Tasya read her first syllables just a year ago, while reading simple Advent notes together, so Advent is an excellent motivation for reading :). For children who do not yet read, the mother can recite all the messages on behalf of the main character.
What age is this quest for?
These are the tasks I prepared for a group of children aged 4-8 years. If you find some tasks too easy or too difficult, feel free to change them.
Here are all the free scenarios for children's quests; you can remake some tasks for New Year's needs for children 10-12 years old.
For example, the quest “The Secret of the Old Compass” (11-13 years old) also ends with the finding of gifts. No running around, a quiet chamber quest with puzzles.
Advent calendar design
I liked the idea of decorating an Advent calendar in the form of a town last year, then for all 20 days I made a lot of houses, one-, two- and even three-story. This time I decided to repeat the idea of the town, but only add many other elements, and also number each of them. So, in our town there is a children's playground with swings and a slide; on the appropriate day, surprises will also appear in them (there is an empty box inside the slide with a place for a gift). I think it's quite unusual to find your next surprise on the rocker
There is also Santa Claus's sleigh, a train, cardboard animals, trees, which also have a pocket.
And on the day when the cloud’s turn comes (for us this will happen 19 days before the New Year), sweet marshmallow snow will come from the cloud
Here you can download the templates for the houses and boxes that I used this and last year. I made a couple of houses, as well as a sleigh, a train, and animals using templates from the books “Letter to Santa Claus” and “New Year’s Gifts.”
Competitions for the New Year of the Tiger 2022
Roar like a Tiger
The host chooses one of the guests and blindfolds him with a scarf. The player is placed in the center of the room. Guests approach him one by one and emit a majestic roar, getting used to the role of the Symbol of the Year. No other words or sounds are allowed. If a player recognizes the source of the roar, he receives a symbolic prize and gives up his place to another participant. The game can last 4-5 rounds so that all guests can express themselves.
My tiger cub is the best
The presenter invites 3 pairs to participate. Each couple is given a set of accessories: a striped scarf, a hairband with ears, a rope ponytail with a clothespin, makeup pencils. One member of the couple is blindfolded. At a signal, the blindfolded player must dress his partner in a tiger “suit”, draw a nose, mustache and other elements as desired. The most creative couple wins.
Tiger compliments
The tiger is the confident and domineering owner of the year. He loves compliments. The guests stand in a large circle. Starting with the owner or any other person, everyone takes turns complimenting the symbol of the year in alphabetical order. You should start with the letter “a”, for example, active, then “b” - cheerful, and so on. Anyone who could not come up with a compliment for a certain letter is eliminated from the game. The most resourceful participant wins.
Tiger paws
Gifts specially prepared and wrapped in bright multi-layer wrapping are placed on a separate table. The presenter gives those who want to participate a pair of thick mittens. The number of players must correspond to the number of gifts. At the presenter’s signal, the players try to unpack the gift as quickly as possible. The winner is awarded a prize as the owner of the most tenacious paws.
Tiger Leap
Tigers are the best jumpers in nature, after kangaroos. The length of a tiger's jump is 10 meters. The presenter places an image of any animal around the room and invites the most desperate predators to participate in the hunt. Each participant chooses a target and determines the point at which he will begin the hunt. The winner is the one who makes the longest jump and lands exactly on his prey.
Unpacking a gift
Another fun and interesting New Year's competition with gifts. At the request of the host, 6 players come to the table. One gift is placed on the table in a box and numerous wrappers. Guests are assigned serial numbers from 1 to 6 and given mittens. The presenter rolls the dice and the first participant to remove the layer is the one whose check number came up. The dice rolls are repeated until the gift is unwrapped. The winner receives the contents of the box, and the remaining participants can receive consolation prizes.
Collect snowflakes
The host invites 2 players to participate. Everyone is given gloves with claws sewn or glued on them. There are snowflakes hung on the tree, on the floor and on surfaces, with a hole made in the center. Each player puts on a tiger mask and gloves with claws. At the leader's command, players begin to prick snowflakes onto their claws with their claws. The tiger who collects the most snowflakes will win the competition.
Tribute to the owner of the year
For the competition, the presenter buys or makes himself puzzles with the image of a tiger according to the number of teams playing. Teams of 3-4 people are invited to participate. Puzzle pieces are hung on the Christmas tree in advance. Team players stand in rows one after another. At the signal, the first participants run to the tree, find a puzzle piece and return back. The baton passes to the next team member who brings the second part of the picture. It is important that the pieces do not repeat, otherwise you will have to go back again and change part of the puzzle. The first team to collect the entire picture wins.
Striped toast
Interesting table entertainment will unite all seated guests. The presenter suggests taking turns saying wishes for the New Year in 2-3 words. The next guest must say a wish that contains an antonym to any word from the previous statement. For example, if the first guest says: “I wish you strong friendship and love,” then the second should say something like “Weak rivals in big things.” At the end of the game, the most resourceful and eloquent speaker is determined.
Jump into the burning ring
The host unites the guests into teams with an equal number of players. Team members stand behind each other in a separate row. The teams stand at an equal distance from the tree. A “burning” hoop is placed in the middle of the distance. In fact, it will be a hoop surrounded by a garland, rain or tinsel. One of the guests is holding it. The burning ring is placed at the same distance from the floor. At the signal, the first players run, jumping into a hoop, then run to the Christmas tree, shouting a code word or a tiger roar. Then the second participants run through the ring, overcoming the same obstacles. The team that completes the task faster is declared the winner.
