Europe Day Treasure Hunt – 1st and 2nd Class

An active, teamwork-based treasure hunt where younger pupils discover European countries, foods, and languages.

Forget the usual worksheets! This Europe Day Treasure Hunt is a genuinely fun, low-prep adventure designed specifically for 1st and 2nd graders. It gets young kids up and moving, working together in teams, and actively uncovering fun facts about the European Union. Whether you play it in the classroom, the school yard, or the hall, this activity turns learning into an exciting mission.

Learning objectives

This Treasure Hunt helps younger children discover key European facts through active collaboration. By solving the 15 clues, pupils will learn about:

1. Culture & Famous Food: Discovering that spaghetti comes from Italy, baguettes from France, and recognizing popular characters like Asterix or Santa Claus in Finland.
2. Geography & Landmarks: Locating Ireland on the map, identifying the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Dutch windmills, and the origins of IKEA in Sweden.
3. Languages & EU Symbols: Learning basic greetings like “Bonjour” (French) and “Gracias” (Spanish), as well as discovering the Euro currency, the 27 Member States, and the 12 stars on the EU flag

Step 1 – Preparing the Materials

Setting up is simple and takes just a few minutes.

• The Stars: Print out the document with the 15 stars and pictures on a single side. Cut out the rectangles and fold them over so that you have a star on one side and a picture clue on the back. Pro-tip: We highly recommend laminating each folded star so you can use them year after year!
• The Booklets: Print out the student booklet back-to-back, flipping on the short edge

Step 2 – Setting up the Hunt

Once your materials are ready, hide the 15 clue stars around your classroom, your school, the hall, or your yard. You can get as creative as you want with the hiding spots. The aim of the game is for the kids to find the stars and to answer every question in their booklet. Don’t forget to remind pupils not to damage or remove the stars/images from their hiding spots!

Step 3 – The Treasure Hunt (Teamwork in Action!)

Get your students into teams of three. Each team gets one booklet and works together as a unit. Because the teams do not have to find the stars or answer the questions in order, you can have them start at different ends of the yard in a staggered fashion. When a team finds a star, they use the picture clue on the back to answer the matching numbered question on their answer sheet

Step 4 – Scoring and The Ultimate Tie-Breaker

When the hunt is over, gather the teams and use the provided Teacher Solutions sheet to correct the booklets. If two teams have the same score, use our ultimate tie-breaker question: “To the closest million, how many people live in the European Union?”. The team whose guess is closest to 450 million wins the game!

Why this activity works

• The Europe Day Treasure Hunt encourages the following:
• Active, kinaesthetic learning: Moving around the school to discover educational clues.
• Collaboration and communication: Working in teams of three to solve simple trivia.
• Factual retention: Memorising basic European greetings, member states, and cultural fun facts in a highly engaging, gamified way.