What tasks can you come up with for the New Year's quest? How to make the quest for the New Year interesting and educational? Here are the Top 7 tasks for the New Year's quest.
How to start the quest
To start New Year's quest a riddle, an unexpected finding of an object or letter, or receiving a “problem” to set up the plot of the quest will do. And then the child searches and collects clues. Here Top 7 tasks for the New Year's quest. They are simple and at the same time exciting. In addition, these games perfectly develop attention, memory, reading skills, counting and logic.
TOP 7 tasks for the New Year's quest
1. Assemble the puzzle
Kids can be asked to assemble a picture from 2-4 parts, older children - from a larger number of smaller ones, but no more than 10 pieces. The resulting picture will serve as the next clue. You can assemble a puzzle from paper, printed or drawn by hand, a regular store-bought one, you can back side puzzle to write the letters, and when the child completes the puzzle, he will be able to turn it over and read the clue word. You can also stick a color picture on a large construction set and let him assemble the puzzle on the construction set!
2. Encryption
All kinds encryption is just the heart of the quest! Instead of a letter there are numbers or pictures, and next to it is a code with a decoding. The child deciphers the hidden word or sentence using the code (although the latter is quite difficult even for reading children, but it’s worth it). This also includes tasks to read a word from the first letters of the pictures: for example, the word “teapot” is guessed, and we give the child a sequence of pictures: Clock, Orange, Yogurt, Sock, Turkey, Cat.
3. Add the sequence
Usually, as a result of laying out the sequence, a clue word is obtained. For example, you can ask your child to lay out the objects from largest to smallest, and glue letters on the back side. Or you need to supplement the series by giving several answer options. For example, we make a Christmas tree garland and 3 colors: red, yellow, blue. And next to it we give a decoding that if we insert red - look, say, in the table, blue - on the mirror, yellow - in the sofa. Depending on what color of the ball you need to insert, we look for the next clue.
4. Labyrinth
Labyrinths are great for developing fine motor skills child, training the movements of the hand and fingers, which is necessary for the development of speech and. For kids, let these be very simple paths according to the plot of your New Year's quest, and for older children or those who already read, you can collect letters while moving through the maze.
5. Math assignments
Counting tasks, solving examples, mathematical coloring pages (by numbers), logic problems (this is NOT this and NOT that). The simplest thing is: solve the example and choose the correct answer - that’s where we’ll go further.
6. Sensory boxes
Interesting tasks that are especially good for kids, since under 4 years old children urgently need to receive as many different tactile sensations as possible. Quest task maybe you can find something in the cereal (any filler: rice, buckwheat, beans, seeds). But here you need to look very carefully at the child’s reaction: there are children with hypersensitive skin for whom this task can cause discomfort.
7. Experiments and experiments
The most common experiment for a quest is to write a clue word with milk, and then heat the paper and the invisible word will appear. Or you can write it with a white wax crayon or a candle, and then paint it over with watercolors - the places of the letters will remain unpainted and the word will appear. But it’s better to practice doing these experiments in advance to make sure that the trick is a success :)
Here are some examples ready-made tasks for New Year's quest.
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, ours begins New Year's story because 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 like 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, during a joint reading, 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.
Advent calendar design
The idea of decorating an Advent calendar in the form of a town appealed to me back in 2019, 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 year and last year. I made a couple of houses, as well as a sleigh, a train, and animals using templates from the books "", " New Year gifts»
Scenario of the New Year's quest - Advent
Day 1. Making snow for the city.
As I already said, the main storyline of the quest is the disappearance of Santa Claus, but this will become known a little later, but for now we need to solve more pressing problems - there is no snow at all in the city!
The text of the note from our messenger girl: “Hello! My name is Vesta. New Year is coming soon, but there is no snow at all in our city. Please help us get snow"
Of course, we will immediately come to the rescue! What can you use to make snow with your child? Here are some good options:
1. A very pleasant snow mass is obtained from shaving foam and soda (1 can of foam + 1 pack of soda).
The snow turns out moderately sticky and at the same time moderately crumbly. You can make a ball out of it, but it won’t make a snowman—it will fall apart. This type of snow, of course, is not very suitable for spreading it on the windowsill between houses, but it will be very interesting to tinker with it.
