Children Game: Literacy Scavenger Hunt

It is probably no secret to you that children of all ages learn most effectively when the learning is based within the context of a game. Embedding literacy learning within a game format for young children makes the learning invisible. They do not know they are learning. They believe they are playing a game with mom and dad and siblings. Organizing a scavenger hunt is a fun and effective way to help young children become literate. Literacy is the cornerstone to all learning so, why not try out the ideas below and scavenger hunt your child to literacy.

Children Game: What is a Literacy Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt is a game that is about finding things on a list. If you are planning a literacy scavenger hunt for preschool children, the list can be pictures and not words. If your children are older, you will need to determine how well they read and if they may need some words and some pictures. Make your list fit the attention span level of the children who will be playing the game. Also include some easily found items and some not so easy to find ones. Set some rules for the scavenger hunt such as: how long the game will last, where the items will be found; inside the home, outside the home, in the neighborhood and whether the game will be played as individuals, pairs, teams or the whole family.

Children Game: What kinds of Items Work for a Literacy Scavenger Hunt

Below are a dozen scavenger hunt TIPS for items to put on the scavenger hunt list.

Tip 1 : Find an item that starts with a certain letter of the alphabet.

Tip 2 : Find an item for each letter of the alphabet

Tip 3 : Find a book or magazine that has an author's name.

Tip 4 : Find a book or magazine that lists the name of the illustrator.

Tip 5 : Find a book or magazine that has a table of contents.

Tip 6: Find a book or magazine that has an index.

Tip 7 : Find a book or magazine that has captions.

Tip 8 : Find a book or magazine that has less than 20 pages.

Tip 9 : Find a book or magazine that has more than 20 pages.

Tip 10 : Find a book or magazine that has pictures that tell the story.

Tip 11 : Find a book that has a hardback.

Tip 12 : Find a book that has a soft-back cover.

These are just a few ideas about items that can go on a literacy scavenger hunt list. For older children you can include finding items about categories of books such as fiction, true, mystery, nature etc. You can't go wrong when you help children learn about literacy through play, especially if you think about what skills or knowledge your children need to be successful in school.

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