Building Experiences is holding a Youth Conference in January and we’re hashing out the structure of the weekend. One student has been vociferously requesting a scavenger hunt so I’ve been trying to figure out an authentic way to include her request in the weekend’s agenda. The scavenger hunt is still in development, but here are some creative ways that I’ve been thinking about modifying the structure:
- Length of Play Who says how long a scavenger hunt has to be? I’ve decided that a scavenger hunt can last for 48 hours!
- Objects vs Tasks A traditional scavenger hunt has players find physical items, but in this case, I’m using the scavenger hunt to get students to complete required tasks– like, sign up for shower time, sign up for meal set up or clean up, and wipe down counters.
- Affective vs Performative Another idea I had was to have optional items that recognized and rewarded conference participants for doing more subtle, but perhaps more important, actions. Participants will be able to check off items such as “demonstrated patience when someone made me mad,” “shared when I was shy,” or “learned a new craft skill during hands on time”. Not only do participants check this off AFTER they’ve performed it, they will be looking for an opportunity to perform this task.
- Rewards I think about intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and their relationship to play and work a lot. As humans, I think we’ve got to train ourselves to make our relationship to rewards healthier and more mindful. In this case, my goal is to train the participants to find the play, the completion of tasks, and the movement towards a larger goal to be compelling on its own. So, there aren’t going to be a lot of points, or door prizes or glitter about who did the most. It’s going to be about the fact that all the participants did tasks that were important and transformative and community building together. The self-reporting checkmarks and the quiet check ins about them, are enough. No door prizes.
