LDS Youth Activity Idea: Scripture Treasure Hunt
If you’re a youth leader in your ward, here’s a super fun activity idea that combines spiritual with fun and it’s super easy! It’s a Scripture Treasure Hunt and all the clues can be found inside your church building. Check it out!
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we hold weekly activities with the youth in our congregation ages 12-18 years old. We like to focus on four different areas: spiritual, social, physical and intellectual. That’s the awesomeness of this activity. It basically incorporates all four areas. Plus we have everything you need to get started in one printable. Check it out!
Print your free Scripture Treasure Hunt printable
Everything you need to host your own treasure hunt is included in this printable below. Just click on the link and you’re on your way
Print your LDS Scripture Treasure Hunt
This printable includes instructions on the first page and a list of the scriptures, clues and the location of each of the clues for each of the four teams. It also includes a page of clues for each four teams.
Cut and hide the clues
There are five different clues for four different teams. All of the clues lead the teams to different locations but everyone should end up in the Relief Society Room at the end. Print the clue sheets for each team and them cut each clue into strips.
Next, use the instruction sheet to figure out where to hide each of the clues. For example, the first clue for Team Blue is Psalms 6:6. This scripture says:
“I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.”
So … Clue #1 for the Blue Team should lead them to the couch in the lobby of the church. That is where they will find Clue #2 which is Leviticus 26:31. The answer to that clue is a garbage can. So they need to look for Clue #3 on, in or under a garbage can somewhere in the church. You get the idea.
Divide your youth into groups and get started
Don’t forget to tell your youth to bring their scriptures. They can also use the scriptures on their phones if they forget. Divide your youth equally into four groups. You can do less groups if your youth group is smaller.
Give each group Clue #1 and tell them to look up the scripture and figure out where the clue is hidden. Make sure they know that the clues are all inside the church somewhere. You can give all of the leaders the instruction sheet so if the youth can figure out where a certain clue is, they can help them.
Make sure the kids remember that they need to be reverent in the church and don’t run or yell. I also call other leaders in our area to make sure there weren’t any meetings or other functions happening that night because we basically used the entire church.
Also, remind the youth that if they find a clue for a different team, to just leave it there.
Finish the treasure hunt in the Relief Society room
Everyone’s last clue should lead them to the Relief Society room in the church. You don’t want to give away the final location of the treasure hunt, so try not to set up anything in this room that would tip them off. As they start arriving in the room, you can have quiet music playing and some chairs set up to sit down on.
You can basically make whatever prize you want for the end of the treasure hunt. They sell these really cute treasure boxes on Amazon and you can put a treat or prize inside of there for everyone.
You could also print some tiny strips of paper that say, “Treasure the scriptures” and glue them around some Hershey’s Nuggets. And you could also give them a bookmark for their scriptures.
If the treasure hunt doesn’t take very long, you can take some time at the end for everyone to share their favorite scripture story. Our youth group really had a lot of fun with this activity. We had our class presidency hide the clues and they got really creative. One of the girls said, “I didn’t think this was going to be very much fun but it ended up being better than I thought.” Well, I’ll take it!
I hope this blog post helps you as you are planning your next LDS youth activity. If you didn’t see the link to the printable, here it is one more time. Good luck!
Print your LDS Scripture Treasure Hunt
Want to learn more about our beliefs?
If you are not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you can learn more by visiting churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist. Here you can learn more about our beliefs, find a church near you and/or request a copy of the Book of Mormon.
Related link: Start a Friendship Basket with your LDS Young Women group today
