Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt
How much do youth really know about the place where they live?
How much do the young people in your town know about the place where they live? Every community is special and has a story to tell. This Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt offers fun ways to begin exploring the different pieces that make up a community.
Each item on the list poses a question, requires participants to accomplish a task, or asks them to find something in their town. There are many different ways to procure requested objects and information. Some items are set, like restaurant menus, interviews, crayon rubbings, and pictures (photographs or students' drawings), while the instructor creates others.
Details
Table of Contents
1. Find a map of your town or state that shows the location of your community.
2. Search for 10 leaves from 10 different trees found in your community.
3. Explore the buildings in your community by creating crayon rubbings of the different building materials found in your neighborhood.
4. Visit the local bakery or donut shop and get a bag or napkin that shows you stopped in for a treat.
5. Draw pictures of four different animals you have seen from the windows of your home.
6. Collect a flyer or a sign for a community event. Or, print a notice from the web.
7. Visit one of the ethnic restaurants in your community and grab a menu to share.
8. Draw a picture or find something that shows your community’s main industry.
9. Find a trinket from a place where people go to have fun.
10. Uncover where your community’s water comes from, and then illustrate the source.
11. Seek out public transportation take a picture of the transit card, ticket, or scanning machine used to ride.
12. Sketch a picture of a community park or playground and your favorite part of it.
13. Interview someone that has just moved to town or a member of your community. Find out what they like the most.
14. Find four buildings in your community that have all been built in different years. Draw pictures of each. Or take a picture of each, print it, and put them on this page.
15. Make a crayon rubbing, or an illustration of a decorative element found on one of these buildings or any building in your community.
16. Listen to the sounds of your community and make a list of the loudest and quietest things in your town.
17. Research the history of your community by locating a historic marker and make a crayon rubbing of the sign, or write a sentence about why it is historical.
18. Look for something that shows what your town is known for. It might be a historic event, museum, or famous work of art. It may even be an interesting building, past leader, tourist attraction, or sports stadium.
19. Assemble a checklist some of the things in your town. How many schools or restaurants does your town have? How many public buildings, churches, or places of worship?