The hunt was on!

We had our super annual feature – the Treasure Hunt!

The kids went crazy again. We had it for kids from Std.5 to Std.10. It was the first time for Std.5 – so their clues were easy. The rest, however, had to struggle. The Std.10 kids found it to be really easy though – sure enough – they have been playing this game for the past 3 years! Its very difficult to capture images or video of the electric atmosphere during the treasure hunt. We’ve tried, and not completely succeeded. I have some pictures, and some video. Check them out.

Just to give you a hint of the types of clues we give, here is a really easy one:

A room so huge with a wall of stones
Where we bend, twist and turn as if we have no bones
Kids can climb like monkeys and prance around
On this pillar of wood, look hard, the clue must be found

Can you guess which one this is? Well, its the Mallakhamb which we have in our gymnastics hall.

And here is a relatively difficult one:

I was writing out the next clue for you when all the words fell to the floor and got jumbled up. And since I was so busy, I had no time to straighten it out for you. Can you put the words in the right places and figure out for yourself where you have to go for the next clue?

Clues: Four, all, ground,  door, there, glass, more, walls, around, but, floor, room

Can you guess this one? Its “There is a room on the ground with more walls than four. It was glass all around it, but has no door”
What is it? The Lower Dining Hall!

We made about 250 such clues for the kids of varying level of difficulty. Arpita Madam was the star of the planning, while Dr. Phatak, the star of implementation. Kudos to these two!

What was I upto? I was the “Helper“. No – I wasn’t letting the kids cheat – I was there to help them solve puzzles – though at a price! 5 minutes! Costly, you might say, but things are expensive these days! And was I rich! By the end of the Hunt, I had penalized about 6 groups! Thats half an hour!

Our structure was that the students had to solve 8 clues and find the treasure. There were 30 groups from Std.5 to Std.10 who took part in the Treasure Hunt. Each group was divided according to houses, and each had an equal share of easy, medium and hard puzzles.

We feel that by doing such things, we are giving the children something that they will cherish as memories for the rest of their lives. At the same time, we are honing their analytical skills and improving their stamina (they run around the campus umpteen times). What do you feel? Let us know about it in the comments!