How to Use a Car in a Scavenger Hunt

Find a vehicle. Talk to friends, family members and others planning to participate in the scavenger hunt, and ask whether they would be willing to drive their vehicle. Check that each car has liability insurance to cover any wrecks or injuries that may occur during the scavenger hunt.

Prepare vehicles. Make sure all vehicles have a full tank of gas prior to starting the scavenger hunt. This ensures they can make it to all locations during the course of the hunt. This also will ensure there is plenty of gas in case the team gets lost and, therefore, has to do extra driving. Find a location where all vehicles can be safely lined up to start.

Make up the clues and write them down on index cards. Decide what locations you want the different teams to travel to, and develop clues appropriate to those locations. Make a starting clue for each team, and then create a way for teams to retrieve their clues once they arrive at the location. This could be a person at each location handing out the next clue, or the clue tied to a tree or post, which teams can untie and take with them when they arrive at a location.

Prepare drivers. Remind drivers to operate their vehicles in a safe manner and to obey all traffic laws. Give them instructions of what to do in the event their vehicle has problems or they get lost. Give walkie-talkies to teams traveling as a pair so the teams can communicate.

Start the scavenger hunt. Ask drivers and participants to get into their vehicles. Hand out the first clue in an envelope and ask them not to open it until the race starts. Use a big flag or a piece of cloth on a pole to serve as the flag to start the signal of the race. Using a large object such as this ensures that all participants can see the official start of the race.