Monthly Archives: May 2012

Nature Scavenger Hunt

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Summer is almost here and it’s time to start getting the kids out of the house. Get them running around smiling with a nature scavenger hunt. Not only will the enjoy the sun and fresh air outside but they might end up learning something too.

This type of scavenger hunt is also really easy to make. You just need to think of a list of items that you kids can run around and collect. You can change the difficulty of the list depending on how much your kids know. Start simple with items like: a leaf, a stick, bark and a stone. If they know a little bit more you can list things like: maple leaf, oak leaf, birch bark, three leaf clover and acorns.

Creating a TextClues scavenger hunt can make it more fun than just a simple list. Sending clues to your kids via text messages will get them excited but adding a little bit of story will make it even better. Tell your kids that the government need some explorers to find samples of the local wildlife. Then you can create something like this:

Clue: I’m glad we found an explorer that can help us! Are you ready to go out and find samples of everything we need?

Answer: yes, ya

Clue: Alright perfect! We need you to find a leaf from an Oak tree. Let me know when you have found it.

Answer: Found it, Got it

Clue: Great, next wee need to see if you can find us a three leaf clover. Keep an eye out for a luck four leaf clover while you look . Let me know when you found it.

Answer: found it, got it

Clue: Last but not least see if you can find an acorn. Let me know when you’ve found the last item.

Answer: found it, got it

Clue: Congratulations! You found everything, now bring it home and show your parents.

Have a look at our demo and see how easy it is to make a text message scavenger hunt. Happy hunting!

Trivia Night

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You’re holding a trivia night with numerous people, however there are always a few challenges surrounding it.
1) If there are teams, and you are calling out the question, and the team that raises their hand first gets to answer, what do you do if multiple people raise their hand to answer the question first? Who gets to answer first?
2) If you are making individuals write out their answers individually to the questions, this requires time to collect team answers and mark the answers which wastes the time overall of people taking part in trivia night

Why not use a quick and easy program like TextClues to go through trivia night? TextClues is a text-message based program that can run on any mobile phone, so anybody with a cell phone can participate on the fun during Trivia Night :) With TextClues, you can have all of the questions and answers set up via the TextClues website. All *you* will need to do as the host is grab the cell phone numbers of participating individuals and away you go!

The best way to make this work is to have a few different rounds. One round can be trivia questions, another round can be “Name that song”, where you play a clip of a song and individuals need to figure out the title of the song. You can also use the Real-Time Dashboard on the website to determine who entered in the correct answers at the end of Trivia Night, if points are given based on the team with the most correct answers.

Let’s show you how this can be done. I’m using the word “pass” as an alternate answer to each question, so if the team does not know the answer to a question, they can type “pass” and  still continue on with trivia night

Question: Welcome to Trivia Night. Here is your first question. In what year did the War of 1812 end?
Answer: 1815, pass
Question: What was the name of the first Beatle’s album?
Answer: Anthology, pass

<song portion of trivia night>
Host: Now, we will play a clip of each song and you must type in the correct title

Question: Name song 1 <play clip of a song>
Answer: Sexy back
Question: Name song 2 <play clip of a song>
Answer: Hey Jude

At the end of it all, you can go through the answers with the crowd, while also looking at the Real-Time dashboard to see who got the most questions right.  Pretty easy to set up right? :) Try out TextClues for your next trivia night, and you won’t want to stop using it for future nights because we make it *that* easy!

Create Your Own Text Message Quiz!

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What if I told you that TextClues can act as a tool to learn languages, facts or any subject that interests you? Well people are constantly coming up with new and interesting ways of using the service to their benefit, not always focusing on scavenger hunts.

One of the most interesting is to take personal quizzes. This is great when your a studying a subject or learning something new. You can write out a list of questions, along with the answers, that you should know on the subject you’re studying. Then you can schedule a mobile “quiz” sometime next week or in a few days. This way the test may be somewhat unexpected and you likely won’t have your materials with you.

Later you will be able to go back into your TextClues account and see how you did. If you needed a few guesses for some of the questions maybe those are the areas that you should be focusing on. It’s a great way to assess how much you’ve learned and it’s easy to do anywhere. You can quickly answer a few questions on the bus or while you’re riding the elevator.

If you want to know more about the TextClues service check out some info here or try our free demo.

And don’t forget to share with us how you use TextClues!

Special Mother’s Day Treasure Hunt

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Mother’s day is coming up in a few days. Here’s an example of a text message scavenger hunt you could send her on that special day.

Clue: Hey Mom, Happy Mother’s Day! Ready for your scavenger hunt? Reply ‘yes’ to this textMother's Day Kiss

Answer: Yes

Clue: How many pounds did I weigh when I was born?

