Resourcefulness Scavenger Hunt

If you are working on the Resourcefulness badge, here is a great activity for the older kids in your troop that focuses on the resources of time, money, and teamwork.  Take a field trip to a large big box store (such as Walmart, Target, etc.) and send your kids on a resourcefulness scavenger hunt.  Divide the kids into teams and give each team $10.  They have exactly one hour to purchase one item from as many different sections of the store as they can.  For example, they may find a jar of baby food in the Baby section, a ruler in the Office section, a can of beans in the Grocery section, etc.  Only one item per section is allowed.  At the end of the hour, whichever team has the most items purchased within their budget wins the game.

Talk to the kids before they set out about using the resources of time, money and their team to their best advantage.  If the team is even one minute late, they will be disqualified, so time management is essential.  Make sure to allow enough time to get through the checkout line. They will only have $5 and they will need to take sales tax into account when budgeting as well as the actual cost of the items.  Finally, they need to consider the strengths of their team members.  Will they all stay together, or split off into pairs to see what they can find?  Who will keep track of how much of the budget has been used?  Who will keep track of the time to make sure that they are not late?  Don’t forget to tell them that if their team is caught running, yelling, or otherwise misbehaving in the store, that they will be instantly disqualified.

At the end of the game, have all teams turn in their items and sales receipt along with any change.  If a team has more than one item from the same section of the store, only the first one will count.  If there is a tie, say two teams both purchase 6 items, whoever spent the least amount of money wins.  As a prize, have the members of the winning team each choose one item from everything purchased (from all teams).  If you wish to have a 2nd or 3rd place, these team would then get 2nd and 3rd choices of the items purchased. Any leftover items can be donated to a local charity or family.