Quad Cities Social Distancing Scavenger Hunt

Finding fun in your own backyard just got easier with this Quad Cities scavenger hunt. We had the best time playing with four other families. We were able to get out of the house, have fun, visit some local favorite spots, and remember why we love our community.

Here’s how we did it.
Each family got a sealed list of these activities and a bag of snacks. (After all, you need great snacks for any scavenger hunt!) At 3:30 we each opened the envelope. We had 15 minutes to plan and then one hour to complete the scavenger hunt.

It is a photo scavenger hunt.
We used our phones to take pictures as guided by the list. Many of us took the last picture as the time ran out on our alarm. We all live in Rock Island and took most of our photos here. You could easily alter some of the items/time for your own town or to be more general across the Quad Cities.

We hung out virtually.
We uploaded our photos to a Google photos album shared among the five families. We then did a screen share on a Zoom call and looked though the photos together. We laughed and shared stories.

Our 11-year-old: “That was the most fun I’ve had all week!”

My husband: “Thank you for arranging that. It was so great to play and see our friends.”

My mom-friend: “The boys had the best time. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Thank you.”

We passed out these rules:

Quad Cities Social Distancing Scavenger Hunt Rules
Schedule: Open the scavenger hunt list at 3:30. Scavenge as families from 3:45-4:45.
Time: Every team gets 1 hour to get as many photos as possible.
Points: Each photo gets one point. Each bonus gets one point. You can keep track of your own points and we’ll compare and confirm as we look at the photos.
Share: Upload your photos to the shared Google drive so we can see them together post-scavenger hunt. Album name: QC Scavenger Hunt. We’ll do a 5 p.m. Zoom call meet up.
Snacks: Some scavengering snacks are provided to keep up your energy. Have fun! Can’t wait to see all your photos!!

Here is the list we used to download as a PDF

Janelle T. (Moline) and her teenagers compiled the original list from brainstorming and scavenger hunts they found online. They edited the items to make them “Covid-19 friendly.” Heather H. (Moline) used their list and added a few, and used it for a church family activity. After receiving the list from Heather, I edited the list for our own family group scavenger hunt. 

Written by Meghan Cooley

Meghan Cooley moved to the Quad Cities from St. Charles, IL, as an Augustana College student over 20 years ago. She left briefly after graduation and then returned to work in admissions and then marketing at Augustana College for 18 years. She now works as a consultant for admissions marketing and social media. She also does copy editing and writes for the Quad City Moms Blog. Now a true Quad Cities transplant, Meghan lives in Rock Island with her husband, Luke (R.O.W.V.A. and Augustana grad and Modern Woodmen employee) and four boys. She loves living in the Quad Cities and finds it the perfect place to raise a family, plan a date night, and go on adventures.