Answer: 8

Clue: Good you remembered :) What’s your favorite restaurant?

Answer: The Keg

Clue: That’s where we’re taking you tonight! What’s on the picture in the family room?

Answer: Cottage, The Cottage

Clue: Remember all the good times we had there with grandma? What bird swam in the lake and made a call in the morning?

Answer: Loon

Clue: Another bird question :) What colorful bird do we always see eating at the bird feeder in the backyard?

Answer: Red Cardinal

Clue: Okay go look under the couch for a surprise. Reply ‘found’ when you find it

Answer: Found

Clue: Hope you like the chocolates! Come give me a hug and text back what what I say

Answer: I love youMother's Day Flowers

Clue: Go down to the basement. What’s hidden by the freezer?

Answer: Flowers

Clue:  Those should look good in the kitchen. Head to the dining room and look at the pictures. What sunny place did we go last year?

Answer: Mexico

Winning Message: That was such a great trip. Now go upstairs. There’s one last surprise waiting for you under your bed!

If you want to create your own text message hunt try our free demo.

A Mother’s Day Scavenger Hunt

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Mother’s Day is coming up fast! But don’t worry you’ve still got time to give you mom a great surprise. TextClues is here to help you make a scavenger hunt that your mom will never forget.

TextClues is great in so many ways:

  • It will save you time
  • It is easy to use
  • Uses new technology which is sure to surprise
  • Can be used with other ideas or on its own
  • Provides a more personalized gift

You can use a scavenger hunt a few different ways on Mother’s day.

You can use it to lead your Mom to the present you were already planning to get her. She’ll love that you’ve personalized a hunt just for her and you’ll turn an ordinary gift into an extraordinary one.

You can also create a scavenger hunt that is a gift in itself. Lead you Mom on a hunt down memory lane with clues about your past and present. You know how sentimental your Mom can get so give her the clues she will love.

For more ideas check out our how to guide for creating a unique Mother’s Day scavenger hunt.

City or Campus Tour

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Are you trying to organise a city tour, a campus tour, or just a general tour of an area for individuals but you don’t know where to start?  Are you trying to organise a tour of your facilities so that you don’t necessarily need to be physically present on the tour, but at the same time ensure to give your guests a good experience of your facilities or surroundings?
Using an easy-to-use tool like TextClues, it can organise a tour for your group in a way that you wouldn’t normally have expected!

TextClues can be used in two ways for a tour:
1) To help guide individuals from one location to another that are new to the area
2) To determine whether individuals within a certain location remember where facilities and specific points of interests are (if they have already been on a tour)

Both of the above would be setup in the same way, however it is simply a matter of how you would word your clues.  We’ll give examples of both, but we’ll start off with a completely new group wanting to tour around an area for the first time on their own…

Say, for example, you are a tour company, and want to provide customers the ability to take tours on their own time, stroll through the streets at their own pace, but still make use of your touring service. You could easily have users subscribe to a specific “tour hunt” via TextClues that will bring them to interesting attractions around your city
:)

Here’s an example for the city of Toronto:

Clue: The tour begins in the heart of Chinatown – Dundas and Spadina. Do you see the big tall tower (aka CN Tower) south of you? Walk down Spadina towards this tower. Take time to stroll down the street, go into some shops/markets, and enjoy a fresh drink. When you’re done, text “yum”
Answer: Yum
Clue: Have you reached the big tall Tower yet? If not, keep going until you are at its base :) Take time to take some photos and if you are up for it, have a ride up the tower too! When you’re done with the area, text “yay”
Answer: Yay

Now, if you want to test out some students at a campus, to see how familiar they are with a building, you can make it a bit more interactive :) Fictional campus used in the below example.

Clue: Start at the main campus. Go to the building on campus that has a cannon outside of the building. What year is found on the cannon?
Answer: 1853
Clue: Great job! Now, where on campus can you buy a nice big smoothie? Go there now and tell is the best selling item.
Answer: Fruity Blast

As you can see, you can have all sorts of fun creating a scavenger hunt/text messaging tour and make the tour go any way you would like it ;) And with TextClues, the organisation of it all just makes it *that* much easier.  Try it out today and you will see how easy you can have it work for you too.

List of Scavenger Hunt Clues (Part IV)

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This weeks clue list gives you riddles for different rooms in the house. Send your hunter to any room and let them search high and low for the hidden prize/clue.

The clues should be formatted in the following way:

“I have hidden your next prize [Insert Riddle] Go find it!”

