Category Archives: Scavenger Hunt Ideas

City or Campus Tour

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Are you trying to organise a city tour, a campus tour, or just a general tour of an area for individuals but you don’t know where to start?  Are you trying to organise a tour of your facilities so that you don’t necessarily need to be physically present on the tour, but at the same time ensure to give your guests a good experience of your facilities or surroundings?
Using an easy-to-use tool like TextClues, it can organise a tour for your group in a way that you wouldn’t normally have expected!

TextClues can be used in two ways for a tour:
1) To help guide individuals from one location to another that are new to the area
2) To determine whether individuals within a certain location remember where facilities and specific points of interests are (if they have already been on a tour)

Both of the above would be setup in the same way, however it is simply a matter of how you would word your clues.  We’ll give examples of both, but we’ll start off with a completely new group wanting to tour around an area for the first time on their own…

Say, for example, you are a tour company, and want to provide customers the ability to take tours on their own time, stroll through the streets at their own pace, but still make use of your touring service. You could easily have users subscribe to a specific “tour hunt” via TextClues that will bring them to interesting attractions around your city
:)

Here’s an example for the city of Toronto:

Clue: The tour begins in the heart of Chinatown – Dundas and Spadina. Do you see the big tall tower (aka CN Tower) south of you? Walk down Spadina towards this tower. Take time to stroll down the street, go into some shops/markets, and enjoy a fresh drink. When you’re done, text “yum”
Answer: Yum
Clue: Have you reached the big tall Tower yet? If not, keep going until you are at its base :) Take time to take some photos and if you are up for it, have a ride up the tower too! When you’re done with the area, text “yay”
Answer: Yay

Now, if you want to test out some students at a campus, to see how familiar they are with a building, you can make it a bit more interactive :) Fictional campus used in the below example.

Clue: Start at the main campus. Go to the building on campus that has a cannon outside of the building. What year is found on the cannon?
Answer: 1853
Clue: Great job! Now, where on campus can you buy a nice big smoothie? Go there now and tell is the best selling item.
Answer: Fruity Blast

As you can see, you can have all sorts of fun creating a scavenger hunt/text messaging tour and make the tour go any way you would like it ;) And with TextClues, the organisation of it all just makes it *that* much easier.  Try it out today and you will see how easy you can have it work for you too.

Summer Camp Text Scavenger Hunt

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Camp CreekA scavenger hunt is a great way to get kids aquainted to a new camp. They can be used for camp orientation or to get the kids to explore areas of the camp they have never been before. You can ask them questions about landmarks and get them to learn what the camp has to offer.

You can use TextClues to send the clues by text message, but just make sure you have cell phone reception at the camp!

Here’s an example hunt that needs a compass:

Clue: Head north for 10 minutes until you reach water. What’s the name of this creek? Reply with the answer.

Answer: Five mile creek

Clue: How many swinging ropes are attached to the tree nearby?

Answer: 3, three

Clue: Good. Now head west upstream. How many kayaks are on the bank?

Answer: 11, eleven

Clue: Good. Walk a little further and cross over the bridge to the other side. What’s carved on the top of the totem pole?

Answer: Eagle

Clue: Good. Follow the path and when you reach the fork in the road look down and tell me what’s growing below the sign.

Answer: MushroomsMushrooms

Clue: Yes. Alright, go right at the fork and keep walking until you reach a clearing in the forest.  What’s in the middle of the clearing?

Answer: fire pit, pit

Clue: We’re going to use that for the bonfire tonight. What kind of tree has white peeling bark?

Answer: Birch, Birch tree

Clue: Good. Find one and peel a bit of the dried bark off. We’ll use that for fire kindling later. Head to the flag pole. What year is engraved on the plaque?

Answer: 1973

Winning Message:  That’s when the camp was founded. Now follow the trail east. When you reach the lodge go inside for lunch!

Museum Scavenger Hunt

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Interested in a fun and educational day out with your kids? Well with a little bit of time you can create a fun day they won’t forget. The only problem is they might keep asking for another scavenger hunt as soon as possible!

Museums are great places for kids to learn because they are so interesting once you get the kids engaged. TextClues is a great new way to use technology to get kids interested in the exhibits and excited about learning. It allows you to create clues that will be sent to any mobile phone using text messages. When you answer a clue correctly the next clue is sent and when you answer it incorrectly it tells you to “try again”. You can see it in action using the demo.

This allows you to create a brand new experience for your kids that is sure to amaze.  They will be wondering how you did it. You can even say that the questions are coming from an adventurer who needs answers to his/her important questions.