2. Shaving foam (1 bottle) + starch (400 g). We had this option in .
3. Snow made from torn cotton wool and cotton balls is an excellent option for decorating a town
4. Grated soap (or candle) + baby powder. I haven’t tried this option, but I think it would also work well for decorating a town.
5. This year I also bought " Magic snow", I want to try to make it together with Taisiya. The manufacturer promises a spectacular increase in volume and an interesting experience :)
If you are just making snow for modeling and games, then the city can be additionally decorated with cotton wool and cotton balls.
Day 2. Decorating the city - making a garland
Text of the note: “Thank you, now we have real winter! Only the city is not at all decorated for the arrival of Santa Claus. Will you help?
My daughter really likes to draw people, especially girls, so I decided that it would be interesting to make a garland of people. I prepared the templates, and Tasya will have to paint them.
Day 3. Let's start searching for Santa Claus. We are looking for helpers using the map
Text of the note: “Trouble! Our Santa Claus has disappeared, probably kidnapped by some evil wizard who wants to stop the holiday. Let's go save him! But first we need to find our fixer assistants. The map will help us with this."
About six months ago, I already tried to teach Tasya how to navigate on a map and correlate the map with the real terrain, but my daughter didn’t do well, so we’ll try again. This task is not as simple as it seems at first glance, and requires the child to engage in spatial thinking.
I drew a sketch map of our living room and kitchen. I marked the places where our assistants were hidden with crosses on the map. We will learn to navigate the terrain
Day 4. Preparing a magic drink of courage
Now that the helpers have been found, you can begin the search for Santa Claus. The power of a magical drink prepared according to the recipe for bravery and courage will help us to bravely pass all the tests.
Text of the note: “Before searching for Santa Claus, you need to gain strength. Look in the city for everything you need to prepare a magical drink, it will give you courage."
Our magic elixir will be cocoa with marshmallows. All ingredients (marshmallows, cocoa powder, sugar) will be individually wrapped in foil and hidden in the town under the snow or between houses, with milk nearby.
Day 5. Building a castle for the Snow Queen from refined sugar
Text of the note: “I was told that the Snow Queen hid Santa Claus in her place. I tried to talk to her, but she doesn't want to answer my questions until we build her a new snow castle."
Everything is simple here - we build any structure from refined sugar that we can get. The main thing is to refrain from eating too much sugar during construction.
Day 6. Looking for the key in the snowman. Reading a spell written in milk
After the castle is built for the Snow Queen, she becomes kinder and says that she has no Santa Claus. But there is Snow White, who knows where to look for Santa Claus. Only the Snow Queen has bewitched Snow White, and in order to disenchant her, you need to cast a magic spell three times. This spell is hidden in this notebook under lock and key.
Only the key is not nearby. Through joint reflection, we come to the conclusion that the key is hidden in a snowman who just appeared that night. ( This snowman can be made from soda by adding a little vegetable oil and cool water . To make the water hiss when melting the snowman, add a little citric acid to it.)
Then, together with my daughter, we begin to water the snowman with water from a large dispenser pipettes, the snowman gradually begins to melt, we take out the key and open the notebook.
But that's not all. The spell included in the notebook is written with milk, so first we iron the piece of paper with an iron (in low mode), and then read it. This is what our spell looked like before the milk dried:
By the way, I noticed that notes written with ultra-pasteurized milk (such as Prostokvashino and Parmalat) appear much better.
Here is our video about how we completed the task set that day
Day 7. Making a palace and throwing a ball for Snow White
Finally, Snow White is broken, but she is in no hurry to help us.
Text of the note: “Snow White has no time for searching for Santa Claus, all she wants is to go to the ball. Let's make a palace and have a ball! "
Here I decided to use a ready-made solution and invite my daughter to build a castle with the help of a wonderful construction book "Magic Castle" (Ozon, My-shop) from the publishing house "Mosaic Synthesis". This book, in my opinion, is a real find for girls. Firstly, it folds out into a beautiful castle, and, secondly, it contains many stickers and templates for decorating the castle. Here's another similar book (Ozon, My-shop) from this series, is also suitable for boys.
