Canada Day Scavenger Hunt

Gender: Male and/or Female

This Canada Day scavenger hunt is tons of fun for kids aged eight to 12.  It can be adapted for an indoor or outdoor hunt, so wherever you find yourself on July 1st, you can entertain the young ones for an hour or two.  The game can be played with as few as two kids or as many as a dozen.

Best of all, it’s educational as well as entertaining.  Kids are set the task of finding Canadian-themed items and bringing them back for a chance to answer a related multiple-choice question that tests their knowledge of Canadian history, culture and trivia.  The team (or child) that collects the most items and answers the most questions correctly, wins! 

Most of the items you’ll need for this scavenger hunt can be readily found around the house and at your local dollar store.  They are all meant to give a clue to the skill-testing question the team will need to answer.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Mini Canadian flag
• Mini (keychain) globe
• Hockey puck
• Mini space rocket, spaceship or spaceman figure
• Chocolate coins
• Small vial/bottle of water
• Rock or handful of dirt
• A loonie, a quarter, a five-cent piece and a dime
• A miniature totem pole (or a picture/photo of a totem pole)
• Something with both French and English writing on it (a food label in French and English will do)
• A small superhero figurine (NOT Batman, Aquaman or Superman)
• A mini bottle of maple syrup or a maple hard candy or a maple leaf
• A sheet of music or something with musical notes printed on it
• 15 envelopes
• Tape and string to secure envelopes to hiding places (optional)
• Prizes (see below)

HOW IT WORKS

Write a number from one to 15 on each of the envelopes.  Review the 15 clues below and put each specified item in the corresponding numbered envelope.  Print out a copy of the skill-testing questions and answers to bring with you to the scavenger hunt.  Hide the envelopes in the indoor or outdoor location, as desired.  (Make sure the kids don’t see you doing this!)  Gather the kids together and explain the rules of the game to them:

They must search for 15 envelopes, each marked with a number.  Each envelope contains a clue.  Every time they find an envelope, they need to open it and bring the clue back to the Quizmaster. 

The Quizmaster will ask them a skill-testing question.  If they get it right, they get a full point.  If they get it wrong, they only get half a point.  Some clues include a bonus question, which if answered correctly will give them an additional point.  If a bonus point is answered incorrectly, no point is awarded. Teams can only bring back one envelope at a time, and they need to stay together as a team. In other words, they can’t split up and have some team members answer questions while other team members continue the search.

When all the envelopes are found and all the questions answered, the game is over.  The team that has collected the most points wins! 

PRIZES

You can choose Canadian-themed prizes for the winners, too.  Some ideas are:

• RCMP figurines, t-shirts, etc.
• Stuffed animals such as moose, seals, bears, etc.
• Tickets to a local hockey game
• Maple treats
• Bags of “Klondike Gold” (chocolate coins)
• Canadian Monopoly
• Canadian-themed jigsaw puzzles and colouring books
• CDs of Canadian music
• Homemade Canadian treats, such as Nanaimo bars

We also recommend that everyone who participates in the scavenger hunt receives some kind of prize for participating.

NEW 5 LOT XL WHITE Souvenir Canada $1.59 T-Shirt    US $4.87

NEW Canada T-Shirt XL Extra-Large White Souvenir NICE    US $.97

NEW Canada T-Shirt Youth Large White Souvenir NICE    US $.97

HIDING PLACES

Make sure the kids know exactly where they and can’t look for hidden items.  Depending on the ages of the participants, you might want to close off certain rooms in the house, or mark off a specific “hunting area” in an outdoor space by tying ribbons to trees or other markers.

Suggested indoor hiding places include:

• Under sofa cushions
• In the dishwasher
• In the door of the refrigerator
• In the lower kitchen cupboards
• Under rugs
• Tied around door-handles
• In closets
• Inside boots by the front door
• Inside books
• Taped under chairs, tables or coffee tables with double-sided tape

Some outdoor hiding places include:

• Behind groups of rocks
• Tucked into chain-link fence
• Hidden among small shrubberies
• Taped under picnic tables or benches
• Propped up against refuse receptacles

HINTS AND HELP

The scavenger hunt should be challenging, but not frustrating.  If the kids are having a hard time finding hidden items, feel free to step in and let them know when they’re “warm” and when they’re “cold.” 

Scavenger Hunt Clues