English Scavenger Hunt for Kids in the Classroom

Most ESL scavenger hunts online are printable worksheets: you print a list of classroom objects, the students tick each one when they find it, and you check every sheet by hand afterwards. This hunt does the same job on a phone. Each team sees one step at a time and submits a photo, a short recording or an answer. The phone checks submissions, so you can help students rather than mark every response.

How this English scavenger hunt for kids works

The students play in teams, one phone or tablet per team. The first step tells the story and the rules: work with your team, use one phone, stay in the classroom, and walk, do not run.

The steps practise blue, under, on, next to, classroom object names and thank you. Two steps ask for photos, one records a short spoken answer, three are multiple-choice questions and one asks the team to write three English words. Three short audio clips give listening practice and a spoken example. The phone checks photos, recordings and written answers. If an answer is not accepted, the team reads the short message and tries again.

Every photo is of things or hands, never faces. The step text tells the students where to point the camera, and the photo check is set to ask for a new photo if a face is clearly in it.

After several steps, the Word Monster leaves a short written note, such as “Yum! ‘Blue’ tastes good.” At the end, every team walks to you and says the magic words: “Thank you!”

The nine steps of this classroom objects scavenger hunt

1. Feed the Word Monster. Find things, listen, speak and write together. Share one phone, take turns and stay in the classroom.
2. Listen and find. Play “Find something blue”, then photograph a blue thing close up. The written instruction also gives the color.
3. Where is the pencil? A picture shows a pencil below a table. Choose on, in or under. The answer is under.
4. Say it out loud. Look at a pencil picture and listen to “This is a pencil”. Record the sentence. One teammate or the team together can speak. Understandable attempts, accents and the single word pencil count; this is practice, not a pronunciation exam.
5. Three words for the monster. Choose three different classroom things together and type their names in English. Recognizable spelling mistakes count.
6. What do you write with? Choose the long, thin writing object whose name starts with P: pencil, paper or ruler. The answer is pencil.
7. On and next to. Put a pencil on a book and a pen next to it. Crayons or markers can replace the writing tools. A picture and recording support the instructions. Photograph the arrangement straight down on the desk, with no faces and no furniture to move.
8. The magic words. What do you say when someone helps you? Choose Thank you, Goodbye or Good night. The answer is Thank you.
9. The monster is full. Tap Finish Hunt, walk to the teacher, show the final screen and say Thank you. The first team back with all 130 points wins.

Steps 2 to 8 each have a hint button for when a team is stuck. Easy steps give 10 points, most steps give 20, and the hardest step gives 30. A team that does every step has 130 points.

Not every team gets the steps in the same order. The first step and the last three steps are the same for everyone, and the steps in the middle come in one of three orders, handed out in turn, so teams that start together are rarely on the same step.

What you prepare (about 12 minutes)

1. Copy the template with the button on this page, then release it. You do not need to change a word.
2. Try it the day before with the test run button in the builder. Use a school device on the school Wi-Fi. Play a clip, take a photo and record the pencil sentence, so you know the sound, camera, microphone and network work. A test run does not use any of your free phones.
3. Make teams of 3 or 4 and give each team one charged phone or tablet. Each team that starts uses one of the hunt’s phones, and 5 phones a month are free. Every class that plays this hunt in the same month shares those 5. With more than 5 teams, make bigger teams or add a phone pack.
4. Have a book and two writing tools per team. Pencils, pens, crayons or markers all work.
5. Check sound and microphone access on each device, at a volume that does not overwhelm nearby teams. An English keyboard can help with the written words.
6. Form the teams first, then show the play link’s QR code on the board. Only the student holding each team’s phone scans it, because every phone that joins uses one of your phones.

Running the lesson

Say to the class:

1. “Teams of three or four. Your team name is a colour or an animal, not your names. One phone per team. Only the person holding the phone scans the code on the board.”
2. “Read and listen together. Take turns speaking and using the phone. If you do not understand a word, use the hint button.”
3. “Stay in the classroom and walk. Take photos close up. When a photo has people in it, only hands, never faces.”
4. “When you finish, tap Finish Hunt, walk to me and show me your final screen. Say the magic words: Thank you! The first team to reach me with full points wins.”

Then watch the order the teams arrive in. The winner is the first team whose final screen shows the full 130 points. Do not use the leaderboard on the phones to pick the winner.

With weaker readers, read step 1 aloud to the whole class before the teams start. With the youngest teams, walk round and read each step with them.

If you play with more than 7 teams, start half of them one minute later, so the first photos do not all arrive at the same moment. Write down when each group started, and take one minute off the late group’s arrival time when you pick the winner.

Make it yours

Everything in the template can be changed in the builder before you release it. The most useful change is to match the words your class is learning right now. For a different vocabulary topic, change the relevant pictures, recordings, written instructions and answer rules together. For example, replace the pencil picture and spoken example with a classroom object your students are learning. You can edit each step by hand, or ask the builder’s chat to make the change in plain words.

If you change the magic words in step 8, change them in step 9 too, so the ending still makes sense. If you add or remove a step, the full points total is no longer 130, so check the new total with a test run before the lesson.

Questions teachers ask

How do you run a scavenger hunt in an English class? Put the students in teams of 3 or 4, give each team one phone, and show the play link’s QR code on the board. The hunt does the rest: it gives each step in simple English, checks the answers, and tells each team to come back to you at the end. You only watch the order the teams arrive in.

What English does this hunt practise? Blue, under, on, next to, classroom object names, “This is a pencil” and “thank you”. Students listen to three short clips, record a spoken answer, read, photograph and write three English words.

How long does it take? 15 to 30 minutes. Quick teams of 12-year-olds can finish in about 15 minutes. Younger beginners who read slowly can take about 30.

Do the students need their own phones, or an app? No. Each team shares one phone or tablet, and school devices are fine. The hunt opens in the web browser from a link, so nothing is installed. Every device needs an internet connection, because the answers are checked online. Only you, the teacher, need an account.

Will my students’ faces be in the photos? The hunt is built to keep faces out. Every photo step asks for things or hands only, the step text says where to point the camera, and the photo check is set to ask for a new photo if a face is clearly visible.

How many students can play? Teams of 3 or 4, with one phone per team. Each hunt can be played on 5 phones a month for free, which is 5 teams, or about 15 to 20 students. For a bigger class, make bigger teams or add a phone pack.