Star Trek Scavenger Hunt
Do you like Star Trek? Do you like looking for things, as in scavenger hunts? How about combining both of your increasingly weird obsessions by coming up with an actual Star Trek Scavenger Hunt?? In case you’re wondering, yes, I’m one of you. I’m a huge Star Trek nerd, and since a kid I’ve been indulging in Easter Egg Hunts even when it’s not Easter. Now that my daughter is getting old enough, it’s time to indoctrinate her.
First of all, season one of the original Star Trek series is mainly the one to watch, and usually is where our obsessions start, right? Quotes like “Kirk to bridge”, “Illogical”, and “Scotty here” are part of our consciousness now.
So what I propose to do is to pick a few phrases from the show and assign points for each word you hear. Each person in the game gets to pick which phrase he or she would like to represent, and score will be kept. Whoever finds the most of his phrases by the end of a couple episodes wins!
This may sound similar to adult drinking games, I suppose. Truth be told, it actually does have similar aspects. But kids can play this one, and from my experience, they enjoy it when they hear a familiar phrase. Thinking about being beamed up somewhere – not to mention indulging in aspects of science fiction – can be great entertainment for kids.
And let’s face it, like the show or not, it has been revolutionary in terms of the
evolution of television, and we might as well educate or at least familiarize our
kids on it.
Live long and prosper!
Adult Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger hunts are supposed to be for kids, right? Adults are just supposed to be
the organizers and not actively participating? Wrong! The curiosity in us and our
desire to search and find doesn’t have to wither away just because we turned 40. I
propose we get involved with our kids in these searches and even find a way to have
adult scavenger hunts!
There are plenty of ways to approach and indulge in this sort of thing, and it doesn’t
have to be weird or inappropriate, either. When I say “adult”, I’m referring to the
mature aspect of our creativity and intellectualism. Look at archaeologists: you don’t
think that in some way, they’re pretty much on a life-long scavenger hunt??
So what can we search for? Well, for starters, how about delving into history a little? Think
of some historical questions (wars and dates, inventions and inventors, etc.) that you’re
unclear of, and write them down. Hand them out and see who can find them first.
If that doesn’t sound good enough, I understand. But this is a two-part thing. Quiz each other
after finding the answers and see who does the best. The one who gets their facts right
gets to create the list for the next round, based on what it is that he or she wants
to learn.
Out brains are wired to do this sort of thing; it’s our job to try and not get too competitive so as to ruin the spirit of getting together with our friends – not so easy a task in some families and groups, I know!
Have fun!
Recycling Scavenger Hunt
Since most of the free world seems to be jumping on the “Go Green” charge, maybe there’s a way we can educate our kids on this while still having a little fun. Children love scavenger hunts, so why not combine the two by organizing a “Recycling Scavenger Hunt”? Sound crazy? Well, that just may be, considering I just escaped from a mental institution. But please hear me out!
I think the major reason that a lot of us DON’T recycle is because we’re not sure which items can actually BE recycled; I just don’t think it’s pure laziness.
So we could write out twenty or so clues on index cards that describe the objects. For example, if the item to find happens to be a container for a gallon of milk, we could put “Moo!” on the card, while providing a little fact to go along with it; something about how many tons of waste go into landfills each year due to just throwing things away. Use your judgment with this, of course: we don’t want our kids to get freaked out and WORRIED about recycling, just educated. And taught the value of it.
There are many, many items that you could put on this list, and you don’t necessarily have to limit it to what’s in your household; go for a walk on Recycling Day, and see if anyone can spot objects in your neighbor’s recycling bins.
One other slice of knowledge you may gain from the outSIDE excursion will be your realization of how much your neighbor’s drink! Beer bottles galore! But don’t judge them; they’re only trying to save the environment.
Bible Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are a great way for the entire family to do something together, and there are many variations of hunts. One I thought of the other day – and I’m sure I’m not the first to come up with this – is a Bible scavenger hunt.
There are a bunch of different ways you could do this one.
The first way would be to just try and find certain words, words like “hath”, “doest”, etc. That’s always fun, and for the smaller children, it will give them a little exposure to that archaic way of speaking (writing).
The other way – and my choice of way to play – is to find instance of things happening. Example: everyone could have their Bibles ready to go hunting, and you could say this: “O.K., find an example of compassion. Go!”. Everyone would frantically be searching the New Testament for a precise example of Jesus showing compassion for a sinner.
