A couple of years ago I created a Scavenger Hunt for families to do during a Family Math Night event.  As participants entered the room, they were handed one of two “game boards” …the K-2 version or the 3-5 version.  Kids and parents worked together finding the items.  But it occurred to me recently that it would be a fun beginning-of-the-school-year activity.  So I thought I’d share it with you as we begin this new year.

The K-2 version is a little easier and includes pictures. In addition, it’s played like bingo but with a scavenger hunt twist. Kids explore math in the environment by finding and crossing off items on their bingo board.  Five-in-a-row wins.  For a challenge they can find all the items on the board.

Since it would be difficult for Kindergartners and First graders to play without help, it would be fun to partner them with an older “buddy”.  Buddy classes are perfect for this.  A younger student would be paired with an older student who can help read the words and find the items.  This is a great way for these students to get to know each other and begin bonding.

The 3-5 version is the traditional scavenger hunt.  Again, working in pairs, students need to find and write down ALL the items on the list.  Because these students are older, they should be familiar with most of the math vocabulary.  If not, it’s a great opportunity for them to work together to figure out what a word means.  That said, you could also have them use the K-2 version and instead of finding five-in-a-row, they would need to find all the items.  In this case, you may want to have them write down the items they find just to keep them accountable…

There’s a “winning” component to each version (the first to complete the game is the winner...) but you can ignore that part and simply have the students work together to find the items.  At our Family Math Night events participants who complete the board get to put an extra guess in the Estimation Jar or get an extra raffle ticket.

Finally, there’s a blank K-2 version.  This can be used with the older students so they can create their own game boards working with a partner.  They love this!  It’s a little more work on your end because you need to make sure their work was done correctly. But you can use these in several ways:  shuffle them and use with your own class; have another class use them; use them with your buddy class; use them during your Family Math Night event. Regardless of the way you use them, the fact that students get to use their creativity in designing the boards gets them excited and motivated.  And of course, from a teacher’s perspective, it’s a great way to reinforce the math they have learned.

The beginning of the school year is always an exciting time.  A scavenger Hunt would be a fun way to help kick it off.

As always, we’re here to help you host a fabulous Family Math Night event.  If you have any questions as you begin to plan, do not hesitate to contact us.