Spring Treasure Hunt with Printables {Naw-Ruz}

To celebrate the coming arrival of spring, here is a fun spring treasure hunt you can do with your kids.  Specifically, I created it as a fun activity to celebrate the Bahá’í holiday Naw-Rúz, which falls on the first day of spring.  In the past I have focused mainly on flower crafts (tulips, daffodils, and poppies, oh my!), so this year I decided to do an activity instead.

I also wanted something that I could use as part of our home schooling, as a fun way for Monkey to use some of the concepts he’s been learning.  And who doesn’t love a treasure hunt??

To do this, I came up with 6 challenges for him to complete.  After each one, he’ll receive a clue to a final riddle, where he has to guess what word the clues are describing.  Once he solves that, he’ll get a treasure map leading to some treats!  (A variation on this would be to cut the treasure map into puzzle pieces and give the child one piece after completing each challenge).

Spring Treasure Hunt

Download a printable of all of the clues at the end of this post.

Challenge #1: Life Cycle of a Seed (Biology, Sequencing)

For this, I will cut out images of the life cycle of a seed (such as those here), mix them up, and have Monkey put them in order.

Clue #1: Has 6 letters

Challenge #2: Spring True/False (Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Science)

This challenge involves several simple true/false questions about spring and Bahá’í Naw-Rúz.  Download your copy by right-clicking on the image below:

Clue #2: Contains the letter “R”

Challenge #3: Make a flower or tree out of Legos (Art, Engineering)

You can always vary the materials for this challenge – play dough or popsicle sticks, for example.

Clue #3: Rhymes with “king”

Challenge #4: Addition/Subtraction Questions (Math)

Obviously, you can vary this according to the ability of your child.  Monkey is learning basic addition and subtract, greater than or equal to, so that is what I focused on in my questions.

Clue #4: Starts in the month of March

Challenge #5: Acrostic Poem Poster (Language Arts, Art)

We will do a simple form of acrostic poetry, in which each letter of the main word is the beginning of a new line in the poem.  Bahá’ís could use the word “Naw-Ruz,” and others could do “Spring” or “Flower.”  After creating the poem on a sheet of poster board, we will decorate it to hang on the wall.

Clue #5: Starts with “S”

Challenge #6: Missing Words (Language Arts, Critical Thinking)

For this challenge, I took a line from this beautiful Bahá’í prayer that draws on the imagery of a seed:

I am, O my God, but a tiny seed which Thou hast sown in the soil of Thy love, and caused to spring forth by the hand of Thy bounty. – Bahá’u’lláh

I wrote it on a piece of paper, leaving out key words.  I then wrote these missing words on slips of paper.  Monkey will have the complete prayer to refer to, and have to determine which word goes in each space.

Clue #6: Comes after winter

Download your copy of all the clues by right-clicking and saving the image below:

Now that you have all six clues, did you guess what the answer is??

If Monkey guesses correctly (“Spring”!) then I’ll give him a treasure map, leading him straight to the spot in the house where I’ve hidden some treats.  A sweet way to end the lesson, indeed!

Happy Naw-Rúz, everyone!