Video Scavenger Hunts
The leaders of youth groups and scout troops are always looking for fresh, exciting ways to engage their students and to have a few laughs. The same old things over and over again become boring, and when kids stop having fun, they don’t attend their group meetings. Students between the ages of 13 and 17 are often the most difficult to retain because there are scores of other activities vieing for their attention: friends, band, choir, members of the opposite sex, and of course, the television. If you don’t have something exciting planned, then you probably won’t have much of a turn-out.
One of my favorite things to do each year with my youth group is the Video Scavenger Hunt. It allows the students to get out and about with an adult, and do wacky, zany things all over the neighborhood. I think that it affords them a sense of independence because they aren’t cooped up in a meeting room with adults watching over everything they do; video scavenger hunts let them exercise their creativity.
Before you decide to hold a video scavenger hunt, however, there are a few things that you will need: at least one adult for every group of 4-5 students; one video camera for each group; a meeting room with a television and a VCR; a suitable vehicle for each group of 5-6 people; and the ability to think up fun, interesting activities.
Preparation
Some planning should take place before the event. The group leaders need to get together and plan exactly how it will work out. There should be a certain distance limit that each group can travel (say, a ten-mile radius from your meeting place) and a time when everyone will meet back at the meeting place. I usually give my kids about two hours for this activity, but you can customize that time to fit your schedule.
You should know how many students will show up for the activity, and recruit enough adult volunteers with cars to suit that number. Each group should have 4-5 members, so plan for that kind of crowd. The adult volunteers should have enough seatbelts in their vehicle to accomodate their group size.
Finally, prepare a list for each group that will be attending. The list should contain more than enough activities for a group to complete in the time limit you provide, so that they can pick and choose what they want to do. Each list should be different – at least to some extent – and should contain activities that are both legal and safe. I have listed a few ideas a little later in this article, but feel free to use your creative minds!
Rules
The rules of the game are pretty simple, but they should be understood by each student and adult before they set out to begin.
1. Everyone must be back at the meeting place by your specified time.
2. Driving beyond the designated radius is not allowed.
3. Driving to destinations other than what is on the list is not allowed.
4. Each activity must be filmed between 30 and 60 seconds.
5. Crude language, inappropriate behavior, and offensive actions are not allowed.
6. Everyone must be on video at least twice.
The Game
Each group will leave at the same time, and will return with enough time to meet the deadline. They are not required to do everything on the list, but they should try to complete as many activities as possible. The crazier and the funnier that they make the activities, the higher their score will be, as long as they don’t get out of hand. Each group will pick and choose the activities in which they want to participate. Here are a few examples:
1. Go to the purple park off of 6th Avenue and do eight cartwheels in the grass.
2. Wash the windshields of two cars at the Shell gas station on 5th.
3. Go to the McDonald’s parking lot by the elementary school and act out This Little Light of Mine while you sing.
4. Find a park and make a Christian symbol in the grass using your bodies.
5. Find a policeman and video his answer to this question: “What advice do you have for teenagers today?”
6. Help a stranger fold his or her laundrey at the local laundromat.
7. Sing The Itsy-Bitsy Spider to the employees of a fast food restaraunt.
8. Go to the Ford Car Dealership and try to sell a salesman your car.
The activities can be as fun and wacky as you like, as long as they are safe and don’t offend anyone. Tell the groups that if they are asked to leave a public place, that they should apologize and leave. Give everyone copies of your cell phone number so that they can call if there is a problem.
Scoring
When all of the groups have returned at the designated time, play the videos for everyone to watch. This should be a lot of fun. Scoring can be handled in any number of ways:
1. Number of activities completed
2. Assign point values to each activity (based on craziness) and total the points at the end.
3. A panel of judges to score based on the creativity of each grou.
The winning team should get a small prize. At the end, you can order pizza or sandwiches and have a small dinner party while everyone discusses their crazy adventures!
