An indoor Halloween clue hunt for a specified age group

Actual tested output. The notes used for this result are an example, not a real event. This box is not copied. Replace the notes above with your own before you paste the prompt.

Ages supplied: 9-11, with an adult supervising. Six allowed places are enough for six destinations. Do not add places.

Before setup, the adult should drop any listed place that needs climbing or reaching above the players' comfortable height. Bookshelf and coat hook are the likely ones. If one is dropped, stop and say so. The hunt would then need permission to be shorter. No extra location will be invented.

Seated alternative for every clue: players stay seated, say the place, and the adult walks there and brings the next card back. No running.

Player clue cards. Hints are optional. Answers are not on these cards.

Card 1
Clue: I hold many stories side by side. Not a box and not a chair: a shelf is where I hide.
Hint: Look for rows of books.

Card 2
Clue: I am the soft square on the place you sit. Lift me gently; the next note is under it.
Hint: It is on the sofa.

Card 3
Clue: Jackets hang on me against the wall. I am a hook, not a chair at all.
Hint: Look where coats hang. Skip this clue's place if the hook is too high.

Card 4
Clue: I am a chair that belongs to a meal. Not the sofa: I am the dining chair, real.
Hint: It is where people sit to eat.

Card 5
Clue: Toys go in me when play is through. I am the toy box waiting for you.
Hint: It stores toys.

Card 6
Clue: I am a basket with nothing inside. Empty is the word I do not hide.
Hint: Find the basket that has nothing in it.

Finish card, not a clue: You reached the last place. Show this card to the adult. Hunt complete.

Host table

card number | where to place it | answer/destination | next card or finish
1 | in the adult's hand, given to the players at the start | bookshelf | card 2
2 | on the bookshelf | sofa cushion | card 3
3 | under or behind the sofa cushion, not in a locked spot | coat hook | card 4
4 | on the coat hook, only if the height is comfortable | dining chair | card 5
5 | on the dining chair | toy box | card 6
6 | in the toy box | empty basket | finish card
Finish | in the empty basket | empty basket is the last destination | finish

Setup order, last stop first, so cards are not mixed:
1. Finish card into the empty basket.
2. Card 6 into the toy box.
3. Card 5 onto the dining chair.
4. Card 4 onto the coat hook if, and only if, players can reach it comfortably.
5. Card 3 with the sofa cushion.
6. Card 2 on the bookshelf.
7. Keep card 1 to hand to the players. Do not hide it.

Chain check: card 1 is handed out and leads to bookshelf, which holds card 2, which leads to the sofa cushion, which holds card 3, which leads to the coat hook, which holds card 4, which leads to the dining chair, which holds card 5, which leads to the toy box, which holds card 6, which leads to the empty basket, which holds the finish card. Destinations in order: bookshelf, sofa cushion, coat hook, dining chair, toy box, empty basket. All six allowed places appear once. No repeat, no missing link, no loop.

No darkness, no running, no climbing, no locked spaces, no food reward, and nothing hidden in an electrical appliance. About 15 minutes is the intended length for these six short rhymes; that timing is a plan, not a tested run.