Issue 21: Games - Scavenger Hunts

This article from an Early Years edition of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) online magazine describes how to use a digital camera to produce a scavenger hunt for early years students.

The usual way that a scavenger hunt is carried out is for the participants to have a list of items to find. The first to collect them wins the game. If the list of items to find is mathematical then there are opportunities for collaboration and purposeful talk about mathematics.

Physical activity, unusual locations and images ‘owned’ by children, support memory recall of the mathematics. The collection of mathematical images produced by the scavenger hunt can be referred back to throughout the year using an interactive whiteboard.

As the usual form of a scavenger hunt is impractical when working with younger children, two activities, Relay card race and Labelled cameras are explored as ways of bringing this experience to the early years. Both of these activities are described in detail, as are some follow up activities.

The activity gives opportunities to use a camera and find out how it works, work collaboratively, take turns and follow instructions as well as developing mathematical ideas of matching, shape, size, colour and sorting.