Quest game for a winter walk “Save the Postman Snowman” lesson plan (middle group) on the topic

Specifics of the New Year's quest in the apartment, indoors and outdoors

A quest (from the English “quest” - search, adventure) is an intellectual game entertainment during which participants must overcome a series of task stages to achieve a key goal. A chain of riddles, tasks, and puzzles is located in a certain area, and it can be either one room, apartment or house, or a courtyard or park. If the quest takes place in a kindergarten or school, then the location becomes, respectively, a group room, classroom, assembly hall, corridors, etc.

Quests can be held both indoors and outdoors

The quest can even be carried out on the scale of an entire city. In this case, it is better for participants to travel by car or bicycle, which, of course, is more suitable for adult games.

In terms of its entertainment purpose, the New Year's quest is close to a matinee or party (if everything happens at home). However, its main difference from these events is the presence of a specific goal: for example, to find hidden treasures (in this case, gifts from Santa Claus), return the dial to the New Year's clock that Baba Yaga or another villain hid, etc.

The participants’ task is to collect all the numbers for the dial by completing tasks sequentially

Quest is a team game, and the highlight of its organization is that the participants, having completed one task, find in it the key, an indication to the next. Due to the unusual format of the event, every participating child can be active.

The tasks in the New Year's quest can be not only intellectual in nature, but also creative, musical, and develop motor skills. Naturally, they will all have an appropriate theme related to the main winter holiday.

Of course, all tasks in the New Year's test are related to the theme of the holiday, for example, decorating gingerbread cookies for the Snow Maiden with sugar icing

An important requirement of the quest is that participants do not use gadgets (phones, tablets). They must solve riddles and answer tricky questions themselves, relying on their horizons and ingenuity.

Parents can develop a home New Year's quest for their own child, but it is more interesting when a group of children (several people) participates in it. If we are talking about a kindergarten or school, then the whole team is involved in the game. In this case, it is advisable to divide it into 2–4 teams.

If the quest is held in a kindergarten or school, the entire children's team (group or class) participates in it.

Children of all ages can participate in the quest. Conventionally, games are distinguished for older preschoolers (in principle, children under 6 years old can play, but then the tasks need to be selected very simple), younger schoolchildren and teenagers. Meanwhile, a home quest can bring together children of different ages.

As for the duration of such a New Year's event, it also largely depends on age. Thus, quests for preschoolers usually last 40–45 minutes. Schoolchildren can play for an hour or more, especially if the tasks are placed in a large area (entrance, yard, etc.).

Team quest game

Using the “New Year's quest for 1st and 2nd grade students at school or at home” , you can conduct a quest for two or three teams. Each hint is made in several versions, with different keywords - so that the teams have equal chances, and victory depends on the speed of reaction and intelligence of the players. And those who are planning a quest for one child or one team will have a choice of the most convenient places in the room to create a search chain.

What fairy tales or stories can become the plot of a quest about the New Year?

In general, the tasks of any quest (not just New Year's) are based on a certain plot: it can be a treasure hunt, an investigation into an incident, help to some hero, an adventure based on a work of fiction.

As a plot basis for a New Year's game, you can take some kind of winter fairy tale and play out the tasks according to its content. Examples could be the following:

1. “Christmas tree” by V. Suteev.
2. "The Snow Queen" G.-H. Andersen
3. “12 months” by S. Marshak.
4. "Morozko" (Russian folk tale).

The plot outline for the New Year's quest can be a fairy tale known to children, for example, “The Snow Queen”

You can also use motifs from the popular cartoon “Masha and the Bear (series about Father Frost) or come up with your own New Year’s story (for example, Father Frost’s bag or chest with gifts was stolen, the Snow Maiden got lost in the forest, she was bewitched by Kikimora, etc.). In this case, the goal of the quest participants will be to find the loss or rescue their favorite New Year's character from trouble.

The beginning of a New Year's quest is often a letter from Santa Claus, in which he asks for help or gives instructions to the children.

The beginning of the quest is often a letter from Santa Claus

If teenagers play, the plot can be built based on films about spies. A secret agent who was on a secret mission was kidnapped and his mission was left unfulfilled. However, feeling that he might be kidnapped, the hero left encrypted messages. The agent's goal was to save the New Year, which, according to intelligence, was supposed to be stolen by villains.

