A sheet for the walk round the streets in the dark, or for the back seat of a car. Sixteen things to spot as it opens, each with a tick box, drawn from a bank of thirty and reshuffled every time the page loads. At the bottom is a line to write the total in and the number it is out of.
Everything on the list is settled from the pavement
A house lit all in blue. An inflatable snowman. A reindeer on a roof. Icicle lights along a gutter. A string with one bulb out. Lights reflected in a puddle. Somebody still putting lights up. Each one either walked past or it did not, which is the whole trick: a hunt stops being fun the moment two children disagree about whether something counts.
A few of the thirty are deliberately contrary rather than decorative: a house with no lights at all, a window lit warm white only, a string with one bulb out, lights that flash rather than still ones. Those are the ones that keep an older child looking properly instead of ticking the first four and losing interest.
Tick list or bingo grid
The tick list is two columns of items with a small box against each, and it is the version for a walk, because it reads quickly under a street light. The bingo grid puts the same items in boxed cells with the tick box under the words, which suits a car window and two children racing each other.
The grid shape follows the item count: twelve items give three columns by four rows, and sixteen or twenty give four columns. Both modes end with the same score line.
Printing it for a group
One sheet per child. The list is reshuffled on every load, so if you print four copies one after another each child gets a different order and a slightly different selection, which stops the fastest reader simply calling out the answers.
The sheet is line work and text with no artwork, so a set of twenty costs almost nothing in ink. A clipboard and a pencil are worth more than better paper, because this one gets used outside in the dark.
Questions
- How many things are on the lights scavenger hunt?
- Sixteen as it opens, with twelve and twenty also on the Items control above the sheet. They are drawn from a bank of thirty, so no two printings carry quite the same selection.
- Is there a bingo version?
- Yes. The Mode control switches between a tick list and a bingo grid. The grid puts each item in a boxed cell with the tick box underneath, which works better in a car than a two column list.
- Does the sheet change if I print it twice?
- Yes. The items are reshuffled every time the page loads, and there is a Shuffle button above the sheet, so each child in a group can have a different order and a different selection.
- What age is it for?
- Roughly five to eleven. Nothing on the list needs reading skill beyond a short phrase, and every item is something a child can settle for themselves without asking an adult whether it counts.