It will only take a short visit to the museum beforehand to prepare the adventure. Quickly go through the museum and pick out interesting facts that you know your child would be interested in. If you are going with a few children then you might want to pick out different clues for each one. You will be able to enter all these clues into the computer in minutes then schedule the hunt to start when you’re heading to the museum.

As you walk through the museum with the kids you can enjoy each exhibit together and they will be excitedly looking for the answer to their next clue.

Here’s an example of how a hunt might start:

Clue: Hi, my name is Dr. Swill. I am an explorer and I need your help! Could you find some answers for me at the museum today? Please tell me “yes”

Answer: Yes

Clue: Perfect! When you first walk into the door you will see a big dinosaur skeleton. What is that dinosaur’s name?

Answer: trex, tyrannosaurus

Clue: Ahh just as I expected. Now can you find the name of the woman who helped Louis and Clark along their journey? …

Learning can be fun too

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Homework and studying aren’t normally the number one things on a kid’s list of “fun things to do”. However, I believe that there can be so many different ways to incorporate learning and studying into something that kids could in fact enjoy.  Typically, when we try to test kids on content, it is always through pen and paper.  Why not use something like a text messaging tool, or a scavenger hunt through text messages so that:
1) One less thing to print out or write up (and hey, better for the environment too!)
2) Make your kids think that it is sort of like a game that they are playing, but really they are also learning at the same time.

You’re probably wondering how all of this would work, aren’t you?

Say, for example, you know that your kids have a math test or science test one day at school.  You can use a tool like TextClues to schedule a mini study/test session for them, but all through their cell phone! This way it makes it so easy for you to set up (just have to input questions into the easy to use TextClues tool) and kids can provide answers through their cell phone.  AND, you can see how your kids are doing via the real-time dashboard that shows how your kids are answering the questions and you can see where they need to study some more.  Best of all, you also don’t need to take the time to review all of the answers because the tool would do it for you!

Let’s give a quick example of how this would work:

Clue: You’ve got that upcoming test for school soon. Let’s see how prepared you are :) What is the volume of a cube that is 10 x 10 x 10? Reply with number answer only.
Answer: 1000
Clue: Great job! What is the square root of 9?
Answer: 3
Clue: Excellent! This property of gold allows it to be hammered into thin sheet and different shapes.
Answer: Malleable, malleability
Clue: You’ll do great if you keep on studying! :)

This is just a short example, but you can see that various different types of educational questions can be asked through text.

How would you make this a little bit more fun, perhaps for a younger child, to learn vocabulary or words?  You can make a scavenger hunt so that it will bring your kids from one location in the house to another, requiring that your child spells out the various words correctly.

Here’s another very quick example:

Clue: I keep food cool before you bring it to school. Spell it out and head there.
Answer: Refrigerator
Clue: Great! Now open the refrigerator, and find out what we are eating for dinner. Reply with the answer.
Answer: Casserole
Clue: Enjoy!

Last but not least, you can even use the tool to help kids learn another language, example Spanish or French.

Clue: How would you be greeted in the morning, in Spanish?
Answer: Buenos dias
Clue: Buenos dias to you too! How would you be greeted in the morning, in French?
Answer: Bon matin
Clue: And good morning to you :)

As you can see, a text messaging tool for educational purposes can be fun and interactive! Try TextClues out today and see how much more willing your kids will be to study at the same time :)

Church Youth Group Activities: Bible Text Message Quiz

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Bible

A great interactive way to get your church youth group reading the bible and learning about the faith is a TextClues bible quiz. You’ll need everyone to have a cell phone so they can send/receive text messages. Then create a scavenger hunt with clues that tell them where to read in the bible to answer.

The great thing about this is everyone proceeds at their own pace. Also it feels less like a test and more like a fun learning experience.

Here’s an example of a bible quiz with an Easter theme:

Clue: What did Jesus use in the Last Supper as a symbol of his body? (Matthew 26:26)
Answer: bread
Clue: What was Judas given to betray Jesus? (Matthew 26:14-15)
Answer: coins, silver
Clue: What color was the robe they placed on Jesus? (Mark 15:17)
Answer: purple
Clue: What was Jesus’ crown made of? (Matthew 27:29)
Answer: thorns
Clue: What was Jesus hung on? (John 19:17-18)
Answer: crossJesus on the cross
Clue: What did they use to put Jesus on the cross? (John 20:25)
Answer: nails
Clue: What was rolled away from the tomb on Easter morning? (Matthew 27:59-60)
Answer: stone, rock
Clue: What did they find in the tomb on the 3rd day after Jesus died? (Luke 24:3)
Answer: nothing, empty
Clue: Who denied Jesus 3 times? (Matthew 26:75)
Answer: Peter

Click here to try the free demo on your cell phone.

