A library scavenger hunt built for your branch
Most families come in, head for the picture books or the holds shelf, and go home. A Let's Tingo board shows them the rest of the building. We build a library scavenger hunt with you, a bingo board of shelves, spaces and services worth finding, and your patrons play it as they go.
Each player gets their own board from the same list of finds, and the first to fill five in a row calls a Tingo. The seed library and the maker space finally get found by people who didn't know they were there.
How it works for your patrons
A QR code on a sign at the entrance, on a program flyer or on the back of a reading log is all it takes. Patrons scan it, join in a tap, and get their board. Joining is free for them, in the app or in a browser.
Families work their way through the branch together, calling out the fish tank and the giant globe, and finding shelves they'll come back to next week.
Summer reading program ideas that run all summer
Summer reading already brings families through your doors for weeks, and a board can run right alongside it. Make it a timed game that ends when summer reading does, and every visit is another chance to fill a few squares. A board built around this year's theme gives families something to do between picking up books and logging them.
We write the board with you, from your staff's knowledge of the branch and ours of what makes a good find. The board carries your library's name, colors and logo. If you're always looking for new library program ideas, it's one that works for any branch and any season.
Library program ideas for teens
Teens want something with a bit more to it. Make it a camera game, where every find needs a photo, and a teen night becomes a race across the building, with the photos there for everyone to see at the end. If you have a teen advisory group, they'll have ideas about what belongs on the board, and we're happy to build it with them.
A prize at the end of the hunt
Turn it into a sponsored game and the board ends in a prize drawing. Players who hit the Tingo target before the game ends are entered, they can see how many people are playing and how many have qualified, and one winner is drawn when time runs out. A bag of new books from your Friends group makes a prize people will work for.
Library scavenger hunt ideas for your board
These are the kind of finds that make a good library scavenger hunt. Your board would be built around your own branch and programs.
On the shelves
- Dinosaur book
- Large print shelf
- Audiobook
- Graphic novels
- Giant atlas
- Book in Spanish
- Newspaper rack
- Magazine wall
- Board games shelf
- Poetry book
- Biography shelf
- New arrivals
Around the branch
- Book drop
- Self-checkout
- Fish tank
- Giant globe
- Seed library
- Maker space
- 3D printer
- Study room
- Library card desk
- Puppet stage
- Reading nook
- Bulletin board
Summer reading
- Reading log
- Prize shelf
- Story time
- Library mascot
- Summer reading poster
- Craft table
- Teen lounge
- Building blocks table
- Library tote bag
- Reading tent
- Book sale
- Bookmark contest
Let's build a board for your library
Tell us about your library: what's in the branch, who comes through the doors, and what you most want them to discover. We'll come back with ideas for what a Tingo board could look like for your patrons. Let's Tingo works the same way for museum scavenger hunts, bookstore events and park scavenger hunts, and you'll find everything else we build on our partners page.