Contents of the kit

• New Year's envelope
• letter from Santa Claus for editing
• recommendations for the leader on preparing and conducting the quest
• tasks and answers (each task is immediately followed by an answer, and for convenience and clarity, all answers are formatted in the same way as the tasks themselves)
• gift - New Year's packaging set

Attention! The kit is offered in electronic form - you need to print everything you need yourself on a color printer (sheet format when printing A4).

Set format: New Year's envelope ( pdf ), letter from Santa Claus ( doc ), instructions for the leader - 6 pages, tasks and answers - 57 pages, task templates - 5 pages (pdf files), postcard for starting the quest, set New Year's packaging (jpg files).

Table: fragments of a home New Year's quest for children 5–8 years old (author Elena Borodina)

Description of tasks

(key places where you can hide hints and surprises are indicated in brackets)

1. “6 differences” (box, envelope, lantern). A fun task where you need to find the differences in two seemingly identical pictures.
2. “Penguin Hint” (book, hat, barn). An original task for attentiveness, an unusual type of cipher.
3. “The Snowman's Hint” (newspaper, magazine, brick). A fun task in which you need to reconstruct the sequence of pictures in order to read the clue phrase.
4. “Extra letters” (door, fence, bush). An interesting challenge to test your wits. Additionally, this type of task is offered in a kit in an easier version.
5. “Gymnastics for the mind” (table, scarf, skis). Arithmetic presented in the form of funny pictures. Players will have to use their brains a little))) A task for quick thinking.
6. “Winter filword” (mug, fruit, gate). A winter-themed task that requires players to be collected and focused.
7. “Encrypted word” (bag, pocket, stone). A tricky riddle for ingenuity.
8. “Puzzle” (mirror, bench or your option). A simple but exciting task. The players' task is to complete the puzzle and find out the next search location. For this task, 2 additional templates are offered: you can enter any word of 7 or 8 letters yourself, for example: pillow, plate, gazebo, veranda, bedside table, hallway, bread bin, path and integrate the task with a unique answer into your quest.
9. “Anagram mittens” (sofa, chair, flower, tree). A challenge for intelligence, an unusual type of cipher. Players need to unravel an encrypted anagram phrase.
10. “Snowflake-labyrinth” (leader, mittens, porch). A colorfully designed labyrinth. To find out the next search location, you need to find the correct path from start to finish by collecting key letters.
11. “Winter proverb” (bag, boot, wall). With the help of a beautiful snow code you need to read the proverb about winter .
12. “Text with a stencil” (diary, trunk, ladder, mailbox). Spy style cipher. The players' task is to guess what to do with the two found sheets.

View other ready-made quest kits

Examples of interesting quest scenarios

It is advisable to divide examples of specific quests into age groups, although many options can be used for children of different ages by slightly adapting the tasks.

Quests for kindergarten (senior preschool age)

1. "New Year's adventures based on fairy tales." Children are looking for a magical object of Santa Claus, the name of which is hidden in fairy tales (the quest takes place sequentially through four fairy tales: “The Christmas Tree” by V. Suteev, “The Snow Queen” by H. H. Andersen, “12 Months” by S. Marshak and “Morozko”) .
2. "Looking for New Year's toys." A fairly short quest that can be carried out directly in a group: tasks-stages from five Christmas trees that Santa Claus sent to the children.
3. "Santa Claus's chest." The premise of the game is that Baba Yaga hid the key to Santa Claus’s magic chest, which contains gifts. It is necessary to complete 8 tasks, during each task a letter is revealed to the children. As a result, all the letters form a word indicating the location of the key.
4. "New Year's Miracles" The children receive a letter from the Snowman, who walked towards them through the forest with a map, but it was carried away by a magpie. Now he is lost and waiting for help. Preschoolers look for the Snowman while completing assignments.