Day 8. We teach Snow White to skate. Playing with the skating rink
Text of the note: “It turns out that this is not all Snow White’s wishes, now she wants us to teach her to skate”
In my opinion, a homemade homemade ice rink is one of the most popular winter fun online. It's very easy to make.
First of all, you need to freeze the water in a suitable container. If, due to ice expansion, the surface of the skating rink becomes uneven, it can be smoothed with a hot iron. To make the mound, freeze water separately in a yogurt cup or small container placed at an angle. Well, everyone who wants to ride needs to first freeze it in an ice tray.
Day 9. Launching “signal lanterns” (flying tea bags)
Finally, all of Snow White's wishes are satisfied, and this is what turns out:
Text of the note: “Snow White said that no one actually kidnapped Santa Claus. He just got lost in the forest himself. Let's help him find his way by launching signal lanterns into the sky."
We will use tea bags as signal lights. It turns out that if you pour all the tea out of them and set them on fire, they will fly into the air. Perhaps someone will say that it is unacceptable to conduct experiments with matches with children, but I am not one of those people, so I will still present this entertainment here for my like-minded people. By the way, only ashes fly into the air, not fire, so You don’t have to worry about ceilings and curtains.
The experiment is really exciting, it causes real delight in children, so it is worth doing. All you need are tea bags and matches. But! I’ll say right away that not all bags fly off. I've tried Tess, Lipton and another cheap tea with no name - they don't take off. But bags from Milford tea and Babushkino Lukoshko children's tea fly well ( "Babushkino Lukoshko" is for sale usually in pharmacies). They also say Greenfield takes off, but I haven’t checked. In any case, practice without your child beforehand so as not to disappoint him.
Day 10. Doing tasks from the Snow Maiden according to the book
Text of the note: “Santa Claus is already on his way, but while he gets there, he asked us to complete tasks from the Snow Maiden”
And again we will use ready-made solutions - books with tasks and stickers. This year I had my eye on an excellent series from “Clover”, where I bought 2 books at once “ Help the Snow Maiden» ( Ozon, Labyrinth, My-shop) And " Help Santa Claus» ( Ozon, Labyrinth, My-shop) , the tasks in them, in my opinion, are quite original and are great for children over 4 years old.
Day 11. Making a craft as a gift to Santa Claus
Text of the note: “Santa Claus always gives us gifts, let’s prepare a gift for him. Let's make his portrait!"
We will make this Santa Claus:
Here's what you'll need:
Day 18. Setting up shadow play
Text of the note: “Let's have a real theater today! Let’s show the performance to Santa Claus and all residents of the city!”
Day 19. Decorate the Christmas tree at home
It turns out that this year we will be decorating our Christmas tree at home very late, so I have this item planned right up to December 30th. You can reschedule this event to any other day of Advent.
Day 20. Making ice garlands and toys
Well, on the last day of the year, when everything is ready for the celebration, and all the problems in our town have been resolved, I planned to make ice garlands and toys to decorate street trees on a walk on January 1st. We have already made ice garlands before and Tasya really enjoyed it I like this type of creativity.
Garlands are made very simply. First, we fill ice molds, cupcake molds, or plastic egg trays with all sorts of small things: beads, sequins, sparkles, pieces of foil, small pom-poms. Then, using a dispenser pipette, fill all containers with water. It can be transparent, or it can be tinted. To make the ice clear and not cloudy, you need to use filtered or boiled water. And don’t forget to put a string through all the cells!
That's all for me. I wish you very interesting and eventful New Year's days! By the way, if you feel that you don’t have time to prepare Advent for your baby yourself, you can use ready-made option with houses already cut out and with everything you need for games, crafts and game tasks. Here you can really see interesting option Advent quest for children 3-6 years old.
Today is the last day of the New Year's quest for children and we will start looking for a New Year's gift.
Checklist for a quest for children to find a New Year's gift
- Not far from the Christmas tree, place Santa Claus's hat and a message from the forest animals on the floor.
- Place a word or picture of a table on the tray and cover it with semolina. Place a cocktail straw nearby. Place a tray with semolina near the Christmas tree.
