Youth Group Events – Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunts have always been  a favorite event with the youth groups I’ve worked with. A Scavenger Hunt is when two or more teams look for items to earn points. There are several ways to go on a Scavenger Hunt.

Planning a Youth Group Scavenger Hunt can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. You can let your imagination go wild. Try to get a count of how many teens will be there before you plan your Hunt so you can know how big it needs to be. Knowing the number of teens that will be participating will help you determine how many teams you’ll have. The number of teams will determine the number of chaperons you need, how many Kodak disposable cameras you need, how many prizes, etc. If you can’t know a head of time how many teens you will have, make an educated guess and then plan for one extra team if possible.

Now that you have the number of teams figured out and some chaperons in place, it’s time to figure out what kind of Scavenger Hunt to have (yes there is more than one type).

The first type is a Riddle Scavenger Hunt. This is where you give every team a list of riddles. The riddles can lead you to a place, an object, a person or another riddle (much like the “Wild Goose Chase” described in one of my other posts). If you decide on a Riddle Scavenger Hunt, you must then decide if the teams need to go to different places or people to get the next clue or if they are collecting the objects described in the riddle. If you don’t have one volunteer chaperon per team, this may not be the best type of Scavenger Hunt and you should choose one of the other hunts.

The next type of Scavenger Hunt is an item hunt. This is where you have a list of things with their point value (this is determined by how difficult the item is to find). Basically, you give the list of items to your teams (like Colgate toothpaste, Dial Soap, Green Giant can of corn, etc.) and they find the items. Your chaperon for each team drives your teams to their destinations. Your teams can then find the items and bring them back to where you are waiting (if you are collecting things for missions or for a needy family) or they can use Kodak disposable cameras to take pictures of the items. Using the cameras then gives you photos for a church photo album or for a gift to the parents for allowing their youth to join you.

A Store Scavenger Hunt is also fun. You must get permission before doing this type of Scavenger Hunt. You can check with Wal-mart, K-mart, Target, Kroger, etc. Ask them if your youth group can search for things from your list (show them the list if it helps) and take pictures for a Scavenger Hunt. If they say no, still thank them for their time. If they say yes, make sure your teams know to clean up behind themselves and not just dump the items where ever and move on. The day of the hunt, send your teams in different directions with a chaperon and a disposable camera. Let them take their pictures and turn in the cameras where you drop them at a 1 hour photo to finish your prints. While you wait, treat the teens to pizza or burgers.

If you use the photo method of collecting items, you can have the teams look through the photos and calculate, on a big board or paper, their points. Have one youth keep track of the points while one or two find the items in the pictures. Another teen can find the point value for each item. Have the chaperon working with that group, to keep order with their group. Have a prize for the team that has the most points or take them all to the batting cages or putt-putt and the winning team gets to go first. Treat them to Pizza Hut Pizza if it’s in the budget.

If you don’t have enough chaperons, you can make up packets and have them fill out the packet of riddles. The first team to finish the packet wins. This works well for Bible Studies. You can have them use their Bibles to figure out the riddles and take them through a story in the Bible (you will not need cameras for this type). You can also use the Bible verses to come up with clues to the next riddle or clue.

Tips & Warnings
Make some of the items seem impossible (like the river, a dragon or heaven) and give high points to those items. Give a bonus 10 points (or more) to the team who was the most creative in finding items (a cloud formation of a dragon, a jar with river water, etc.).

Be flexible. A Scavenger Hunt is meant to be fun so don’t quibble over an item. If it’s questionable, award 1/2 of the points.

Tags: Scavenger Hunt