Back to School Scavenger Hunt

Do you find that the beginning of the school year is a little awkward? Even the best of friends have had different experiences over the summer and need a little help re-connecting. This School Scavenger Hunt is an activity that is sure to set your school year off on the right foot. This is a social school scavenger hunt that is a great activity for a homeroom class, a newly formed group, church youth group, or a sports team just starting practices for the season. It is also a great excuse for a fun end of the summer party before the kids go back to school. It will be challenging for your participants to solve, but so easy for you to self-implement, you won’t feel as if you’ve been writing lesson plans for days to get it ready.

Back to School Scavenger Hunt Premise

Participants start off with an optional social scavenger hunt to serve as an icebreaker and get participants mixing with each other. Once the first activity is complete, the group is divided into teams and set off to complete a series of clever puzzles and challenges. Some puzzles require teams to go to specific locations where they find an additional item or items that will help them solve the puzzle. All of the clue solutions are school subjects that can be found on a list in the clue book. After participants find and solve all of the clues, they meet to receive a final clue. The final clue reveals the perfect class schedule and one lucky team is revealed as the winner. Since most of what you need to complete this hunt is included in the download and clues are not specific to locations, this hunt can be hosted absolutely anywhere.

Sample Back to School Scavenger Hunt Clue

Click the Clue to See the Answer

Who the Back to School Scavenger Hunt Is For

• Upper Middle School Students
• High School Students
• Can be played as individual participants or as teams

What makes this school scavenger hunt ideal for older students?

The clues are:

• Clever – Clues are designed with pre-teens and teens in mind. So, it is challenging, but not too hard.
• Visually Appealing - The school scavenger hunt materials are professionally designed to give it a polished look. But, don’t worry about not being able to use the materials – they all come in an easy-to-use PDF document. See the How the Back to School Hunt Is Delivered section for more information.
• Customized – You have control over how the school scavenger hunt is delivered to the participants. Some of the clues are in the book itself and some allow you to write in where you will provide additional information needed to solve the clues. So, you can host this hunt virtually anywhere – in a classroom, throughout an entire school, in a church meeting space, your home, outdoors or indoors.

What’s Included in the Back to School Scavenger Hunt*

• Directions – A step-by-step walk-through of what you need to do to implement the school scavenger hunt
• Pre-preparations – What to do in the lead-up to the hunt
• How to run the hunt – Including tips for a successful event
• Supply list*
• Print-outs – All of the printer-ready handouts you will need for the hunt including:
  • Optional social scavenger hunt activity
  • Clue Book – directions and clues/puzzles
  • Handouts – additional items needed to solve some of the clues (example: a fictitious lunch menu that, when deciphered, reveals the solution)
• Social scavenger hunt, 7 clues/puzzles (2 involving props), and one final clue

*The Back to School Scavenger Hunt does not include all of the supplies you need to deliver some of the clues. But, all of the materials, such as compasses, are affordable and all can be found locally.

Length of the Back to School Scavenger Hunt

Our hunts are designed to be very flexible in the amount of time it takes to run the hunt. You can customize each hunt based on if you choose to include the social scavenger hunt or not and how far you spread out the clue stations. You determine what time teams need to be present for the final clue. Typical hunts last between 30 minutes to one hour.

Preparing for Your Hunt

Give yourself plenty of time to plan your hunt. Although we have tried to make this an easy process for you, the very nature of planning a custom hunt in your specific location will take some preparation. Read through your Directions document as soon as possible. This will explain anything that you need to purchase or prepare prior to your hunt. Most hunts will require you to plan out where you want to hide your clues. Some hunts, such as the Pirate Hunt, Teen Treasure Hunt, Haunted Hunt and the Make it Your Own Customizable Hunt require you to purchase/gather items and set up clue stations. These hunts could take up to 4 hours to plan depending on your location and experience in this type of activity.

How the Back to School Scavenger Hunt is Delivered

If you choose the download, in the order confirmation page and confirmation email there will be a link where you can click to download your purchased product. Otherwise, you can revisit www.mastersofthehunt.com and click on the "Login" link at the top of the site - then go to "My Account." When you log on, the hunt can be retrieved from "My Downloads."

Please note, downloads are available from the moment your order is complete and remain available within 30 days of placing your order. The download comes as a PDF document. Most computers come with a free Adobe Acrobat Reader, but if yours does not, you can download it for free at www.adobe.com under Products & Services.

Alternatively, you can choose to have the hunt mailed to you on CD. Please note this incurs an additional $10 shipping and handling fee.