This St. Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt is the perfect way to hide a fun little treasure for your kids on the March holiday! With free printable St. Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt riddles, instructions on how to play, and even treasure ideas – this scavenger hunt is everything you need for one magically good time!
St. Patrick’s Day Treasure Hunt
My family loves scavenger hunts, so much that I’ve shared over 30 different scavenger hunts over the years! If there was ever a day to go on a treasure hunt, I feel like St. Patrick’s Day (or talk like a pirate day) is it.
I mean we all know there’s a pot a gold at the end of the rainbow on March 17th right? In this case, it’s a pot of gold, or whatever treasure you choose (I recommend these gold filled green velvet cupcakes), that the leprechaun left behind when he ran away to hide so fast.
This indoor scavenger hunt for kids tracks a leprechaun as he jumps from one place to another, trying to avoid the kids on the chase to find him. Will they ever find him – you have to play to find out!
But in all seriousness, kids will love this fun St. Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt (almost as much as they love this St. Patrick’s Day bingo) and love the idea of trying to find that sneaky little leprechaun. It’s such a fun idea for surprising the kids on St. Patrick’s Day!
And if they’d rather do something that’s not a clue based scavenger hunt, this leprechaun hunt is a great alternative!
St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt Riddles
The scavenger hunt PDF comes with twelve different riddles – starting with one telling them how to play and what they’re trying to do (catch the tricky little leprechaun) and ends with a fun treasure at the end.
I made all of the clues generic enough that they could be used in anyone’s home. And when I say generic, I mean the clues lead to places like an oven, a refrigerator, a door leading outside, etc. They’re not so specific that it could only work in my house (e.g., closet under the stairs, K’s bedroom, craft room).
If you still think these clues might be a little tough to figure out for your kiddos, you have a few choices. Either write your own clues, help them out with the hints for the clues, or play one of these St. Patrick’s Day games instead.
Tip!
If you one of the clues leads to somewhere or something you don’t have in your house (e.g., a TV or a bookshelf), you can always print out a picture of that item and place it somewhere in the house for the kids to find as well! This also works great for classrooms or other places where you may be doing this in a non-traditional location!
How to Set Up This leprechaun scavenger hunt
The best thing about scavenger hunts is that once the riddles are written for you (they are!), all you have to do really is print out the cards and set up the hunt.
So first things first, print out the downloadable PDF at the bottom of this post. Cut out the cards and keep them in order so that you know where they go. Set the first introduction card (aka the first clue) aside.
Place the other cards around the house in their designated location – aka wherever the last clue leads on the card. So for instance, if the card says go find the leprechaun in the refrigerator, you would put the NEXT clue in the refrigerator for the kids to find.
If you want, add some little treasure along the way – gold coins, St. Patrick’s Day stickers, these leprechaun footprints – along the way. Then at the end leave a fun treasure, even better if it’s a gold or rainbow themed treasure (these rainbow cake balls would be great!) but whatever you really want to use is great!
How to use the leprechaun hunt clues
The St. Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt is all set up around the house, so now what?
- Give your kids the first card and tell them that they have to find the cards in order, following along with the clues.
- Once you say go, watch your kids go. I’ve never seen my 5-year-old as excited as he is following scavenger hunt clues around the house. There’s a reason I’ve made scavenger hunt ideas for every holiday!
Note!
Make sure to tell kids that they can’t find or stop at clues that they might see while they’re running through the house that isn’t where their current clue leads. If they stop at another clue, they could mess up the entire hunt and never get to the final stop!
How to make a scavenger hunt more interesting
If you want to switch the scavenger hunt up from just being kids following clues, try one of these add-ons to make it take longer and be even more fun!
- Hide puzzle pieces with each of the clues and the kids have to put the puzzle together at the end to find a message on the back to lead to their final treasure.
- Add lucky pennies along the hunt that they can find and turn in for rewards at the end!
- Have each clue lead to a place were they have to complete a challenge or play one of these St. Patrick’s Day games to get their clue! (They’re all minute to win it games so super easy to play.)
- Scramble up a word and put a letter on the back of each clue, at the end of the hunt they have to unscramble the word to lead them to their final treasure.
St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt Treasure Ideas
Here are just a few of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day treasure ideas to put by the final clue of the hunt! I’ve included a couple of bigger ideas as well as some smaller ones in case, like with this football scavenger hunt, you want to play with a larger group of kids at once! Or you could make it even more challenging and add this roll a rainbow game at the end (to win their prize) instead!
- Good luck bear
- How to Catch a Leprechaun Book
- Lucky charms cookies
- Shamrock sunglasses
- Pot of gold filled with treats or gold goodies like Rolos, Hershey nuggets, gold coins, or any gold candy
- Let the Shenanigans Begin bags (with treats inside) (or this version on Amazon)
- Pot of gold LEGO brick set
- Pot of gold chocolate collection
More St. Patrick’s Day Activities
If you’re looking for more St. Patrick’s Day activities to do along with this St. Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt, try one of these!
- St. Patrick’s Day would you rather – tons of shamrock themed would you rather questions, perfect for kids!
- St. Patrick’s Day charades – see how many of these hilarious St. Patrick’s Day themed words you can act out!
- St. Patrick’s Day word search – find as many St. Patrick’s Day themed words as possible!
- St. Patrick’s Day i-spy – find all of the hidden leprechaun themed pictures in this fun activity!
- St. Patrick’s Day trivia – fun trivia questions all with a St. Patrick’s Day theme – you could even put these along your St. Patrick’s Day treasure hunt!
Download the St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt
Enter your first name and email address into the form to download the free printable leprechaun scavenger hunt clues and you’ll receive an email with the download immediately.
If you do not see the form, click here to get to it.
If you’d prefer to not provide your email, you can purchase a copy in my shop here.
You can either print these on white cardstock or just regular paper – either one is totally fine for the scavenger hunt since you’ll likely be throwing them away afterward. The only caveat is that if you want to stand the cards up, aka lean them against things, instead of using tape – you’ll want to use cardstock.
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