In order to hone and test the girls’ skills of clue-cracking, the highlight of our recent spy party was a scavenger hunt.  We based it around Scripture.

To begin with, the girls were handed a Bible and the first clue – a Scripture reference.  They had to look up the reference, read the verse, and figure out what location the verse was a clue to.  At the next location, they found a second clue (another Scripture reference), and so on.  To add a degree of difficulty, I wrote a few of the clues in simple codes.

A few things I did that seemed to be helpful:

• I wrote all of the clues on matching, distinctively-colored paper.  That way the “spies” could readily tell if they’d found one.
• I numbered the clues.  (That is, I wrote the numbers on the papers themselves.)  This turned out to be very helpful!  Not only did it make it easier for me to place them quickly, it was very beneficial when the girls accidentally found one of the clues out of order.
• I made myself a list ahead of time, of which clues should go where.  This saved me a lot of time when I needed to put them in place.
• I blocked off places there were no clues, that the girls didn’t need to go.  (For instance, bedrooms were off-limits.  No need for anyone to go digging through underwear drawers when we know there aren’t clues there!)  We used yellow crime scene tape for this to make it fun.
• I provided a Bible in the same translation I used to create the clues.  That way slight variances in wording didn’t unnecessarily confuse the clues.

I’ve provided my list here in case you want to use it.  Keep in mind that I used locations that were readily available in our house.  You may not have all the same locations.  If not, you can substitute a new verse/location, or you may be able to apply the same clue in a slightly different manner.  For instance, I mill my own flour, so I was able to use a verse about grinding and hide a clue in my mill.  If you don’t have a mill, you might be able to use a flour bin or a mortar and pestle.

One last note: one of the clues was hidden in the Bible itself.  Adhesive strips trimmed from a sticky note worked well to adhere this to the page without damage.

Scavenger Hunt List