- Place a glass of juice on the table, having previously glued it to the bottom (with outside) word door.
- Place the “path” task behind the door. At the last point, place the Christmas tree and a green marker.
- Hang a task with a teapot clue on the Christmas tree.
- We put together a snowman puzzle at the teapot, and hide the top part with the hat in a bucket.
- We put the clock puzzle into the bucket along with the top part of the puzzle.
- We put 3 boxes next to the clock and paste examples on each one. For younger children you can write numbers
- In the largest one we put materials for crafts and nearby there is an image of the Snow Queen herself and a riddle about the closet. If you don’t want to do a craft, you can hide a riddle in a box. We hide the gift in the closet.
Scenario of a children's quest for the New Year to find a gift
When the baby wakes up, most likely he will run under the Christmas tree to look for his gifts from Santa Claus. My children always celebrate the New Year this way :)
I have highlighted all your possible remarks in bold italics. You can ask questions and tips at your own discretion.
There is no gift. How strange, I definitely heard that someone came at night. Look, Grandfather Frost dropped his hat. Oh, there's a note in the header.
We ask the child to blow on the semolina through a straw. This task may be a little dirty, so place a broom and dustpan nearby in advance . If your baby is unable to blow the porridge, ask him to rake the porridge with his hands. We find a clue under the semolina
Let's go to the table
Strange, I don't see any more clues. I wonder where this glass of juice came from here? Maybe this is a hint? Let's try to drink it
When the baby drinks the juice, we find the door clue and go to the nearest one. There we find a new clue. You can create it yourself, customizing it to suit your apartment. For example, I had this:
- walk three steps forward;
- turn left;
- take one step back;
- turn 90 degrees;
- go up the stairs;
- turn right;
- walk straight six steps
And the child went to the chest of drawers, where the next clue lay.
Look, a new task. Here you need to paint over all the letters E. What happened? That's right, Christmas tree. Probably another clue on the tree. Let's run quickly
We find a riddle on the tree.
Where does our water boil? That's right in a teapot. Let's go quickly
We find a snowman puzzle by the teapot.
Strange, one piece of the puzzle is missing. Which one do you think? That's right, the snowman doesn't have a hat. What is a snowman's hat usually made from? That's right from the bucket. Now we need to find a bucket.
We find a riddle in the bucket and read it.
Us you need to inspect all the clocks in the house . The clue should be somewhere nearby. Here she is.
How many times does the clock strike at midnight? Correct 12. Look, you need to solve the examples and find the box with the correct answer.
Look, here are the materials for crafts. Let's give the Snow Queen a crown as a gift. After all, everyone really likes it when they are given gifts.
Let's do a craft. We did this one.
If you don’t want to do crafts, you can put a riddle about the closet in the box.
Look, there's the Snow Queen.
We speak on behalf of the Snow Queen: “ No one has ever given me gifts before. That's why I wanted to take yours. And you are such a kind boy (girl). You made a beautiful crown especially for me. I will never steal anyone's gifts again and will return yours to you from Santa Claus. Just solve the riddle first».
Quest for New Year- this is a wonderful way to congratulate and present New Year's gift to kid. The idea of the quest is as follows: there are several varied and interesting tasks, each of which is hidden in some place or object. The answer to each task is an indication of the place where the next task is hidden. The player must complete them sequentially, following the chain, until he reaches the final place where the surprise is hidden. New Year's quest for children is a set of New Year's tasks for a quest, with the help of which you can organize a holiday for both one child and a group of children by organizing team competitions.
Items and places
Many tasks are presented in two or three versions with different answers, so that you can choose the ones that suit you best. The following objects and places are involved in the scenario:
Hammer, refrigerator, towel, curtains, printer, kettle, vacuum cleaner, TV, toys, floor lamp, plant, mittens, slippers, window, chair, table, Christmas tree, pencil, sink, pan, bedside table, oven, radiator, bed, wardrobe, plate, chair, carpet, shelf, photograph, doorbell, washing machine, computer mouse, perfume, bread, chest of drawers, sofa.
Description of tasks
Below is a brief description of each task. Files prepared for printing with images of cards and instructions for organizing the quest are provided in a downloadable archive.