Junior schoolchildren

1. "Tricks of a Pirate." This is a pirate quest party dedicated to the New Year. The premise is that an evil pirate stole a bag of gifts from Santa Claus. He will give it to the children after they pass the tests.
2. "Travel to Lukomorye." The quest is held at home, the children are also looking for the missing bag of gifts. It is noteworthy that it all begins not with a letter, but with a video message from Santa Claus to the children. The snowman helps the game participants get to Lukomorye. Interestingly, one of the tasks is performed at the entrance: you need to count the number of steps and multiply them by 12 (months).
3. "New Year's adventures at school." The quest game with children was prepared and conducted by sixth graders. Participating teams receive route sheets, each must go through the stations (Snegovichnaya, Muzykalnaya, Sports, Mysterious, Secret, Snezhnaya, Khudozhestvennaya, Sugrobnaya, Skazochnaya, Candy).
4. “The snowy winter has come and brought a joyful holiday!” Schoolchildren are divided into teams (“Snowflake”, “Frost”, “Snowdrift”, “Icicle”, “Hoarfrost”). Each also receives a route sheet and is sent to stations, where teachers in the form of Winter, Snowman, Baba Yaga, Rooster, and Carlson act as presenters. For each completed task, the team is given a hint letter.

For teenagers (middle and high school)

1. “New Year's pun” (for 11–14 years old). The purpose of the quest is to introduce children to the history of the New Year holiday. The game is again based on completing stations, and many of them are well placed in the fresh air (“New Year’s”, “Frosty”, “Visiting Leshy”).
2. “Trace 2019” (for 6th grade). Children are offered 12 tasks, and for correct completion of each they receive a letter. As a result, a phrase is made up of letters. Along with the last letter, the guys receive a box of gifts.

What is a home New Year's quest for children?

House quest is a game that consists of a sequence of tasks and puzzles hidden in a house or on the street in a certain sequence. The answer to each task indicates the cache where the next one is hidden. And the last task will tell you where the gift is.

New Year is an ideal holiday for not just leaving gifts under the Christmas tree, but for making the search for a gift a real adventure. Even if you have never done this, you can organize a quest yourself, you just need time to prepare and a little imagination!

Ready-made New Year's quest scenarios

To save a lot of time, you don’t have to come up with a quest yourself, but download a ready-made script, which you can print on your home printer, even in black and white, or go to the nearest printing house with a color printer. There are a lot of ready-made scripts on the Internet. This option has many advantages:

• total time savings on inventing and preparing tasks, everything has already been thought up for you;
• a large selection of scenarios: for any age, number of players, plot, etc.
• beautiful design of cards by the designer;
• detailed instructions for preparation (preparing the game itself takes 30-40 minutes);
• battle-tested quest tasks that eliminate mistakes and will be of interest to children;
• speed - I paid with a bank card directly on the website and received the script by email within a minute.

There are also a few disadvantages:

• the quest, although it costs as much as a couple of mugs of coffee, is still an additional cost;
• a ready-made quest is universal and if you want to fit your story or characters into the plot, it will be difficult to do so.

Examples of ready-made quests

We have prepared a small selection of ready-made New Year's quests that you can do at home.

New Year's MEGAquest

A universal home quest, which consists of tasks of 3 difficulty levels. Perfect for a group of different ages, where there are small children (3+) and older children (10+) and even adult players. For example, you are planning to celebrate the New Year with a large family or have invited friends with children. For such a case, MEGAquest will be just right. This quest costs 400 rubles. You can read more and buy on this page.

In the footsteps of the Snezhus

If you need to entertain a group of children aged 5 to 10 years and up to 8 people for the New Year (ideally if there are no more than 4-5 children). This quest can be solved by one child if, for example, you wanted to give a New Year's gift in an unusual way. Place not the gift itself under the tree, but an envelope with the first task of the quest and arrange a little adventure for your son or daughter (or maybe both). The cost of such a scenario is 350 rubles. You can learn more about the plot and buy the quest here.

Defuse Santa Glazus

A story-driven New Year's quest for older children (10+), which consists of 12 not-so-simple, but very interesting tasks. An ideal option for searching for New Year's gifts in the house. The detailed plot is described on this page - you can also purchase the quest itself there, the cost is 350 rubles.

If you still decide to come up with and conduct a quest yourself, then read the continuation of the article, where we will talk about ideas for tasks and give a plot option for a home adventure.