Or you could say, “Find an example of Jesus telling us to love the poor.” Now THAT’S an easy one, of course.
If you have Bibles in your house, then there’s a good chance that you’re not going to be opposed to your children learning more and more stories of love and compassion, and the works of Jesus. What better way than to make a scavenger hunt out of it, with a prize at the end? Better to reward for good behavior than punish too much for bad, right?
It’s a fun game for our family, and I hope you enjoy it, too!
Spanish Scavenger Hunt
If you’re anything like me, you’re always in the middle of an intellectual pursuit. That doesn’t mean I always LEARN something, but there’s always a curiosity there. Now that I have a daughter, I’m seeing much of the same trend. Learning another language is a good outlet, and so are thinking games. So in my self-proclaimed genius, I put them both together and decided to have a Spanish scavenger hunt.
In all seriousness, I’m far from being a genius. I write articles, not one of which will ever win a Pulitzer. But hopefully I can give you a little advice on how to make something like a Spanish scavenger hunt be fun.
OBVIOUSLY, instead of the clues being in English, put them in Spanish. Did you see that one coming? Since we’re probably going to be working with beginners in the language, we might not want to create long, drawn out clues with verbs and difficult tenses. Instead, let’s have this be a great way to learn some basic vocabulary and pronunciation.
If you’re going to hide a clue on the table, write “mesa” on the preceding clue. Or do colors by putting “rojo” or “roja” (”red” or…um…”red”). Instead of looking for a particular object, they can look around for something of that color. If they go to the incorrect object that is ALSO red, there you have a good opportunity to tell them what that word’s Spanish translation is.
This isn’t that difficult of a game to set up, and not only is it fun for kids, but they’ll hopefully learn something in the process.
Gracias.
Gender Specific Scavenger hunts
Having a scavenger hunt for a group of boys? Here are some really great ideas to entertain the guys. Of course you can always stick with making it a pirate theme. But why not get creative? What if it was a Batman themed hunt and the “treasure” wasn’t a treasure. What if the X on the map was the Joker? Devote the clues to finding the Joker. They might read something like, “You just missed him. I think I saw him make a left down the hall and go into the guest bathroom. But be quite this time so he doesn’t hear you!” It’s pretty exciting to watch them hush each other or be sneaky. Most of them will come dressed up.
Having a scavenger hunt for the little ladies? This can be really cute. One of my favorite ones is the Cinderella theme. The “treasure” at the end was her glass slipper. Some of the hints might be, “One of the evil step sisters got here first. I think I saw her hiding it in a cabinet. Not a bathroom cabinet. Not in a bedroom. It must be in a ________ cabinet!” Then I crack one of the kitchen cabinets open and there is the next hint. That one might read, “One of the mice crawled away with the slipper! Hurry though it’s almost midnight! Mice like cheese, where do you think they put the slipper?” The next clue is in the fridge. The ideas are endless. Use the movie for ideas.
It’s quite simple to find or create scavenger hunts specifically for your son or daughter. Just pick a theme and get started!
Kid’s Birthday Ideas – Scavenger Hunts
This year, instead of the usual (but still fun) trip to the local arcade for your son’s birthday, why not throw a scavenger hunt instead? They’re a lot of fun, and they can be very rewarding.
It’s easy, really. Just invite the kids you were already going to have at the party/arcade/wherever, and see if a few parents want to get involved in the planning; they usually do. Invite these parents over to your house a week or two before the party, and just let the plans unfold. Talk about ideas for riddles and clues, ideas for where to hide things, and suggest other activities for the kids to do.
The first time I threw a scavenger hunt party for my daughter, I surprised her with it. She wanted to go to Action City (the local arcade), but instead I told her we’d have a party at home this year. When the day came, she was a little surprised that a few of the parents showed up, too. See, I hadn’t told her that we were going to also have a big scavenger hunt. The other parents and I passed out the “official scavenger hunt hats” that we made, and the game began! The first clue was given to the birthday girl, of course, but after that, it was a crazy free-for-all. And they loved it.
Be creative with your clues, get the parents involved, and save yourself some money this year by throwing a scavenger hunt birthday party. You’ll be amazed at how much fun the kids – and adults – will have.