Detective scavenger hunt for kids at home: “The Case of the Missing Gift”
Detective Fig the raccoon is hunting a missing gift: ten puzzles with ciphers, a mirror note and invisible ink. Thirteen illustrated A4 sheets.
- 13 A4 sheets
- ages 6–10
- ≈60 minutes
What the sheets look like
Click a sheet to see it up close. All twelve are in the ready PDF below.
In short. Type the kids' names (one to three), pick the hiding spots that exist in your home and press “Build and print” — thirteen A4 sheets open with the names and places filled in. Cut out the cards, write one word with a candle, place the clues using the Chief's key and hand over the letter. Setup takes 20 minutes, the hunt about an hour, ages 6–10. A ready PDF without personalization is available right away.
What's in the kit
A letter from Fig, ten clues, a jigsaw photo, a search warrant, a final note, detective IDs (one per kid) with six badges, instructions for the “Chief” with a key to the hiding spots and ready-made hints, and an envelope template. Eight clues have two hiding-spot options — no big mirror or kettle at home? Choose the window and the big pot instead.
Fitted to your home
Build your kit
The names go into the letter, the warrant, the final note and the IDs — up to three kids. Hiding spots — one per clue: pick the ones you have at home and the kid can reach alone.
How the hunt goes
Every clue is a different kind of puzzle, and its answer points to the next hiding spot. The kid never guesses where to look: they solve and run.
The letter and kitchen arithmetic
The kid gets the letter and clue 1: paw prints with numbers under kitchen objects, and the solved sum points to the fridge.
Shelf, photo, mirror
In the fridge: a card with things that don't belong there — the letters under them spell a word. Then a torn photo to reassemble and a note that can only be read in a mirror.
Ink, binoculars, cipher
A blank card gets shaded with a pencil and a word written in candle wax appears. In the binoculars — spot the differences with letters. Then the cipher wheel turns five letters into “shoes”.
Dance, maze, warrant
While the kid copies the thief's dance, you slip a clue into the kettle and pass on a “message from Fig”. In the maze only one of three exits is real, and the search warrant names the place where the gift is.
Case closed
With the gift comes the final note: the thief was Fig himself. The kid receives the detective ID and six badges.
20 minutes before
The Chief's checklist
Ticks are saved in your browser — you can close the page and come back.
How to run it so it works
Read the letter aloud
For a six- or seven-year-old the grown-up reads the letter — in a detective's voice. It sets the tone: the kid isn't “doing tasks”, they are working a case.
Two minutes stuck — one hint
Don't wait for tears. “Warmer — colder” and “look at the letters again” are part of the game.
Several kids — one team
At a party the birthday kid reads the cards and everyone searches together. A race between kids indoors ends in a fight; a team hunt doesn't.
Film the moment
The search warrant is the last clue. Have the camera ready: the reaction to an opened washing machine is the best video of the party.
Big gift? Leave a note instead
If the gift won't fit in the drum or the bathtub, put a card there saying “look under the bed” — the warrant still works.
More hunts and clues
Scavenger hunt for kids at home: three scripts by age
Pirates, detective and space for ages 4–6, 7–9 and 10–12 — text-only clues, printed in a minute.
Scavenger hunt clues around the house: 90 riddles
Swap any clue for your own riddle or build a chain in the builder.
Birthday scavenger hunt clues
How it all works, ready clue sets and the generator in the app.Built around your kid
A hunt where your kid is the hero
The hunt generator in GIFTbase
The printable kit is the same for everyone — which is exactly why it isn't about your kid. The generator in the app writes the story around their name, age and interests: if they love dinosaurs, the thief is a dinosaur and the clues are in its style.
You pick hiding spots from your own home, the app lays out the route and prints the clues. Hunts are part of the GIFTbase subscription, which comes with a two-week free trial.
Frequently asked questions
From six, if a grown-up reads the letter and the cards, and from seven or eight fully on their own. The upper limit is about ten: after that a shift-by-one cipher and spot-the-difference feel easy. For ages 10–12 the “Signal from Orbit” script from the text hunts fits better.
Setup is about 20 minutes: print, cut, write the word with a candle and place the clues by the key. The hunt itself runs 40–60 minutes depending on age and how many hints you give.
No. The illustrations use flat colors with a thick outline and read fine in black and white: the letters on the fridge shelf sit in circles, the cipher wheel is divided by lines, the maze is just lines, and the binocular differences are objects that appeared, so color makes no difference. Color looks nicer, but every puzzle works without it.
Eight clues offer two hiding spots each: chair or table, mirror or window, lamp or TV, bookshelf or towel, shoes or jacket, kettle or big pot, doormat or pillow, washing machine or bathtub. Pick the ones that fit in the form — the cards and the Chief's key rebuild themselves. Every home has a fridge and a sofa, so those two have no options.
Yes, up to three kids as one team: type all the names into the form — Fig addresses each of them in the letter, the warrant and the final note, and one ID prints per name. The birthday kid reads the cards and everyone searches together. Print the badges and envelopes per kid; for a team of three, print the jigsaw photo twice.
Before the game, write the word in the blank box of the card with a white candle or wax crayon, pressing hard. When the kid shades the box with a colored pencil, the wax keeps the graphite off and the letters show up white. Test it once on scrap paper.
Yes. The ready PDF downloads with no sign-up, and the personalized kit with the name and spots is built on this page and printed through your browser. The kit is made by the team behind the GIFTbase app; if you want a hunt built around your own kid's interests, the generator in the app writes it.
Updated September 19, 2026
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What to put in the last hiding spot
The hunt is ready — now pick the gift worth searching the whole home for. GIFTbase suggests ideas by age and interests: tell the app who the kid is and get 10 options with store links. Free to start.