How to Plan an Indoor Scavenger Hunt for Your Family Game Night

The first step in learning how to create a scavenger hunt for your family game night is to decide on what type of hunt you want to do. Scavenger hunts can be lots of fun, but they can also be educational and creative. You can tailor them to fit the needs of any family. That means you can teach your kids life lessons through scavenger hunts or you can just have fun with them!

Set a goal for your scavenger hunt. Is there something you want to accomplish? Are you trying to encourage your kids to clean up the house? Are you trying to teach them about the value of working together? Base your hunt on the end goal.

Decide on a method or theme. Scavenger hunts can be done using pictures, cameras, signatures, actual items, articles and so on. The idea is to set a series of short term goals to reach. If you're doing this to teach a life lesson, you need for your goals to combine to meet the larger end goal. For instance, if you want your children to keep in mind the value of family memories, you might set them out on a search for specific photos, trophies or other mementos that remind you all of the times you spent together.

Another good example would be to plan for a later event. You might want to have an indoor camp out. If so, base the scavenger hunt on the items needed to host an indoor camp out. Let the children know that the scavenger hunt is a means to an end for learning about plans for the evening. This is also a fun way to get the kids to help gather items for the night in a fun way!

Create a list. You'll need to have a list of "items" to collect. It's up to you to decide on whether each person works alone or if everyone is broken up into groups. This is one great way to get rival siblings to work together on a project and learn to appreciate each others' skills.

Set the scene. You need to know where the items are and arrange them the way that you want them to be. Set the rules according to the needs of the game. For instance, if you have an older brother and a very young sister that you want to work together, you might put things up high, but disallow the use of chairs or ladders. This means that they will have to work together to get the item.

Consider how you can use each item to benefit the entire family. For instance, if you have a quote you'd like to share with the whole family, you might make the scavenger hunt about letters. Once all the letters are found in order, the hunt is put together to create the entire quote.

Offer prizes. What kind of a competitive game doesn't have prizes? There are lots of free prizes for family fun night that can create an added incentive to playing the game.

Review the details of the scavenger hunt. Is there something fun for everyone? Is the lesson you're trying to teach going to shine through? Do you have the right motivation to get all the family members involved? Remember, you want this to be fun for everyone!