Square Scavenger Hunt

In my elementary art studio, the first day of class happens over and over again every hour for the entire first week of school. And during that first week, my students are going over and over the rules and procedures in every space they visit. There’s so much to cover between room layout, handling various drills, creating social contracts, and assigning seats, so I love to get students engaged and smiling by having them create from the very start. It’s also a great way for new students to feel comfortable getting to know the room and some of their peers.

Art Room Scavenger Hunt
One of my favorite lessons to get students creating and to cover important information is an art room scavenger hunt. This is our first class activity in second through fifth grades, and it ends with a beautiful collaborative mural for the hallways.

As students work through the scavenger hunt, I look for opportunities to cover a classroom procedure or expectation by playing a game of Freeze: I say, “macaroni and cheese,” students say “everybody freeze.” We discuss how to travel through the room (walking, not running; free reign to grab a tissue), my pencil sharpening procedure (trade out for an already sharpened pencil first—my sharpener will eat at an entire pencil without stopping), and a host of other expectations like volume, sharing and storing supplies, and supplies that are used with permission only.

Scavenger Hunt Procedures
On the template I give to students, there are shapes labeled with different media (e.g., yellow crayon, red marker). I’ve handled the next step a few different ways: For a more controlled method, I provide a different media at each table around the room and have students travel a designated path. For a more organic method, I have students search for the place in my room where each media is stored.

At each media station or location, I include a short description and instructions. It might be “fill the MARKER box of your template with repeated SHAPES” or “color in the box with a PENCIL, then use an ERASER to make a PATTERN.”

For an in-between method, I write out a set of directions, scramble them in a different order for four groups, and send each group off to follow their direction sheet in the order listed. I usually have lengths of butcher paper ready so that students’ templates can be glued on as they finish.

Extensions
There are so many different modifications and extensions for this type of activity, and it really could be used at any time of year—coming back from a break, introducing new media, and more. One year, I chose a primary color scheme with overlapping triangles so my students could explore the interactions of different media. Students could add a word that describes them or a sentence about what they dream for the future.

Reflections
I love using quilt designs as inspiration for these collaborations. My classes are fifty-five minutes long, and I’ve found that using a smaller size paper ensures that we finish everything in one class period. I print my templates on letter-size paper and cut them to 8½" squares or two 8½ x 5½" rectangles, depending on that year’s design. I often change colors of the media every couple of hours/classes to achieve a beautiful rainbow effect. The best part is having a large, ready-to-hang collaborative piece by the end of the week!