You’ll be surprised at what you find
Backyard Adventure series
Our Backyard Adventures are fun and easy mini-expeditions that you can do — you guessed it! — right in your own backyard. These activities are designed to help students and parents explore the world with eyes of wonder. Along the way, you might discover a new interest, a new dream, or even a future career.
Scott was inspired to make this search-and-find game because he is always surprised at what he finds in his backyard. Take his garden as an example. It gets bigger every day. Then one day, it has a flower. And another day it has a tomato. Where did that come from!? He’s always finding new plants — some people call them weeds. The wind blows seeds into his yard, or sometimes a bird drops a seed as they fly past. A lot of birds, butterflies, and bees like to visit his garden. There is almost always a weird bug to be found on a plant or in the ground. There is a flock of goldfinches that lives nearby. Last year, there was a family of raccoons in the woods nearby. There is a possum, too. And so much more… There is a whole world in Scott’s backyard, and we think you’ll find a whole world in your backyard too!
Assignment: Your adventure, should you choose to accept it, is to find all kinds of new things in your backyard. You can play alone or with a friend or family member. This game combines two classic games: a scavenger hunt and bingo.
Instructions
Bingo Scavenger Hunt is super easy to play. You can even make up your own rules. Use your imagination and your own backyard to see how quickly you can find common outdoor objects. Can you find 5 in a row, column or diagonally?
You’re also free to create your own rules and interpret the drawings any way you want. We’ve purposely drawn some of the objects to look mysterious. For example, is that a ball or a rock? Is that a hummingbird or mosquito? Or, is that an acorn or a symbol for any kind of seed? You get to decide!
The question mark “?” is like a free space. We recommend that you challenge yourself and find a new discovery. It can be anything.
Hint: You might want to go outside twice: once in the day and once at night.
Play with a friend
We’ve included two different bingo boards so that you can play with a friend. You can try it once in your backyard and once in theirs. Do you notice any differences? Did you make any new discoveries? Write them down on the bottom of your bingo card.
Create your own bingo board
Once you make some new discoveries in your backyard, you will be ready to make your own bingo board and challenge a friend. This is a blank card so that you can cut apart our pictures and glue them on the board in any order. Or, you can draw your own pictures. Try to add some of your new discoveries. You can also make some new rules. For example, is the center square a freebie? Then trade boards with a friend and have fun.
Download below
Download: the Bingo scavenger hunt
This free PDF is premium content. Please subscribe to our quarterly newsletter to download.
This is a printer-friendly, high-res PDF. You’ll get both a color (if available) and black and white version. Each PDF comes with simple instructions. I recommend building a life planner by putting all your activities into a 3-ring binder. Thanks! And have fun!
Footnotes
Visit Wikipedia, if you’d like to learn more about the history of bingo or the history of scavenger hunts.