So for Example:

“I have hidden your next prize in the spot where I bake a lot. Go find it!”

 

  Kitchen   in the place where you make treats you can eat
  in the spot where you cook the meat you like to eat
  in the spot where I bake a lot
  in the place where you sit down and say grace
  TV Room   in the room where you sit with me and watch tv
  in the place where the
  in the place where the tv glows and plays shows
  in the space where the tv sits in place
  Bedroom   in the room where you have read in bed
  in the room where you count sheep to sleep
  in the place where you don’t make a peep because you’re asleep
  Back Yard   in the spot where you sit for fresh air
  in the place where you can cook on the barbeque
  in the place where you can run around and have fun out in the sun
  Pantry   in the place that holds all the different packs of snacks
  in the place where there are stacks of tasty snacks
  in the place where you find food in cans that feel cold to your hands
  Office   in the place where the computer sits with all of its bits
  in the room that holds the only type of mouse allowed in the house
  in the spot where you get work done before you can go have fun
 Dining Room   in the spot where you eat all that tasty meat
  in the place with the seat that you use when you eat
  in the place where you eat sweet tasty treats
Laundry Room   in the room that holds the broom
  in the room you go to clean clothes and make them smell like a rose
  in the place clothes get done so you look clean when you see someone
  Bathroom   in the space where you comb your hair
  in the place where you shower for over an hour
  in the place where you wash your face

Don’t forget to see how you can improve your scavenger hunt and save time by using the TextClues service.

Happy Hunting!

 

 

Summer Camp Text Scavenger Hunt

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Camp CreekA scavenger hunt is a great way to get kids aquainted to a new camp. They can be used for camp orientation or to get the kids to explore areas of the camp they have never been before. You can ask them questions about landmarks and get them to learn what the camp has to offer.

You can use TextClues to send the clues by text message, but just make sure you have cell phone reception at the camp!

Here’s an example hunt that needs a compass:

Clue: Head north for 10 minutes until you reach water. What’s the name of this creek? Reply with the answer.

Answer: Five mile creek

Clue: How many swinging ropes are attached to the tree nearby?

Answer: 3, three

Clue: Good. Now head west upstream. How many kayaks are on the bank?

Answer: 11, eleven

Clue: Good. Walk a little further and cross over the bridge to the other side. What’s carved on the top of the totem pole?

Answer: Eagle

Clue: Good. Follow the path and when you reach the fork in the road look down and tell me what’s growing below the sign.

Answer: MushroomsMushrooms

Clue: Yes. Alright, go right at the fork and keep walking until you reach a clearing in the forest.  What’s in the middle of the clearing?

Answer: fire pit, pit

Clue: We’re going to use that for the bonfire tonight. What kind of tree has white peeling bark?

Answer: Birch, Birch tree

Clue: Good. Find one and peel a bit of the dried bark off. We’ll use that for fire kindling later. Head to the flag pole. What year is engraved on the plaque?

Answer: 1973

Winning Message:  That’s when the camp was founded. Now follow the trail east. When you reach the lodge go inside for lunch!

Museum Scavenger Hunt

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Interested in a fun and educational day out with your kids? Well with a little bit of time you can create a fun day they won’t forget. The only problem is they might keep asking for another scavenger hunt as soon as possible!

Museums are great places for kids to learn because they are so interesting once you get the kids engaged. TextClues is a great new way to use technology to get kids interested in the exhibits and excited about learning. It allows you to create clues that will be sent to any mobile phone using text messages. When you answer a clue correctly the next clue is sent and when you answer it incorrectly it tells you to “try again”. You can see it in action using the demo.

This allows you to create a brand new experience for your kids that is sure to amaze.  They will be wondering how you did it. You can even say that the questions are coming from an adventurer who needs answers to his/her important questions.

It will only take a short visit to the museum beforehand to prepare the adventure. Quickly go through the museum and pick out interesting facts that you know your child would be interested in. If you are going with a few children then you might want to pick out different clues for each one. You will be able to enter all these clues into the computer in minutes then schedule the hunt to start when you’re heading to the museum.

As you walk through the museum with the kids you can enjoy each exhibit together and they will be excitedly looking for the answer to their next clue.

Here’s an example of how a hunt might start:

Clue: Hi, my name is Dr. Swill. I am an explorer and I need your help! Could you find some answers for me at the museum today? Please tell me “yes”

Answer: Yes

Clue: Perfect! When you first walk into the door you will see a big dinosaur skeleton. What is that dinosaur’s name?

Answer: trex, tyrannosaurus

Clue: Ahh just as I expected. Now can you find the name of the woman who helped Louis and Clark along their journey? …