Instructions
- Step 1: Visit the museum Visit the museum before the scavenger hunt and pick up a museum guide or brochure at the front desk. If you cannot visit the museum in advance, see if you can get a guide online. Some museums have information in their guides that can serve as a source for facts.
- Step 2: Use the guide Use the museum guide to locate exhibits you think your hunters will be interested in seeing or exhibits you may want them to see during the activity.
- Step 3: Find facts Find interesting facts, artwork, or displays that are in each exhibit and write down the fact with its exact location.
- Step 4: Type up questions Type up questions that lead the scavengers to each exhibit and ask about a specific fact, piece, or display.
- TIP: A scavenger hunt question in a natural history museum might read, “In the Hall of Reptiles, find the world’s largest reptile. Where does it live in nature? What does it eat?”
- Step 5: Finish questions Write enough questions to keep everyone interested, but not so many that the hunt becomes monotonous. A good rule of thumb is about 20 questions.
- Step 6: Go to the museum Visit the museum and hand each hunter their scavenger hunt paper. Send them out to find their answers to each question.
- TIP: You may want to have a bonus question for additional points to earn a prize. You could also give a prize to the child who finishes first.
- Step 7: Meet up and discuss Gather at a central meeting point and give the answers to each question. Enjoy the museum more through the game and head home with a melon full of information.
- FACT: The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, founded in 1859, is host to an incredible collection of medical anomalies and was the site of the autopsy of famous conjoined twins, Chang and Eng.
You Will Need
- Museum
- Museum brochure or guide
- Pen and paper
- Computer with printer
- Prizes (optional)