Car Rally Scavenger Hunt

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Car rallies can be used for all sorts of events and occasions – birthday parties, school or church retreats, or just general fun get togethers.  How does a car rally work?  It is basically a scavenger hunt, however done by using a car to get from one destination to another.  Thus, it should typically last a couple of hours.  It is also done with at least 2 or more people per car, as the clues tend to be a bit trickier and need some team work to figure out where the next destination should be ;)

A few important things to consider with a car rally:
1) Where should the end destination be (the last clue should lead to this place :) assuming a place that everybody participating in the car rally should gather at the end for some more fun ;)
2) The team that arrives at the end destination first is the winner! However… the below should be considered!
3) If someone on the car rally gets stuck with a clue and has absolutely no idea where to go for the next clue, there should be a contact person that teams should be able to contact, if they need some help – of course, penalties should be put in place, if someone needs to call in for help :) e.g.: if a team calls in for help, that team has 10 minutes added to their end time. So, if a team ends up finishing the hunt in 2 hours, but has called in once for help, their end time is 2 hours and 10 minutes.  If another team arrives at the end destination at 2 hours and 5 minutes, with no calls for help, they would be the official winners!
4) Do you want to include props as part of the hunt? e.g.: teams need to take pictures at specific destinations or buy items from a certain store? If so, the teams need to be provided with cameras or have cameras on hand and ensure that teams have money available with them to use for purchases on the hunt.

Let’s end off this post with a car rally example :)

Clue: We’ll start off easy – Sometimes you throw a dart at me, others use me for shooting practice. I am a…
Answer: Target
Clue: Correct! Go to the nearest Target store and tell me what kid’s item takes up the most space in the store.
Answer: Bicycles, bikes, bike, bicycle
Clue: Great! Now, get on one of those bikes and take a picture with your team ;) Where in the area is a good trail to take a bike?
Answer: Stoney Creek, Stoneys
Clue: Perfect – get going to the creek now. And reply with “yes” when you arrive there
Answer: Yes
Clue: Great – Go to the area where you can rent boats. How many statues are surrounding the cabin?
Answer: 5, five
Clue: Thats right! Take a silly team picture amongst the statues. What is the cheapest item you can buy inside the cabin?
Answer: key chain, keychain
Clue: Yup! Go buy me a nice keychain as a souvenir :) Next up, are you getting rather hungry? There was a movie called “Super Size Me” based on this franchise.
Answer: McDonald’s, McDonalds, Mc Donalds, Mc Donald’s
Clue: Thats right! Go to the closest McDonald’s and take a picture with one of the employees. Type “ok” without the quotes when this has been done.
Answer: ok
Clue: Hope the employee didnt find you too odd :P It’s time for some fun! Which playground can you find a water slide?
Answer: Raven Park, Raven
Clue: Right! Hop on over there and take a picture of your team mates playing in the playground. Type “ok” without the quotes when done
Answer: “ok”
Clue: I normally slither around, but you can get a good drink out of me.
Answer: Snake’s bar
Clue: That’s right! Head on there now for a drink or two, and find out what place you’ve come in. Don’t forget to buy me a drink :)

And that’s a simple car rally :) No need to leave paper trails around the city with a tool like Text Clues. We do the work for you :)  Try it out today, and you’ll make your next event out one for your group of friends or club to remember!

Ideas for a kid’s birthday party

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It is your turn to host an event for kids (e.g.: your child’s birthday party, a neighbourhood get together, or a fun fair, just to name a few events) and you don’t know what to do… Well, what do kids like the most? Games and winning prizes, of course! :) With a site like textclues.com, it enables you to cater both to the little and big kids by making a scavenger hunt adventure.  Scavenger hunts can be fun for all age-ranges, but using textclues.com, little kids will feel more important and like a “big kid” by using their parents devices (i.e.: their cell phone) to play a game. And, older kids will feel important to be able to use their cool gadgets to participate in some games.  So, how would this all work? A few things you need to think about:

Do you want one large prize at the end, or a few small prizes in between the hunt?

This fact will more just help you with deciding the type of clues you may want to create in between the scavenger hunt.  If it is a big prize for the winner at the end, the clues can be a build up to the winning prize.  If it is a few prizes in between, you’ll have to think of clever spots to hide these prizes, while incorporating them into the clues!
Example: “You’re getting close to winning the secret treasure! Your pot of gold awaits you where you can find three posts together within an “M”.