1. Riddles
We offer a choice of two riddles, and you decide for yourself which one suits you best. You can “dilute” the quest with riddles by inserting them between complex tasks.
The first task can be included in a postcard and given to the child. In the instructions we talk in detail about how to do this in the most interesting way. The instructions also include text for the introductory card.
2. Task "Words and syllables"
In the table you need to find and cross out all the syllables that appear in the given New Year's words, and then the tooltip will “open”.
3. Task "New Year's code"
Unusual key in the form Christmas decorations will help you decipher the hidden word.
4. Task "Find an object"
With the help of several clues, you need to find the desired item in the table among many things.
5. Rebus
Two simple colorful puzzles, the solution of which will tell you where to look next.
6. Task "Find the differences"
The card shows two images of the same room. You need to find differences between them that will help you create a keyword.
7. Task "Logical sequences"
For several graphical logical chains, you need to find logical continuations.
8. Task "New Year's room"
An interesting task in which you need to find certain fragments in a picture and read an encrypted word.
This task is also the “key” to the “Spy Stencil” task.
9. Task "New Year's figurines"
Logic and attentiveness task. You need to decipher the word in the silhouettes of New Year's objects.
10. Task "New Year's tangram"
A challenging puzzle based on the famous Tangram puzzle. From several fragments you need to assemble the shape of a Christmas tree and get a hint word.
11. Task "New Year's graphic crossword"
The card contains an unusual crossword puzzle. There are no questions in it, but only images of objects, the names of which must be entered into the appropriate empty cells of the crossword puzzle. The difficulty is that determining which word to enter where is not easy.
12. Task "Spy Stencil"
A very interesting task that breaks the “linearity” of the script. Its meaning is that the player finds the key and cipher at different stages of the quest. And at the moment of finding the cipher, he needs to guess to use the previously found key.
For the tasks "Logical sequences", "New Year's figures", "New Year's room", "New Year's tangram", "Spy Stencil" and "On the path of Santa Claus" there are templates that you can fill out yourself, coming up with your own answer, and, accordingly, where to look for the next task.
In addition, the kit includes blank card templates into which you can write your own tasks.
Home New Year's quest is a game with a variety of interesting tasks. The idea of the quest is simple: the player consistently solves riddles and completes tasks hidden around the house. The answer to each task indicates the object or place where the card with the next one is hidden. This kind of chain ultimately leads to a gift or hidden surprise. This game can be organized for one child or a group of children. All tasks are varied and designed for the ingenuity and ingenuity of children.
Items and places
All tasks in this quest are completed in several versions - each option has its own answer. This is made to make it easier for you to select places where you will hide task cards. These places are listed below. Please note that the words are grouped together. Within a group, answers related to one task are indicated through the “/” sign. In each group of words we also indicate whether it is intended for of this assignment sample:
Rug/pan, window/porch, bed/TV/iron/vacuum cleaner, spoon/kettle, Christmas tree/key/balls/template, sofa/lamp/computer, balcony/battery/template, table/chair/template, flower/refrigerator, juice/hairdryer/tea/template, oven/cabinet.
Description of tasks
Below are brief descriptions tasks and images of cards for reference. Detailed description tasks and instructions for their preparation, as well as files with images of cards prepared for printing are provided in a downloadable archive.
1. Task “Cipher message”
A simple coded message in Christmas balls. Players will need to read his text syllable by syllable in the correct order.
2. Task “Building a house”
We need to find the missing element. He will indicate where to go next.
3. Riddles
Interesting children's riddles about household items.
4. Task “Item without a pair”
Among the many objects in the picture you need to find the one that does not have a pair. It will contain the following riddle
5. Task “Mysterious drawing”
To “reveal” the hint drawing, you need to paint over the card with a pencil. How to prepare such “magic” is described in detail in the instructions.
6. Task “New Year’s detective”
In this challenge, players are instructed to find all the puzzle pieces in a specific location. And you will need to assemble the puzzle at the next stage...
7. Puzzle task
Assemble the puzzle from the previously found fragments and understand what is depicted on it.
8. Task “Mirror inscription”
9. Task “Riddles from the Snowman”
An interesting colorful task with questions about famous children's cartoon characters.
