As a fellow Youth Director of Senior High youth, I am always looking for creative ways to keep this age group involved at church. One of the most difficult things with this age group and keeping them involved in church is having a strong faith based activity but one that is also very engaging for them. We have done a Christmas Scavenger Hunt to the Mall of America for the last 5 years, and I have been wanting to find something that could be used during the summer as well.
What I liked most about this resource was that it involved the group to go out into the community and build relationships there. It also had them take not just a picture, but to pick up a piece of paper and write about it. This activity has the youth covering a wide list of what Vella listed in the Curriculum model Cited by Jane Vella, in Taking learning to task, Jossey-Bass, 2000. Originally appeared in Problem-based learning and other curriculum models for the multiple intelligences classroom, Robin Fogarty, IRI/Skylight Training and Publishing, Inc., 1997.
This activity had the youth Verbal: report, write; Visual: observe, show; Logical: record, analyze, evaluate, sort; Interpersonal: discuss, respond, report, question, clarify, affirm; Intrapersonal: reflect, study; Bodily: prepare, sort; Naturalist:relate, discover, compare. Covering this wide range of intelligences would help involve a wide group of youth.

What challenge that I did find though with this curriculum is that it said that if approached by angry management or police to have them contact the person in charge. This could be avoided if the management of the place are given a heads up, an appropriate amount of time before, that youth will be coming through their establishment. That way it would avoid any uncomfortable situations for all. Also a time frame on this activity would be helpful.

I work with high school youth and I find it important to teach them as well as providing ways for them to share their energy in the process. This game provides ways for the youth to be active mentally, spiritually, and physically.
It provides ways for them to experience the Bible. It will encourage youth to open their Bible and begin to understand how the Bible works. It will also allow them to know of the diversity in scripture. This game is also very organized and will allow anyone to pick it up and adapt if for their setting. The rules can easily be understood senior high youth. There is also good information for anyone in the public that might stumble upon the game pieces out in public. This game provides relationship between generations with adult drivers and teenagers. It opens doors to conversation and understanding of life stages between children of God.
This game could potentially be too competitive. For youth that thrive and contests would do well with this activity. There could hurt feelings or the desire to quit for youth that struggle with competition. In Nurturing Faith through the Stages of Life by E. Engler, J. Farnham Weber, J. Bowe & Paul Lutz it says “On a spiritual level, high school youth examine their faith in light of their life experiences a need for deeper and more meaningful connection with their creator often emerges. “ This activity provides many great resources, but for helping with the connection to the creator there could deeper information added. This could include something as to what does it mean for the first to be last and the last to be first or can extend to incorporating fellowship and small group work with the teams.

As a frequent host for a senior high overnight, I am always looking for ideas for interactive Biblically-based games for that age group. Sometimes games are just that, games. But games also have the ability (and dare I say, responsibility) to teach -- making spiritual education/development creative and fun.

Evaluating this submission for educational purposes, there is some success with additional opportunity. Since “senior high youth are curious, creative, and…motivated to succeed” (Nurturing Faith through the Stages of Life, Augsburg Fortress, 1998) this game plays to that curious and motivated spirit. It uses Verbal, Visual, and Logical intelligences (as defined by Jane Vella) with the team dynamic adding a bit of Interpersonal intelligence. It is definitely cognitive, as students read the list of Bible verses, solve for the common or “key word” and relate it to an establishment/destination in the town. Considering the 12 Vella principles, there is room for improvement if this game is to be used as a teaching tool. While the principles of “Teamwork” and “Clear Roles” are present, the other principles are either missing or under-defined. For example, “safety” could be an issue; “sound relationship” strives to keep the fun without trivialization (and the key word search, rather than theological meaning of the verse, does trivialize it); “immediacy” demands that the teaching tool deals with what is really useful to the lives of the participants and this does not; etc.

To adapt this fun hunt into a more effective teaching tool, one might add a discussion and/or prayer and/or worship following the conclusion of the game—or better yet, at select points throughout the game. The opportunity to “grapple with tough issue and questions the Bible raises” may heighten the personal engagement and move to another Vella principle “Action with Reflection”. To use additional intelligences for learning, one could add musical or dramatic elements, or mediation and reflective elements.

As solely a game, I liked the concept, the portability for wider use, and the “out-in-today’s-community” application to Biblical texts. As a teaching tool, it came up lacking—for the reasons listed above. That is not to say that I won’t make some element adjustments and try it at my next senior high overnight.