Sunday, August 29, 2010

Ulster Museum Photo Treasure Hunt

Each year on the first afternoon of Tech Camp we tend to organise some kind of team-based activity to help the campers – who’ve come together from all arts and parts – to get to know each other. In previous years we’ve organised a couple of photo treasure hunts around Belfast. Last year we branched out with a GPS scavenger hunt to find clues deposited in small see-through tupperware boxes scattered throughout the city centre. Turned out that GPS was not such a good idea due to the tall buildings.

Snap from Ulster Museum

This year’s photo treasure hunt was based in and around the recently-reopened Ulster Museum. The museum has a basic hunt (complete with stickers) for young children visiting the museum. But since there’s no organised version for teens or above, I went ahead and created one. The tech campers managed to complete all the questions within the 90 minute time frame, working in teams of 5-6.

Feel free to adapt and reuse the questions below. Question 21 may not be a long-term activity available in the museum. I’ve left the answers off this blog post. But if you email me at the address at the top right of the blog I’ll happily send you the questions and answers together with sample answer photographs. Enjoy.

And thanks to the museum staff who helped suggest some of the questions.

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ULSTER MUSEUM TREASURE HUNT

The hunt is split into three rounds, which you should complete in parallel. Answers for the first round take the form of words. The second round requires pictures of the requested items. And you need to take a photograph that matches as closely as possible the photographs I’ve supplied in the third round.

  • If the question requires you to take a photograph of your team, one member (the photographer) is allowed to be missing.

  • Bonus points may be awarded for particularly well framed or artistic shots, and marks may be deducted for out of focus answers.

  • You have 90 minutes to complete as many questions as possible. The whole team needs to meet back down in the main ground floor atrium at the finish. Hand in your Round One answers immediately, and supply a Keynote or Powerpoint presentation with the Round Two and Three photos within half an hour of getting back to camp.

Remember to:

  • respect museum staff and other people who will be visiting the museum at the same time and don’t get too noisy;

  • keep together and complete the questions as a team;

  • share out the job of taking the photographs;

  • keep your eyes peeled and enjoy yourselves.

ROUND ONE // Answer the questions ...

1. What is your team name?

2. How many carats is the museum’s ruby from Thailand?

3. In which country was the lunar meteorite found in 2001?

4. In which year was the Spanish Armada launched from Lisbon?

5. Ireland was a major glass-making country in Europe during the late _____ and _____ centuries?

6. What brand of projectors are widely used throughout the museum?

7. What’s the name of the Ulster Museum’s restaurant?

8. Which King’s forces were defeated in the Siege of Derry in 1689?

9. Which sea mammal has been known to eat giant squid?

10. Who paid for the building of Belfast’s second synagogue?

ROUND TWO // Take a photo of ...

11. a cat and a dog together.

12. a grandfather clock.

13. a hand with enormous finger nails that look like they have been bitten.

14. a museum member of staff laughing with your team.

15. a robot toy.

16. a size 30 boot.

17. a totem poll.

18. Kelvin.

19. some carved hippopotamus teeth.

20. the car with registration IJ 285.

21. the decorated thumbprints of your entire team.

22. the Giant’s Causeway.

23. the towns and cities in Ireland with a population over 20,000 in 2001.

24. two of your team dressed up in historical costume.

25. your team standing in front of two giant deer.

26. your team standing on top of a table which has been set for dinner.

ROUND THREE // Reproduce the photos ...

Question 27 in the Ulster Museum Photo Treasure HuntQuestions 28 and 29 in the Ulster Museum Photo Treasure HuntQuestions 30, 31 and 32 in the Ulster Museum Photo Treasure HuntQuestion 33 in the Ulster Museum Photo Treasure Hunt

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