Welcome to the first blog post in a series of posts that will introduce you to ideas and tools to help with distance learning. This first post is all about using scavenger hunts for distance learning. Have you tried scavenger hunts with your students yet?
Pen and Paper Scavenger Hunts
When I was in the classroom I did tons of scavenger hunts to prepare for tests, as a review of a unit, etc. It was a win because my students loved doing them and they were engaged with the material. To do a physical scavenger hunt I took task cards and hid them around the classroom. My students would walk around the class, find the task cards, write down the question and answer for each. To read more about how I set these up check out this blog post.
I have linked some of my ready to go scavenger hunt sets available on TpT if you’d like to check them out:
Pen and paper task cards can translate to digital learning because they can be sent through your LMS (learning management system: Google Classroom, SeeSaw, Canvas, etc) and done at home.
Digital Task Cards/Internet Scavenger Hunts
This takes the hunt element out of it, but you can use digital task cards for virtual learning as well. BOOM Cards are great. You can make digital task cards in Google Slides and I am sure many other platforms. I use BOOM Cards often with my 4 year old. He really enjoys them! To see the BOOM Decks I have available for purchase check out my TpT store.
You can also create an internet scavenger hunt or webquest for your students to complete at home. Find a kid safe website that has videos or articles on the topic you are teaching. Create some questions to guide your students through the important material and assign through your LMS. Simple and easy!
Digital Scavenger Hunts
While you are live with your classes you can do a quick and simple scavenger hunt. Grab 5 things related to the topic, show me something that… It gets your students up, thinking, and interacting. Another kind of scavenger hunt doesn’t have to be done live. You can assign a list of things to gain points on a topic and your students can take pictures of them completing each task. For example, take a picture of a science experiment and posting it to the LMS.
I recently stumbled upon Goose Chase which is a website for educational scavenger hunts. There is a free basic version for educators as well as tiered priced plans. You will need to create an account in order to play.
Once you create your account click “Create a Game” on the top bar of the site.
You will be taken to this screen where you will input the basic information. You can upload an image for your game, give it a name, and describe it.
Then you add your missions and give them points. The missions are the tasks you want your students to complete.
Do you have any ways to add scavenger hunts for distance learning that I didn’t discuss in this blog post? Drop them in the comments below! Be on the lookout for the next installment in this series!
