Hiding Places
Findable, but not on the first pass.
A good hiding place is one they walk past twice before they look at it properly. That is a narrow target, and missing it in either direction ruins the hunt: a clue on the kitchen table is not a hunt, and a clue inside a zipped coat pocket in a closet is a search party.
The reliable trick is to hide things in the open but out of eyeline. A child of eight looks at the world between knee height and their own head. On top of the refrigerator, taped under a dining chair, inside a lampshade, behind a photograph on a shelf: all of these are visible from the room and invisible from where a child is actually looking.
Two rules that save a hunt. Never hide anything somewhere that needs an adult to open it, or the hunt stops and waits for you. And photograph every hiding place as you set it up, because the one you forget is the one they cannot find, and you will end up hunting for your own clue while six children watch.
Guides
