This activity is a cross between photo scavenger hunt and orienteering. Teams are given a selection of photos of different items/places located in the area. Working as team, they must work together to locate these items and write down where they found them.
Once they have found all the photos, they return back to the instructor to confirm whether they are right. The team with the most correct locations wins the challenge. A simple yet fun way to promote teamwork and bonding. If working in a large area use a map with coordinates.
Equipment Required: Photo sets of different items in the area (can be signs, fences, monuments etc), paper answer sheet, pens, map, master answer sheet for instructor
Space Required: Large. Outdoors only.
Group Size: 10Â to 20 ideally. Split the group into smaller teams of 4-5 participants.
Total Time:Â 70Â minutes
- 10Â minutes to brief and set up
- 50 minutes to achieve outcome
- 10Â minutes to review
Photo Hunt Activity Instructions
- Make sure you have enough photos for the challenge and organise these photos into sets e.g. set 1,2,3 and 4 (or name them to theme the game).
- Organise the group into smaller teams of 4-5 participants. Get the group to come up with a team name.
- Explain that each group will be given a set of photos, paper and pen. The objective of the game is for each group to find their photos located in the area – once they have located the items then they write down a location review e.g. next to the main entrance of the sixth form college. If you are using maps – get them to also write the coordinates of the location.
- The team must stay together at all times and support each other during the challenge.
- Once all photos have been found or the time for returning is approaching then they return back to the leader for a review of their answers.
- If they return before the time has expired and all locations are correct, send them off with another set of photos.
- The team with the most correct photo locations wins the challenge.
Suggested Learning Outcomes
- Leadership
- Cooperation
- Strategy and prioritizing
- Map reading
Useful Learning Variation
Make it both educational and fun by adding a theme to it – how about creating some kind of Da Vinci code style challenge using the photos as clues? Once they’re in the location, give them a code to de-crypt with the final location of three facts about the item/location they need for their answer sheet – sure beats a lecture method of teaching. I came up with that idea in two minutes – I’m sure you can do better, so be creative!
PS – This may be a fun way to introduce company values as part of a staff induction process. Like I said, be creative.
Useful Tips
Have a minimum of 4 participants in the group. In case anyone gets injured another person can stay with them, whilst the other two can return for help. If you can help it, try and keep the locations outside.
It may be wise to add a difficulty level for each set or even photos. Make some of the items to find challenging, but doable. The more difficult the challenge, the more points they get – this will teach about prioritizing.
Suggested questions to ask in the review:
When you received your photos, what was the first thing you did?
How effective was your planning?
Did you always stick together as team?
Who came up with the best ideas?
How well did you communicate as a team? How could you improve?
