Hidden Landmarks

When it comes to special summer activities at the library, I come from a long and proud tradition of the, "find-this-picture/object/stuffed-animal-at-your-library" game. The idea is simple: Take an object. Any object will do, but it's more fun if it goes along with the summer's theme. Hide it somewhere in the library - not tucked away somewhere where you can't see it, but someplace where you have to be paying attention to notice it. Invite kids to search for this object. Change the hiding place periodically to keep things interesting (I like once each week, but I once worked at a library that came up with a new hiding spot every day). It's a fun activity especially for kids age 8 and younger who come to the library often - the hunt is one exciting things at the library that's always changing. Best of all, it requires relatively little staff effort.

To go along with this year's theme (One World, Many Stories), I decided to hide pictures of famous world landmarks. Many of the landmarks were easily recognizable even to very young children, like the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China. Others were a little more obscure. I came up with a fun fact about each landmark, posted along with the photo, for extra educational bang.



Each week the kids could check in at one of the large bulletin boards in the children's area to see which landmark was hidden this week. The bulletin board also featured a large map of the world (I printed my large 57"x76" map in sheets from this website, and it worked great). As each landmark was hidden, I would add a dot to the map indicating where in the world it came from.



I don't give the kids any sort of prize other than my sincere congratulations when they find the hidden picture. I did, however, once work at a library that gave away stickers to successful searchers.