Fun and Frugal Scavenger Hunts

www.stretcher.com - Used by permission from the Editor, Gary Foreman

Great ideas for youth groups, adult Sunday school classes, friends, and families.

Updated Scavenger Hunt Ideas
We did this as kids in the neighborhood too, asking for old calendars of a certain year, or a penny of a certain date. We all had the same list to work from.

But now the teens are using technology. They get a camcorder for each group and have a list of things to do at various locations. They put the list of each group in a different order so the groups don't all go to the same place at once. Then they film it for proof.

Like go to a certain gas station and help someone get gas and wash his or her windows. Go to another business and sing a song, etc. Not only is it different by going to all these various locations, but then they each watch the other's film to verify what was done and have some refreshments and laughs. You can change this any way you like to fit your group and/or location. ~ Thomas

A Hunt for Information
A couple of years ago, I organized a fun car rally/scavenger hunt for the staff at work. I concentrated on the hunters gathering information rather than things, so as not to disrupt the activities in stores and other businesses. Scavengers were asked to get dates from a building cornerstone and a gravestone, an inscription from a building lintel and a gravestone, to count the number of seats in a restaurant and the number of overhead light standards on a bridge, to identify historic community landmarks, etc.

The route was carefully mapped out to take participants around the community, with rather cryptic directions such as "turn right where Eveline meets royalty" ("royalty" was Queen Street). Setting up such an event can be just as much fun as participating in it! ~ Barbara

Bringing Back the Proof
Our church youth group did a photo scavenger hunt once. You make a list of different settings - for example, get a photo of your group doing a human pyramid, a photo of your group in front of a house with the numbers 123, a picture of a member of your group getting frisked by a police officer, etc. You set a time limit - say 2 hours - and each group get in a car and takes off. Some pictures are worth more points than others, depending on difficulty of acquiring the picture. After the time is up, you add up the points. The activity is great fun and the photos afterwards are great souvenirs. ~ Tasha

Community Service Scavenger Hunt
Here's a twist on the old scavenger hunt. For a neighborhood block party we had a Service Scavenger Hunt. We gave groups of people a list of nice things to do for someone: sweep a kitchen floor, read a story to a child, unload a dishwasher, sweep a front sidewalk, take out the garbage, etc.

The first group to meet back at Base with all the items done got a prize. We had a ball, and it was a good way to meet some of the shyer ones who weren't planning to come to the party at all. ~ Joey