Bicycle scavenger hunts

What are summers for if not cruising the neighborhood on a bike? Circuits on local streets, hitting the nearby convenience store up for slushies, biking to the pool. My 12 year old is in the midst of this world, riding around with his younger brother or a friend. One of his best friends prefers adventures with a purpose and because we don't have a bottomless slushie fund, we came up with the idea of a bicycle scavenger hunt.

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It's a pretty simple concept. Give the boys a list of things to find and send them off: purple flowers, a red door, a dog that looks like it weighs less than 20 pounds, a vanity license plate, a leaf bigger than a hand. They head off into the world to search for these things, my 12 year old armed with his new phone to document their findings. They take photos (when appropriate but not when "taking a picture makes us seem like creepers") to prove their mastery. Sometimes we task them with more abstract things: an unusual object, an example of math in nature, look for something poetic. 

Scavenger hunt object ideas to get you started:

• garden flag
• fire hydrant
• brick walkway
• white fence
• tricycle
• cool shaped rock
• animals in the clouds
• squirrel
• pinecone
• insect-bitten leaf
  

• ladybug
• pickup truck
• acorn
• pine needles
• spider web
• tomato on a vine
• litter (clean it up as you go!)
• sparrow
• a lawn gnome
• an interesting mailbox

Be creative and obviously selections are dependent upon the environment in which you live!

You can set kids to work on making lists of objects to find (send them on a scouting trip to get ideas and take notes first )or ask them to craft more complex clues for each other, such as find something in nature that is green and larger than a football. It's a lovely way to spend a summer afternoon.

You could also easily transfer this idea to walking on foot or bring it indoors, searching for household items, on a rainy day.

Scavenger hunts can move into the classroom as well. Use them to get students engaged with their new school, classroom, or library. Ask students to find and document objects pertaining to a specific content areas. Depending on the age of your students, you might even create a hashtag (#historyinview) and task them with photographing and sharing what they find on Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat.

What other ways do you use scavenger hunts at home or in school? We'd love to hear from you!

-Gretchen

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