Activity 18: 
The Great Community Hunt  

Purpose

  • To introduce participants to various real-life walking situations and have them appropriately respond  

  • To allow participants to participate in a community hunt that will position them to make choices related to pedestrian safety and community respect  

Materials

  • Pencils, one per participant 

  • Disposable vinyl or latex gloves (one pair per participant)  

  • Garbage and recycling bags

  • Flagging tape  

  • A community hunt list with the various items you have identified for participants to locate on the route such as:  

  • Garbage cans

  • Garbage  

  • Recyclables

  • A stop sign

  • A pothole

  • A bridge  

  • An unmarked crosswalk  

  • A marked crosswalk

  • A one-way street sign  

  • A yield sign  

  • A pedestrian crossing light  

Things to Observe

  • Participants are following the guidelines of the hunt such as staying with the crew and respecting the environment.

  • Participants are all actively taking part.  

Safety Considerations

  • Ensure that participants stay with the large crew or if there are others helping to deliver the program that they stay with their small crew.

  • Record the items found on the community hunt list.

  • Remind participants to act safely and respect the environment.

  • Encourage participants to pick up garbage (for bonus points) and ensure that they wear disposable vinyl gloves during the activity and wash their hands after the activity. Have a conversation about things that are not safe to pick up (sharp objects, needles, condoms, etc.) 

Guidelines

  • In order for this activity to be successfully completed you must do a great deal of preparation. First, you will need to create a route that the participants will use to complete a community hunt. The route will contain items that the participants must locate as they are moving in small crews or with the large crew and be accessible to all participants. Examples of these items to be found are listed in the materials section above. Items can be added as desired. As you plan the route, you will do two things: write down all the items that participants need to find, and place a piece of flagging tape on items that you have deemed as essential items that participants must find (tape can be hidden under the item to make it challenging). When you put a piece of tape on an item you will also write a letter on it. The letter will be one letter from the two words “Making Tracks.” After you have created a list of items that the participants must find and placed 12 pieces of flagging tape on essential items then the activity is ready to be completed by the participants.  

  • When the participants arrive to do the hunt, you will create small crews (if there are helpers to deliver the program) and assign one helper to each one. The small crews will have a designated amount of time to find the items listed. The first small crew to return to the home base with all of the items correctly located will be the winners. If there are no helpers available then the large crew will travel about together and find the items listed on the scavenger hunt form.  

Be sure to tell the participants that when they locate one of these essential items on their community hunt list, they will find a letter on the flagging tape. They will need to tell the letter to you or the helpers who will record it for them. Once the participants have identified all of the essential items they also will have collected all of the letters. They can then re-arrange the letters and these will form the secret phrase “Making Tracks.” 

Instructional Considerations  

  • Clearly review the rules for the hunt.  

  • Have each small crew create a cheer. Or, if there is only a large crew you will help them to create a cheer to start off the hunt.  

  • As you go on the hunt with the participants, ask questions like, “Should we take this unmarked path when we are walking?”  

  • Encourage participants to get bonus points by picking up garbage and cleaning up their community.  

Debrief  

  • Once the activity is over have all participants come together to discuss how they felt about their community hunt.  

  • At the end of the activity, debrief with the participants. Ask them to respond to these questions:  

    • Why should we try to avoid buying products that create waste like pre-packaged foods?  

    • What would you do if you noticed a friend or someone you know littering?