Do kids work in teams or individually?
Depending on the number of kids participating, this may be the determining factor.  However, even with 4 or more kids, groups can work in your favour as it allows kids to also work together as a team and co-operate with one another to help get through the hunt.

Do you want the hunt to run like a competition where there is only one (team of) winner(s) or everyone running in the hunt will win a prize?
Personally, because all kids love prizes, I think each kid should win *something*, even if it is a smaller prize than the grand prize winner.

Should kids all be running the hunt at the same time or should one child or team run at a time?
If all kids are running the hunt at the same time, it would be pretty straight forward because the person that reaches the last clue first will be the winner.  If you decide to have the kids run through the scavenger hunt individually, you can easily time each team or child to see who has the fastest time to finish the race.

Another idea that can add a little twist to your scavenger hunt can be as follows: Before beginning the hunt, tell each individual or team that at each clue station, they must pick up an object from the location. This means that you will need to ensure that there are an equal amount of objects at each clue location as the number of people/teams running in the race.  At the end of the race, you can do something silly like “The last requirement before potentially winning the prize is each team or individual must dress up one person as best as possible with all of the items picked up along the race”

Or, even other obstacles and games can be incorporated into the scavenger hunt.  For example, at the end of the race, there can be a puzzle that the kids must put together prior to winning; or, perhaps the first team that can throw 5 bean bags into a basket from a certain area on the field will be the winners! This will allow the teams/individuals that perhaps were running a bit slower in the race to catch up with the rest of the teams, making the possibility of winning for anyone! :)

As you can see, there are so many different ways to spice up a scavenger hunt for kids and make it just that much more exciting.  Go ahead, and try one out today with textclues.com.  Your kids wont be disappointed, and they will be asking you for more in no time ;)

Scavenger Hunt for Kids

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Ready to Go!

The textclues service is perfect for creating a scavenger hunt for kids. You can input all your clues online ahead of time and start the hunt whenever the kids are getting restless and bored. You can use it as quality time with the young ones. Since all the clues and answers are taken care of automatically on the phone you can also use it to free up some alone time for yourself.

If they don’t have mobile phones of their own yet you can let them use yours for the hunt. Kids really find it exciting when they are receiving a hunt directly tailored towards them through a phone. If you haven’t had a chance to check out our textclues product take a look at the demo!

Be warned, once you send them on one hunt they’ll be asking for more!

 

 

Setting up the Scavenger Hunt

Setting up a simple scavenger hunt for your kids is easy with textclues. The first step is coming up with the clues and answers for the hunt.

For this step grab a peice of paper and go through each room in your house one by one. In each room come up with as many clues as you can. Keep them relatively simple to make sure the kids will be able to figure it out. Clues like “how many wheels are on the desk chair” and “how many drawers are on the cupboard” seem simple but make great clues. Especially on the first few hunts you want to keep the clues easy. You should be able to come up with 10 – 20 clues for each room in no time.

Where to Next!

Next head to your computer and open up textclues. You’re going to want to make at least two scavenger hunts because your kids will be asking for more! Simply write down a clue and answer for one room then pick a clue from a room across the house next. Picking rooms far from each other will help the hunt last a little longer. You’ll have a few hunts set up before you know it.

Now when your kids are getting restless and bored you’ll be ready with a ready made scavenger hunt. Simply type in your child’s mobile phone number or your own and start the hunt. You should explain the concept to the children the first time they’re doing the hunt. It really couldn’t be easier! I always like to end the scavenger hunt by giving them a prize.

If you have any questions for us or any experiences you would like to share do so below!

Easter Scavenger Hunt

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Alright, so we have about a month away until Easter is here…  Why not make your Easter egg hunt just a little bit more fun and interactive for the huntee (and perhaps make them work a little to get the well deserved Easter treats)? ;) Use a text message scavenger hunt to hide your Easter treats. The huntee will have more fun going on the hunt so they aren’t just searching blindly AND because you will know exactly where all of the treats are hidden around the house/location, there won’t be any chocolate that is sitting unfound for many years to come :P

SO, how should an Easter hunt work? Really, it should work just like any other scavenger hunt, only you would more likely have various treats along the way of the hunt or you can just have one nice big prize at the very end of the hunt (your choice!) The good thing with textclues.com is that we provide you the means of providing all the clues and answers quite easily for the participant, without you needing to be there necessarily to supervise to see what is going on with the hunt :) All you need to do is find where you want to hide the treats, make up clues to get to these locations and you are done!

