Amazing Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Singing

• For a musical twist, pick a song and have scavenger hunt participants find people that can sing it, hum it, or play it on an instrument. Choose songs that the group is likely to know, including one difficult to find. During the hunt, teams head off to find people on the street, on campus, or anywhere within the designated area to perform the song, while it is recorded on a camera or cell phone. During regroup, have the winning team play their "findings" for the group, each sharing their funniest performance.

Educational

• If your scavenger hunt is for a class, work education into the game. For a history class, include items that encourage students to discover facts and experiences; for example, one item might be asking a local historical society member for an anecdote about life in your area in the 1950s. A scavenger hunt for a science class studying plants might have items that require students to bring back leaves with a specific edge or vein pattern, and an English class hunt might require that participants take a photo of a sign with a misspelling, grammatical or punctuation error.

Neighborhood or Office

• For safe neighborhoods or relaxed offices, hold a scavenger hunt requiring participants to go door-to-door or office-to-office finding items on the list. In a neighborhood, you might include items like a cup of sugar, a rake, or a curtain pull; in an office, you can list staplers, diplomas, family photo, or a coffee mug. To add an extra level of fun and difficulty, require that participants not reveal that they are on a scavenger hunt: it requires more invention to get your co-worker to give up his favorite coffee mug if he doesn&'t know the purpose.

Photo

• Provide each team with a list of photo shoots and a digital camera; the first team to return with all of their shots wins. Depending on the age of the group, make sure the lists contain items that could have multiple interpretations so that participants are free to find creative solutions. To add humor to the situation, include at least one item that is ridiculous or difficult to find, such as a businessman balancing a broom on his chin or a co-worker with a "kick me" sign on their back. At the end of the scavenger hunt, have each team put together a slide show of their findings and share with the group.