Youth Activity Idea Cell Phone Scavenger Hunt
Thomas Dorsher

Want to do one of those cool scavenger hunts but don’t want to fool with trying to round up enough digital cameras or disposable cameras? Just use kids’ cell phones! Here is how you can play Cell Phone Scavenger Hunt (note: if you don’t have the resources to do this as a full blown scavenger hunt event, check out the mini version of this event HERE on our games page where kids stay at the church the whole time).

Advertize the event several weeks out and encourage your students to bring a friend as this will be a great way to introduce new people to your group. On the day of the event, form teams of 3-5 students (depending on the size of your overall group). Assign 1-2 adult volunteers to each team. (NOTE: We STRONGLY recommend that NO student do any driving at all. Restrict driving to responsible adults only!)

Give each team a print off of the following list and tell them they have 1 hour and 30 minutes to collect as many of the pictures as possible.

Rules:
Teams CANNOT split up. The entire team must stay in the same van/car/SUV.
Adults are the only ones who can drive the vehicle.
Teams MUST BE BACK at the church at the appointed time or they will suffer a 50 point deduction.
Each picture only needs to be on one cell phone (not every team members’ cell phone)

The List

50 Pointers
1. Your entire group of teens sitting on a bench (At a bus stop or at a park, etc. The adult should take the pic.)
2. An American flag
3. Any fast food restaurant drive through ordering intercom (the thing you talk into to place your order)
4. A church sign (from any church but your own!)
5. A pond or lake
6. A water fountain

100 Pointers
1. Stand up arcade game (20 extra points if it’s Pac Man, baby!!)
2. Person walking a dog
3. A Walmart, or Kmart, or Sam’s Club, or Costco cash register
4. Any kind of outdoor recreational sports facilities (soccer, football, baseball, golf course, tennis courts, basketball courts, etc)
5. A person mowing grass
6. A person using an ATM (cannot be a member of the team)

250 Pointers
1. Any emergency vehicle with its lights/flashers on (ambulance, fire truck, police car, etc)
2. A member of the group talking on a public pay phone
3. Any form of roadkill (no, you can’t run over a middle schooler to make it!!)
4. The construction site of a building or home or business (The home/building cannot be completely finished. It has to be “under construction.”)
5. A traffic light that is yellow
6. A person jumping off of a high dive (can be a member of the team)
7. An animal in a pasture or field (restricted to cow, horse, donkey, mule, goat, or sheep)

400 Pointers
1. A train crossing the road at a railroad crossing
2. An airplane taking off or landing
3. Any license plate with the letters C and Q in it (It can have any other letter and/or number, but it must have at least one C and one Q.)
4. Someone standing in a cemetery (Do NOT interrupt an actual funeral!!!!)
5. A damaged billboard (and NO, you can’t be the one to damage it!)
6. A pothole in the road with water in it

Encourage the adults to be VERY safe while out as a group. When the time is up and everybody is back at the church, collect the pics from the phones while everybody is eating burgers or pizza. Then, have an awards ceremony where you give away prizes. Make sure to include a few “cell phone themed” gifts like, a free cell phone case, a 5 dollar iTunes gift card, a free ringtone download, etc.

Have fun and be safe!

The above article, “Youth Activity Idea Cell Phone Scavenger Hunt” was written by Thomas Dorsher. The article was excerpted from www.thesource4ym.com web site. March 2018.

The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”