New Year's quest on the street

A street quest is different from a home one: the tasks should be more dynamic and exploratory, since solving complex text tasks (and even if it’s frosty) on the street is inconvenient.

Basic Rules:

1. Select an area beyond which we will not play.
2. Do not leave clues in plain sight so that they cannot be accidentally discovered by a stranger (if you are in a public place: in the yard, in the park).
3. It is better to protect paper clues from getting wet: cover them with tape or laminate them, put them in plastic containers from kinders or just small bags.
4. If it is dark, give the players flashlights.
5. It’s best to hide the gifts at home anyway, but players will only find out where they are once they’re outside.

Tasks for an outdoor quest in winter:

• Use simple riddles.
• Play association: where was your secret hideout in the summer? What surrounding objects will help build muscles? Find a tree with cones!
• Use the help of accomplices: let dad or grandpa ask for a hint to run everyone around the carousel three times, then crawl into the tunnel and gather at the birch tree at the far end of the yard.
• Stretch a beautiful festive ribbon around various obstacles and structures (better suited for a private yard or cottage), insert a key on one end, and tie a box on the other with a lock. You need to pass the key along the entire length of the ribbon and open the box with the hint.
• Active tasks: to slide everyone together like a big “train” down the hill. Build a small snowman, dress him up and make him happy. Draw a smiling smiley face in the snow with your footprints. For each task, children can be awarded a letter. When they all collect them, they will read the name of the cache with gifts!

Prizes and gifts for the New Year's quest

On New Year's Eve, it is not necessary to hide New Year's gifts, and in this situation you won't have enough of them, especially if a large company is playing. The solution is to stock up on small surprises:

• Christmas tree decorations in the form of different figures or animals, snowflakes will remain as a memory of the fun quest.
• Sparklers, firecrackers (but remember to clean up after them, and children should only use under adult supervision).
• Beautiful New Year's caramel in the form of canes or other beautiful sweets

• Cool stationery - everyone needs them and won’t remain useless trash.
• New Year-themed books or coloring books with tasks.
• Masquerade hats, glasses and other paraphernalia - you can immediately dress up and take fun photos!

Where can I arrange a quest?

When we say “home quest,” we mean that it can be carried out not only in a house or apartment, but anywhere: in the yard, in a park with a gazebo, at school, in a kindergarten, in a library or cafe. The quest tasks will depend on the place you choose and who is playing.

When you have decided on the venue, select suitable hiding places for future tasks:

• if only children play, then hiding places should not be located above their height, in dangerous and inaccessible places;
• on the street and in a public place, limit the play area: in the park you can stretch a string along the boundaries, indoors - specify which parts of it are involved;
• use holiday paraphernalia: Christmas tree, garlands, paper snowflakes;
• The names of the caches should be familiar to children and not be too difficult to spell.

When coming up with quests for children for the New Year 2020 at home, take into account the features of riddles for children of different ages:

• how well children can read, put words together from letters: a New Year's quest for a child 3-6 years old should consist of pictures (they can be downloaded on the Internet or simply drawn - which means the cache should be clear in the picture), activities, puzzles, riddles according to age and do not contain letter assignments. Use no more than 8-10 cards so that children do not get tired;
• A New Year's quest for a child 8-9 years old can already include a small crossword puzzle, word puzzles and anagrams (composing words from a set of letters). We recommend 10 tasks;
• children 10-12 years old will cope well with a rebus, a logical problem and an ornate mathematical example; 12 tasks will be enough;
• In New Year's quests for children 12-15 years old, be sure to add electronic tasks using different applications (for example, a QR code reader), audio prompts, Internet searches - then the indication may not be direct (chair), but “dad’s favorite place for reading" or "the third book about the boy wizard." Use up to 15 tasks;
• make a quest not only for children, but for the whole family: for this, come up with more difficult tasks. For example, in the finished New Year's MegaQuest there are 21 tasks - 7 tasks each of three difficulty levels, they are marked with one, two or three snowflakes, which is very convenient! One big quest for everyone: kids solve puzzles with one snowflake, schoolchildren solve puzzles with two, and dad, grandma, and guests take part in solving puzzles with three snowflakes!