Sit on the tiger
A fun contest with a Wild West style but which is perfect for the new 2022 Year of the Tiger. The strongest and strongest tiger players are invited to participate. A second participant sits on each person. You cannot hold onto your tiger with your hands. To the cheerful New Year's song, the tigers actively move and kick. The task of the second players is to stay on the tiger until the end of the music. The one who remains “on horseback” the longest receives a symbolic prize.
Tiger
The presenter invites 4 teams with the same number of people to participate. For each team, a sheet of white paper with a letter is attached to the wall at an equal distance. For the first team the letter is “T”, for the second - “I”, for the third “G”, and for the fourth “R”. At the “start” command, the first players run to the sheets and write one wish for the corresponding letter. For example:
- Tactfulness, patience, hard work, precision, muscular body;
- Intelligence, ingenuity, sparkling champagne;
- Genius, literacy, loud victories, glossy brilliance;
- Agility of mind, relaxedness, agility, joy.
The winner is the team that completes the task first. Separately, you can reward the most original participant.
Melt the Snow Queen's heart
For this competition, you need to freeze the ice in advance in beautiful original heart molds. Before the start, the presenter calls 4-5 players and gives each one an ice heart on a saucer. On command, players try by any means to melt the pieces of ice with the warmth of their bodies. You can take and rub ice with your hands, breathe on it and use other tricks. The person whose piece of ice melts the fastest will be declared the winner. The prize can be any glass figurine or other interesting souvenir.
When to play the game
Personally, it’s convenient for me to do this on New Year’s Eve. Our guests gather around 8 pm, the adults immediately sit down at the table, and the children begin to start their own games, which do not always fit into the New Year's Eve scenario.
It is at this moment that you can offer children a game. My son is 8 years old, he is older than other children, so he will need to read the assignments from the envelopes. I will entrust my 17-year-old daughter to control the process. A permanent presenter is not expected, but the participation of adult guests in some tasks is encouraged.
How to make a clock
The easiest way is to use a ready-made option; there is a lot of beauty in stores. This could be a cardboard New Year's panel with a picture of a clock, a poster, a wooden clock for teaching, puzzles, etc. In this case, you need to cover the numbers with circles, and then glue the “found” ones.
If you haven’t bought anything, download and print my watch and numbers on A4 sheets (the link will be at the end). Better on thick paper right away. Or stick it on cardboard. I printed the numbers twice - I pasted some on the envelopes, and put the others inside. The same, of course!
Quests for finding gifts, 20 quests
The New Year's quest should not be limited only to riddles and puzzles. It’s much more interesting to complete cool tasks and make new discoveries, and then also receive New Year’s gifts. After each completed task, participants must receive a hint, which, when collected together, will reveal the cache of gifts.
There are many ideas for such tasks. As an example, here are 20 options suitable for the quest.
1. Compiling a guess word from letters. Letters can be written on cups on the table, on balloons, frozen in ice trays, tied to fish from the game “Fishing.
2.Puzzles. You need to create a clue picture from the answers. You can divide the picture into fragments and hide them in your apartment or use a ready-made puzzle.
3.Attentive counting. To guess the encrypted word, you need to count the coins/beans/candies/books on the shelf, and then use the numbers to select the corresponding letters.
4. Decoding. Having received the digital code in the previous task, you need to read the hint.
5.Mirror text. The prepared phrase cannot be read without a mirror surface. To complicate the task, it is advisable to use an ornate font.
6.Anagrams. Compiling words may involve both obtaining a guess word and a password for the next task.
7.What is hidden in the picture. Any pictures in which you need to find a clue object are relevant.
8.Denote the name of the fairy tale with an emoticon. You need to encrypt the name of the book that contains the clue.
9.Invisible ink. Using a pen with invisible ink, write clues on mirrors, furniture, and books. Players will have to find them using a special UV flashlight.
10.Ciphers. Encrypt the message using a special font. It could be Sherlock's dancing men, Morse code, or flags. Words are selected short to 5-6 letters.
11. Labyrinths. The labyrinth can be in the traditional form - printed. The task involves walking along lines, without dead ends. A more interesting option is a rope maze. Multi-colored ropes are laid out on the floor of the apartment, with a hint tied to the end of the thread.
12. Excavations. Figures are hidden in the sand/rice/semolina: all repetitions are set aside, and one unique figure is a clue.
13. Puzzles with matches . Using matches, a rebus is laid out, the participant needs to fulfill a condition, for example, remove an extra match.
14. Puzzles with buttons. 7 buttons are laid out on a sheet of paper, which should be divided by four lines so that each button ends up in a “house”.
15. Classic puzzles. You need to guess the word from the picture. Hints: commas before the image indicate the number of extra letters at the beginning of the word, but commas after the image indicate the number of extra letters in the guess word; The "=" sign indicates the letter to be replaced.
16. Encrypted verse. The first number is the number of the top line, the second is the number of the hidden word in the line, the third is the letter in the hidden word.
17.Acrostic poem. A poem is selected in which the first letters of each line form the clue word.
18.Find an extra/missing object. This could be a missing number, letter or part of a picture.
19. Changelings. To get a hint, you need to turn the picture over and look at the hidden object or character.
20.Active tests. This can be any active action with a task, for example, assembling a sandwich according to a recipe and finding a clue under the last ingredient; find the desired clue item in a basket with different things with your eyes closed; carry out the relay race.
