The Money Signs Scavenger Hunt, designed for grades K-5, supports early financial literacy skills by introducing commonly used symbols of currency and by teaching recognition of money types and financial institutions.
Along with financial literacy, the program promotes other literacy types and life skills, such as pattern recognition, spatial awareness, information seeking, and reading practice. The program also encourages kids to move around the different parts of the library's Children's Room that they may not venture to on their normal library visit.
Advanced Planning
The program materials consist of nine scavenger hunt pictures with trivia, a half sheet of paper containing a checklist to log the pictures found, pencils, and small prizes for each completed Scavenger Hunt. The program materials were made in Microsoft Publisher using bright, clear icons to serve as Scavenger Hunt "items" and relevant, easy-to-read "trivia" to accompany the item.
An answer key was provided at the Youth Services Desk in the Children's Room and at the Circulation Desk in case someone needed a hint. The pictures were put up around the Children's Room at the ends of shelves, on windows and other easily accessible areas at child height. Graphic design, research and printing were completed in one hour while the scavenger hunt setup was completed in ten minutes.
Marketing
The program was promoted along with the library's Thinking Money for Kids Exhibit program series in the weekly email newsletter. An easy-to-spot sign next to the scavenger hunt sheets and pencils on a designated table offered words of encouragement from the children's librarians.
Budgeting
With access to a full-color printer, copy paper and pencils, this program is completely free to set up.
Day-of-event Activity
Setting up the scavenger hunt is as simple as taping the pictures to the wall and setting out pencils and signs to advertise the activity. It's also helpful for multiple staff members to have access to an answer key in case a patron needs a hint about their location. The setup can be done by one person or multiple and takes less than 15 minutes.
Program Execution
One hundred Scavenger Hunt sheets were originally printed on the first day of the exhibition; in three months, the Youth Services staff ended up printing over 500 Scavenger Hunt sheets. Our most successful day was during a school visit where 62 children participated in that morning alone.
Lexington Park Library is famous to the community's kids for the monthly Scavenger Hunt, and the Money Signs Scavenger Hunt was no exception. Each month, a new theme is chosen and a new hunt is available from the first of the month to the end of the month and often correlates to a display on that topic. With the extra traffic to see the Thinking Money for Kids Exhibit and as an already anticipated activity, the Money Signs Scavenger Hunt was our most successful yet.
Lots of young patrons were excited to receive their prize for completing the hunt, and the parents enjoyed the "sneaky" learning happening in all corners of the room. The Money Signs Scavenger Hunt is now a recurring yearly activity during Financial Literacy Month (April).
Advice
For best results: Post the scavenger hunt "items" in places accessible to young children, such as on walls, doors and windows at child height. Avoid placing items too low on the floor or tiny curious hands may rip the sign off the wall.
To vary the difficulty, alternate between placing items in high-traffic areas and in areas that aren't visited as frequently.
You may want to laminate or slip the scavenger hunt signs into a transparency sheet to protect them from stray pencil marks and curious pincer grasps.
Reuse the scavenger hunt template for other scavenger hunt themes.
Opt to make a display that matches your scavenger hunt to tie in the program's overall themes.
Supporting Materials
- Feedback (Coming Soon!)
- Programming Librarian Facebook Group
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