So, just to re-cap some components of this hunt:
– Determine if you want to hide treats/prizes throughout the hunt, or just one larger item for the very end of the hunt
– Think of clues to lead to the specific locations to arrive at the treats

With textclues.com, one even better feature is that you can setup the same (or different) scavenger hunt for different people and schedule the hunt to occur at a certain time. E.g.: If you have two kids, and are setting up this hunt for your kids, you can set up one scavenger hunt for each of your kids using the tool :)

Let’s end this blog post off with an example hunt:

Clue: Ready to have some fun on the hunt for some Easter treats? Reply with answer: “Yes” or “No”
Answer: Yes

Clue: Great! Start by going to the fridge. What has mom left in the fridge for dinner tonight?
Answer: Chicken

Clue: Yes! Now, what do chickens lay?
Answer: Eggs, Egg

Clue: Yes, they do. Go to where you can find the eggs in the house for your next clue.

(clue hidden in egg carton: No chocolate eggs here! But what is hidden under the kitchen sink?)
Answer: Cadbury egg, egg, chocolate egg

Clue: Woohoo! You got your first egg on the hunt :) Where is dad’s favorite room in the house?

Answer: Family room

Clue: That’s right.  Go there and look under dad’s favorite seat for the next clue.
(clue hidden under seat, along with treat: Yes, more treats :) Just to add an educational twist: What is 9 X 9?)
Answer: 81

Clue: Good job. You are learning well :) Go to where you do your homework for your next clue.

(clue: Thought you were off the hook after the first math question? Here’s another: 10 / 2 = ?)

Answer: 5

Clue: Excellent. Now, go to page 5 of your homework for the next clue.
(clue: We went on vacation last year to California. What is the capital of this city?)
Answer: Sacremento

Clue: Perfect.  Now, go to where we have our family photo from this trip and respond with the answer located at this spot.
(chocolate hidden by picture frame, with a note saying: “More Chocolate”)
Answer: More chocolate

Clue: You want more chocolate? That’s not enough for you? :) Alright, maybe a couple more… Go to your bedroom. What is hidden behind your favorite stuffed animal?
Answer: Toothbrush

Clue: Did we put that there? Oops. Must have put it in the wrong spot. Go to where you would place your toothbrush and text back to me what is hidden there.
Answer: Marshmallow bunny

Clue: We didn’t forget those were your favorite ;) Finally, what does the paper under the bathroom sink say?

(clue: Go to the family room)
Answer: Go to the family room

Winning message: Yes, go to the family room!! You’ll need that new toothbrush for a reason :) Happy Easter! (chocolate basket or bunny found in the family room)

Have some fun with your hunt. You can make it as easy or intricate as you would like the challenge to be for the huntee. If you want to add some educational touches to it for kids, go for it to make them earn the chocolate even more :P Or, if you have more space to work with for your hunt, or are working with an older crowd, make the clues a bit more complex and a challenge to find. You as the scavenger hunt maker should also have some fun making the hunt for others. Happy Easter everyone!

Try our text message scavenger hunt demo.

Scavenger Hunt Ideas Part Two

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As promised, I’m continuing my discussion on some brief ideas for making use of a scavenger hunt :)

On-Campus Hunts:
Text message scavenger hunts can be used in so many different ways on-campus (or really, at any university, college, school or general club/organisation :)
Student councils are always trying to think of fun and different ways of engaging students in activities.  Why not use a scavenger hunt to:
– Put together a pub crawl: use the hunt to lead students from one pub to the next, using different clues to help point students in the right direction
– Campus tour: Why not make a campus tour a bit more exciting? They don’t always have to be long and boring ;) Have the students follow along the hunt – this way, they will learn more about the campus and remember their surroundings better for the future

Teenage or Adult Parties:
I went to a birthday party once where it was setup like a city race.  We had to log all of our answers into a website (that was built specifically for this hunt) and the next clue would then show up once the correct answer was inputted.  Clues were setup to bring the teams to different locations across the city using public transportation.  Why not just use an easy-to-use and already-made tool like textclues.com to bring your party to life?

Educational purposes:
Do you want to try to make learning fun for your kids? Try making some practice homework assignments, such as the multiplication table, a bit more fun (and surprising) for your kids!  Make it into a game by creating a text scavenger hunt that can occur at any time of day.  This way – the kids will have fun at the same time as doing something educational.

I know, this was all somewhat brief however the next few posts will provide specific examples on how to make use of a scavenger hunt for any of these ideas.  We’ll start off with kid’s birthday parties and how you can make it fun and enjoyable for all participating kids.  Stay tuned ;)