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Search patrol

Hide and seek where the playing area is your own local environment.
Time

1–2 hours

Difficulty

Medium

Equipment

A phone with a messaging app (e.g., WhatsApp)

Participants

10–20 young people, 1–2 leaders

How?

How to

Vinkki!

Voitte kääntää asetelman myös toisin päin siten, että nuoret etsivät ohjaajia tai etsintäpartiona toimii ohjaajista ja nuorista koostuva ryhmä.

  1. Decide on the boundaries of the area within which you are allowed to move (e.g., the school building or youth center). The area should be safe, familiar, and accessible on foot. Also decide how long those who are hiding have to find a hiding place and how long the search party has to look for them.

  2. Go through the rules with the participants. For example

    • The young people hide within the agreed area, within the set time, and send a message to the leaders.
    • Every ten minutes, either location information or a picture of the hiding place is sent to the shared message channel.
    • The search party grows as the hidden participants are found.
    • If you want to add extra excitement, the area can be reduced at certain intervals, which means that those who are hiding must move within the new boundaries.

  3. The game ends when everyone has been found or when the time runs out.

  4. Reward the person who is found last or the person who had the most creative hiding place.

Why?

The game strengthens young people’s sense of belonging and develops their interaction skills. Group cohesion is deepened through a common goal and a moderate dose of excitement. Moving around in your own local environment strengthens the feeling of participation and control.