It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with Flippity…it’s the greatest thing since avocado toast (and I’ll be forever grateful to my dear Rita for telling me this summer that I just had to play around with it!) It’s a collection of amazingly versatile tools that are just perfect for language teachers looking to load their Little Darlings up with Comprehensible Input. I’ve written tutorials for Flippity’s Manipulatives and Flippity’s Matching but today we’re talking about Flippity’s Scavenger Hunts. Prepare to be amazed!
Basically the Scavenger Tool allows you to easily create a “Break Out” for your students to solve. You give them clues, something to read, a video to watch or a puzzle to solve. Then they type their answer into the box, and if they’re correct, the “lock” opens up and then move onto another challenge.
Now, I’ve created Break Out Challenges before using Google Forms, but I have to say, Flippity makes it a 1,000 times easier… And because Flippity is so flippin’ awesome, the teacher has a zillion options for creating a Break Out that is just perfect for their students.
- Want to include a picture in your challenge...no problem!
- Want the lock to link to a YouTube video? Easy Peasy!
- Give them a link to explore a website? Absolutely!
- What if you want to accept multiple correct answers, for a single lock? Flippity is way ahead of you!
- Want to be notified when students open all the locks?…They will send you an email, if you like!
- You decide if they have to open the locks sequentially or in any order.
- You want 3 locks? 25 locks? Give them a few clues? Totally up to you! The world is your oyster!
- You can even accept any answer, if you want, but the kiddos don’t know that!
Seriously guys… there are so many cool things you can do with Flippity’s Scavenger Hunt and I feel like I’m just at the tip of the iceberg! I’ve got some ideas to share with you in my next blog post, but let’s start with the basics.
Like all Flippities, you start with an excel sheet and customize from there. If you’re one of those “play-around-and-figure-it-out-as-you-go” types (like me!) head on over to Flippity.net, look for the Scavenger Hunt icon and click “Template” to get started. Here is the Scavenger Hunt Instruction Sheet for quick reference…Embedding videos, links and Google Docs is easy but not initiative, so check it out for guidance!
If you’re not-so-techy but you don’t want to be left out of all the fun, I’m here for you! Let’s walk through it together, step by step. I’ll show you how to incorporate pictures, YouTube videos and Google Docs right into your Scavenger Hunt.
Want to play around?! Try it out:
Here’s a Scavenger Hunt I made for my Level 1 Little Darlings about Café Restaurante Robin Hood in Spain. Want to play around!?
Some parting thoughts…
I know for a lot of us, we’re at the 1 year anniversary of when the world flipped upside down! It was a Sunday night exactly 365 days ago when we got the phone call that we wouldn’t be going to school the following day. We thought we’d teach from home for two weeks, then four weeks, then six weeks, then….we didn’t go back. So crazy, and so much has changed since then but I’m feeling hopeful. Things are starting to feel more “normal” and at this stage in the game “normal” is fantastic! Thinking of you and wishing you well, whatever your teaching (and life!) situation looks like!
And thanks for being here to celebrate this little blogcito’s 200th blog post. When I sat down to start senorachase.com a few years ago, I didn’t think I had that much to say. My esposo tells me that he isn’t surprised … ha!
Señora Chase 
Happy 200th post!! I always love your posts and the activities that you share. Thank you for your generosity and for making things easy enough for this 30 year non-tech savvy teacher to use!
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Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!
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Quick question – For the clues when the students have to chat, do you have your virtual learners just go into a breakout room with you?
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I don’t have any virtual learners… But that would be perfect! Or you could send them to a flip grid to make a recording
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Hi!!!! So, have you heard much about school systems blocking Flippity? I think mine is blocking it now but not sure because I have only tried once to make one and it’s possible it didn’t work for another reason. I really hope it’s user error and not because it’s not permitted.
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Oh gosh, no, I haven’t heard about it being blocked! Which part is blocked? Like you can’t click on “make a template” or You can create one, but when students try and click on their link it is locked? If it is the former, I would make the template at home and then see if they can play it in school… I would also reach out to my IT department and ask about it. I hope you can get it to work! It is the best
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I teach in NY State and we have a new education law that disallows lots of sites to maintain student privacy but Flippity is compliant with the law, so I think if I can use it so can you. Great post as usual! I love the ideas here!
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Oh! Good to know!! Thanks for your comment!!
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Awesome activities! I love your website! I tried the scavenger hunt that you made and I love it but for some reason, I cannot figure out the answer to #6. I have used every combination of the date lol. Would you please let me know the answer, when you have time?
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Oh no!! I made a mistake! The answer is “febrero de 2019”… I was looking at a different reviewer!! I’ll fix that tomorrow at school- thanks so much for letting me know!
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As always, THANK YOU so much for this tutorial! I am techy-ish and can definitely learn how to do things like this myself…but it’s so much easier to have you teach me. I have loved every Flippity trick you’ve shown and my students love them too. In fact, I have started referring to you as “mi amiga en Nevada, Señora Chase” and I had a student ask the other day when my friend was going to teach me a new activity. They were bored and looking for a fresh game – thanks for coming through for them!
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Haha!! I love this!! ❤️❤️❤️
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This was wonderful!! I did it today with my class to review chapter 1 of the novel we are reading. Thank you so much!! You have literally SAVED me during this pandemic with all of your help and ideas! ¡Mil gracias!!
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I’m happy it worked well for you!
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I want to use the Scavenger Hunt Flippity game but can’t seem to do multiple choice questions that aren’t jumbled into one long sentence. Is there a way to make the formatting look like a traditional MC question? Like choice one on a line
choice two on a line
etc
Thanks
Marjorie
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Hmmm. Not sure if that’s possible, because then students wouldn’t have to think, just click all the options until they find the right one. You can email the Flippity creator, he’s been super helpful when I contacted him.
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