I’m taking a group of kids, aged 10-13 to a cemetery and want to keep them entertained and focused and not a pain in the ass. I thought of doing a “scavenger hunt” off the tombstones, but I need help coming up with a list of stuff to find.
So far, I have:
Find the oldest grave.
Find the newest grave.
Find the grave of the person who lived the longest life.
Find the grave of the person who lived the shortest life.
Bonus points for a tombstone with your name on it!
(It should be noted that this is a very old cemetery, and it’s highly unlikely that there will be mourners there to disturb. But we still want to be respectful of the dead folks.)
You could also take some paper and charcoal pencils to make rubbings of interesting things or names. We did that in college, and I amassed an impressive collection of rubbings of the animals (and mythological creatures) carved on the headstones.
Taking rubbings might also serve as their proof of a find in your hunt.
See who can collect the prettiest bunch of flowers?
::Sorry:: stop hitting me.
Years ago I once took a tour of an old cemetery, it was facinating. There is a lot of symbolism associated with some of the markers. The carved urns that have a cloth draped over them were supposed to mean something different that the unadored ones. I’m at a loss to come up with more off the top of my head without seeing them.
Maybe look up some of this, different things to seek out.
I found this site on Victorian headstone symbolism, which is the right age for the cemetery I’m thinking of. (It’s a horrid website design, but the information is useful.)
I’ve participated in “Tombstone Trail”, a scavenger hunt through cemeteries in rural Minnesota in late October. The general concept is that there are two dozen cemeteries listed on a map, and each cemetery has a single question associated with it. Each question is multiple choice. A question may be “Who is not buried here? a) Johnson, b) Johannson, c) Johnsen”. One year, each answer had a different numerical value, and after you answered every question, you would add up the values of your answers, and whoever was closest to the correct total would win. Another year, each answer corresponded with a letter in a cryptogram. Part of the strategy involved is that it is difficult to reach every cemetery in the time alloted, so a skilled navigator is necessary (and only one person per car is allowed to leave the car to look for the answer).
All of this goes to say that if you can visit the cemetery beforehand, you can make a contest of it for the kids. Take all of the questions you have here (and come up with some more, such as “Who is buried closest to the flagpole?”), make them multiple choice questions, and give out cheap prizes. Maybe pair up the kids, too.