Bible Scavenger Hunts

We recently had a Sunday School picnic at our house and I needed a large group game.  I wanted to do a scavenger hunt and decided to include Bible clues.  So I used biblestudytools.com (or I could have gotten old school and pulled out my concordance) and searched in the Bible for objects that were in my yard.  I started with door, tree, and table.  Then, I remembered sand, steps, porch, flowers, and even herbs.  Finally, I got a little creative and used "shed" and "mail."

To play the game, give the teams their first clue.  They should fill in the blank in the Bible verse.  The word in the blank is where they should go next.  When they get there, they should find the next clue.  They should continue following the clues until they get to the final location.

Here are my clues (in KJV, because that's what I thought the people at our picnic would be most familiar with) and the answers: 

John 10:9 “I am the ________: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,  and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”                       (door)

Psalm 23:5 “Thou preparest a ________ before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”               (table)

I Kings 10:19 “The throne had six ________, and the top of the throne was  round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat , and two lions stood beside the stays.”                 (steps)

Matthew 7:19 “Every ______ that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,  and cast into the fire.”                  (tree)

Matthew 7:26 “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth  them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house  upon the ________:”  (sand = sandbox)

Mark 14:68 “But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou  sayest. And he went out into the __________; and the cock crew .”              (porch)

Luke 22:20 “Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new  testament in my blood,  which is ________ for you.”                   (shed)

Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withereth , the _________ fadeth: but the word of our  God shall stand  for ever.”                      (flower)

1 Samuel 17:38 “And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet  of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of ________.”  (mail = mailbox)

Proverbs 15:17 “Better is a dinner of ________ where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.”                 (herbs = herb garden)

Click here for a pdf with the clues.

Here are a few things that I learned about scavengers hunts (mostly from my mistakes): 

1. Have each team's clues in a different order so that they don't all follow each other around, but have them all end at the same place.
2. Put the team's number on their clues.  Also, put the answer to the previous clue on the paper.  So a clue might say "Team 1 - Clue 1 (shed)."  This tells you where to hide the clue and helps ensure that the team finds the clues in the correct order (I had a team find a clue hidden beside the garage door on the shed and logically thought that they had found the "door" clue, but I intended it to be the "shed" clue).
3. Either hide a paper saying "you won" at the final place or have a person at the end to let them know that they are done.
4. Provide some Bibles in the translation you used to help the teams.
5. You can easily remove or change some of the clues (if you don't grow herbs in your yard or have a sandbox...).  Find something that is in your yard  (fence, window, bush, chair...)  in a Bible verse using a concordance or www.biblestudytools.org.

Click here for the indoor version.