Time really is flying. When my husband Reggie and I were dating, we led the Pre-teen and Young Teen groups at our church. It was such a fun time. We had the best team of youth workers on our our team and the kids had such fun, big personalities. Fast forward about 15 years and now our oldest son Michael is a part of the Pre-teen group. (How did that happen so quickly???)
When it was time for Reggie and I to plan an activity for Michael’s group, we went back to one of our old favorites…a photo scavenger hunt in Central Park. Things have changed a bit, but it was still a lot of fun. For instance, we used Polaroid cameras 15 years ago to capture the images. We used camera phones this time. The premise was the same though – to get the kids out of their comfort zones. While we used the Matthew 7:7 “Ask, Seek, Knock’ principle, this type of scavenger hunt for kids can be used for any large kid gathering. (While the kids did all of the work – asking, the tasks and the picture taking – we did have at least 1 adult/parent with each group for safety reasons.)
In case you want to throw a photo scavenger hunt for kids this summer, below are the “rules” and photos that we did…
PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT FOR KIDS
Rules
• Each team member must be in at least one of the pictures.
• The first team back will get a bonus of 5pts.
• For each minute a team is late, 2pts will be deducted from their score.
• No combining items into one photo. For example, taking a picture
of a squirrel near a colorful flower does not equal double points.
• While creative interpretations of the items are allowed, the judges have the final determination as to whether each photo receives points.
• Be respectful in everything that you do. Have fun, no complaining, or arguing.
• The team with the most points wins.
• You can travel from 110th to 100th Street in the park. You may walk as far as Columbus Avenue if you like.
Photos (Worth 5 points each)
1. Join in with someone doing a dog trick
2. Throw a ball or play a sport with someone
3. Have a team member drink water from a fountain
4. Have someone let you sit or lay on his or her blanket
5. Borrow someone’s book or magazine to read
6. Ask someone to ride his or her bike
7. Take a photo with a vendor
8. Push someone’s baby stroller
9. Pose on someone’s scooter or skateboard
10.Take a picture of all the kids in the group sitting together on a park bench making silly faces
11. Run alongside a runner/jogger
12. With your arm around a cop or a park worker in uniform
13. By a lake/body of water
14. Of a squirrel
15. Of someone allowing you to peek inside his or her cooler
16. Have someone let you borrow his or her NY team hat or shirt
17. With colorful (not green) flowers
18. Take a group picture of all the kids on top of a hill making a pyramid
19. Of someone rollerblading
20. Of a yellow police box
Bonus Photo: (Worth 20pts)
Get someone to allow you to fly his or her kite.
At the end, we had a group of parents (whose kids were on different teams) add up the points. Each member of the winning team received a small gift – Dunkin Donut gift cards. Meanwhile, everyone received a bottled water and snack. You can change the rules up to meet the needs of your group. This is just a general guideline. Everyone seemed to have a great time and created some cool memories – especially the pyramids.
(We have also done AMNH and zoo scavenger hunts in the past. In NYC, there are so many cool ideas for a scavenger hunt for kids!)
