For many children, active learning activities are the most meaningful. Now you can provide reading comprehension practice to children on the move with a Treasure Trail! You can tailor this activity to suit your child's age and stage. You can even involve multiple children by color coding the clues. Here are the details:
- Make a series of Treasure Trail Clues. Start by choosing hiding places around your house. Write a clue that you can give to your reader that instructs where to find the next clue in the series. In that place, hide a clue that leads to the third clue, and so on. If you have multiple children working on different trails, simply use different colors of paper for each player. Children can also work in teams for this activity. Write the clues at the appropriate level for your child. Remember to pitch them just below his or her independent reading level. It's fine to illustrate the clues or offer other hints for difficult words. For more able readers, consider making riddles or rhymes to lead children to the next piece of the puzzle.
- Hide your clues and put a Treasure at the end of the path. Make sure your players aren't able to peek! The treasure at the end of the line can be nearly anything, from a small edible treat to a card with a privilege listed. It might be a new book or a certificate to play a favorite game. Be creative, and try to use lots of different rewards.
- Send your child around the trail. Have fun watching him or her scurry around the house, never realizing that the game is a vehicle for reading practice.
Don't be surprised if Treasure Trails become a favorite activity; it certainly did at our house. Once the kids get the hang of it, you can build an additional activity out of creating new Treasure Trails for siblings or parents. Give it a try!
Sandy Fleming is an educational consultant and tutor living in Michigan with her own set of Treasure Trail graduates. They have many happy memories of finding clues around the house on lazy winter days. If you need a few ideas to get you started, check out the free downloadable set of clues available at All Info About Reading.
Photo by merfam
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I love this idea! I can see it being used not only for the little ones but I bet my teens will love it too. And I'll have a blast setting it up… and everybody fun kind of thing.