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by Lindsey KrabbenhoftMarch 12, 2018May 22, 2023
Mar
12
2018
Spring break is right around the corner in these here parts. I think the kids have seen my Spring Bunny Scavenger Hunt for the past two years so this year I wanted something new. Then I saw this tweet from elementary school librarian Carter Higgins and I was set.
It reminded me of the Guess Who Book Character display I did last fall. When I emailed Carter she generously shared her files with me and allowed me to revise them for my library. She has also given me permission to share original files here! So you get two versions for the price of one, haha! Choose which one works best for you!
This is Carter’s version. You have to add a letter to each character when your print them out. Then hide them around and have the kids unscramble the letters to form the secret phrase “Reading Rocks.” Unfortunately I don’t have access to an editable version of this one. But here are the files for the document and all the images:
- Scavenger Hunt Form
- Wolfie the Bunny
- Elephant and Piggie
- Ballet Cat
- Harry Potter
- The Pigeon
- Dennis from Be a Friend by Salina Yoon
- Snappsy the Alligator
- Leo the Ghost
- Beige Crayon
- Little Elliot
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Peter from A Snowy Day
This is my version. I put the characters in order as I think the unscrambling part will be too tricky for some of my younger patrons. My Word document or PDF document both have the scavenger hunt sheet as well as all the characters with their corresponding letters. Print, hide, and let the kids hunt!
Do you have any spring break activities your community loves? Let me know in the comments!
This is so cute! It’s definitely going up in my library this spring break. 😀
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We currently have another scavenger hunt going on at our library, but I can totally see this happening for Summer Reading. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you for sharing. We do a different scavenger hunt each month that we put out on Saturdays. This will be one less I need to plan! 🙂
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Awesome! If you have any other ideas for scavenger hunts, please feel free to share. I am always looking for new ones to put out over spring break, winter break, and summer break.
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This is great! Thanks for sharing. I’m definitely doing this in my library next week. I’m coming across a small problem, however. When I try to download the Pigeon silhouette, the HP silhouette pops up.
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Good catch! Sorry about that, it should be fixed now.
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This is perfect for our “Libraries Rock” summer theme! I tried downloading your word document but it opens as a pdf. Any chance you have one that can be edited?
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Good catch! I must have accidentally uploaded the wrong version. It should work now 🙂
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Thank you!
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This is proving to be a hit for us at Ponoka Jubilee Library, thank you! We’ll do the draw tomorrow at our storytime with egg hunt!
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So great to hear!
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Hi,
This is a great idea! Are you putting the characters in the spot where you would find them on the shelf?
Thanks!
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No, my library is too small for that. They’d all be in the same place 🙂 I hid them around the children’s section as far apart as possible.
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I’m so excited to try this in the next few months! Thanks for sharing!
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Yay, I hope it goes great!
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This is fantastic! I just did this with my after school program yesterday, and I’m going to leave it up for a passive library program for all the kids to participate in. I did notice one difference between the one you made where the letters aren’t scrambled and the one where they are – On the scrambled one, there is an elephant (not elephant and piggie) for the letter “I” but on the unscrambled one, it is Clifford for the letter “I”. Wasn’t sure if you noticed that.
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Oh, I hadn’t noticed that. The scrambled one is from Carter Higgins and I didn’t change anything she sent me. I guess as long as they both still work then it’s all good 🙂
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Hey Lindsey!
I made a couple of scavenger hunts that are similar to this that I would be happy to share. I have two Pokemon ones and a similar book character one. I print out full color pictures of the characters for the kids to find, but I didn’t think of adding letters for a secret message!Reply
That would be amazing! Could you email them to me at jbrary@gmail.com? I love seeing what others create.
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Would you be willing to share both of these scavenger hunts with me? Thanks so much!
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Hi Sarah,
I am doing a Pokemon event at our library and would love to see what you have done with the Pokemon scavenger hunt. Can you please share?
KarenReply
Hi Karen, I reached out to Sarah and got the files. I will email them to you!
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Ohh those sound amazing! Can you email the pokemon scavenger hunts, etc. to my email as well? Thanks so much for sharing!
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I’ve used the scavenger hunt the past 3 summers as part of my Summer Reading activities. I hide the characters all around the library so the kids can explore and figure out the secret message. So, thank you for this – it’s a hit year after year!
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That’s so great to hear! I love something that can be re-used and adapted each year.
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Our littlest patrons are absolutely loving this scavenger hunt! I had to change the words to “Reading Rules” the second week since most of them had figured out the phrase. I also needed to move the letters and silhouettes around about every three days to keep the kids on their toes! (we keep our scavenger hunts up for one month.)
We passed out pencils, stickers, bookmarks just small incentives for each paper that was turned in.
I have already printed out the bunny scavenger hunt and have it in my spring file for future use.Love your ideas!
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Yay! That is great to hear it is such a success. I feel like scavenger hunts never go out of style 🙂
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I always enjoy all of the activities, singing, and ideas you and your coworker have. I work at a Public Library in Louisiana, in programming. I am always looking for ideas to do with the children, and students we have at the library that has a bit of a fresh or different idea from what I usually do. Your monthly Story Time Themes and book list are wonderful. I utilize those as I need and apply other ideas as passive type programs in our department. Yes, I do change them up to fit my group of children and create my own activities but your ideas help the mental blocks that come sometimes when you can’t think of any fresh fun activities, crafts, songs, etc… Thank you very much for the work you put into your blog and website.
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Hi Elaine, thank you so much for your kind words! I really appreciate getting these thoughtful messages. I’m so glad our resources have been helpful, especially when it comes to changing things up. All the best to you in Louisiana 🙂
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