Captain ClueThe mission
A capsule full of treasure has crash-landed in your space station (the house), and the crew must recover it before alien scavengers do. Each clue is a signal from Mission Control that points to the next part of the base: the living room becomes the launch pad, the bedroom the moon base, the garden an alien planet.
Kids who love facts get to show off, and kids who just love running around get a countdown before every search.
Space puzzles by age
The youngest cadets can't read yet; Mission Control (you) reads the signals aloud in a crackly radio voice.
- Ages 5–6: choose the right astronaut gear from three answers, count down from five to blast-off. Find the box with the secret space word.
- Ages 7–8: put the launch steps in order, find a star token hidden in the armchair, unscramble an alien word.
- Ages 9–11: line up the planets from nearest the Sun, unscramble a radio signal, name the colour of the hottest stars.
- Ages 12 and up: anagrams of astronomy words, star types, orbital paths. See the teens page for longer chains.
Space party ideas
A few cheap props turn a living room into a launch centre. Pick two or three; the hunt itself is the main event.
- Astronaut training before the hunt: a slow-motion moonwalk across the room, or a crawl through a cardboard-box airlock.
- Helmets from paper plates or a cardboard box with a window cut out.
- Glow-in-the-dark star stickers on the clue cards, so the trail glows when the lights dim.
- A countdown chant at every station: “three, two, one, search!”
- A cargo capsule for the treasure: a shoebox wrapped in kitchen foil.
- Mission patches or certificates for every cadet at the end.
Two free space missions
The Cosmic Star Mission, for ages 5 to 8, starts with a rocket launch at the sofa and moves to the bookshelf, a desk and the wardrobe, through the living room, a bedroom and the hallway. Starfleet Mission: The Cosmic Core, for 8 to 11, decodes signals in the kitchen, study and garden: the planets in order at a tree, a star-colour question at the bookshelf, a scrambled radio word at the desk and the capsule in the shed.
Read every card here, check the answer key underneath, and download either mission as a free printable. We don't ask for an email.
Indoors on a rainy day
A space hunt doesn't need a garden. A darkened hallway with a torch makes a convincing deep-space tunnel, and three rooms are plenty for a mission. Keep the lights on near stairs, and let the torches do the drama elsewhere.
A space mission for your own base
Captain Clue writes a space treasure hunt around your rooms and furniture, for the ages at your party, with a mission story, signals to decode and a treasure map of your station. Preview it free, then print it for €9 or play it on phones for €19.