Nobody has to be the referee
The hard part of running a hunt with thirty children is not the hunt. It is the eleven simultaneous arguments about whether something counts, all directed at the one adult trying to keep everyone on the pavement. Scavvi settles those automatically, because the app checks each find from the photo.
No adjudicating
The photo either passes or it does not. The disagreement happens with the phone rather than with you, which is the entire pitch.
Groups stay busy
Each small group works its own list at its own pace, so the fast ones are not waiting and the slow ones are not rushed.
Evidence afterwards
Every find is a timestamped photo, so you have a record of the trip without anyone writing anything up.
Where it actually fits
The walk between the coach and the thing
The most wasted twenty minutes of any trip. A short list turns it into the part they talk about afterwards.
Museum and gallery visits
Children stop spectating and start searching. Check photography rules at the desk first, since special exhibitions often say no.
Holiday clubs and wet-weather afternoons
An indoor list needs no space, no kit and no preparation, which matters when the plan has just collapsed.
City trips
We have free geofenced trails in 8 cities, including London, Edinburgh, York, Bath, Cardiff and Liverpool, where the stops are real landmarks and only count when you are there.
Forest school and outdoor learning
Texture, colour and nature prompts work well with mixed ages and need nothing but the site you are already on.
What it is not
It is not an education platform. There is no teacher dashboard, no class management, no pupil accounts, no progress reporting and no MIS integration. If you need those, buy something built for it.
It is not designed for one adult running thirty children on one device. It works in small groups with a device each.
And it needs a connection to verify finds, so a trip somewhere with no signal and no wifi is a trip where it will feel slow.
We would rather you knew all of that before the coach leaves than after.
Questions from teachers and leaders
What does it cost for a school or club?
The app is free to download and free hunts allow up to three players, which is enough for a small group but not a class. Scavvi Pro at £2.99 a month lifts that to fifty players and thirty items per hunt, and can be cancelled the month after your trip. There is no separate education pricing and no per-pupil licence, because we are a two-person operation rather than an edtech company.
Do the children need their own phones?
No, and mostly they should not. The usual setup is one device per small group, held by the adult or an older child, with the group doing the finding. That keeps the phone count down and the talking up.
Do they each need an account?
No. One person creates the hunt and shares a five-character code. Everyone else joins with the code. There is no email signup for children and no personal details required to play.
What about photo permissions and safeguarding?
Photos are taken to verify a find and are stored against that hunt. If your setting has a policy about photographing children, note that a scavenger hunt photographs objects rather than people, and you can brief groups not to include faces. Our full position is on the child safety page, and we are happy to answer specific questions from a DSL by email.
Does it need internet on the trip?
Verification needs a connection, so patchy signal will slow things down. The finding itself works offline and catches up when signal returns. On a museum trip, ask whether there is guest wifi.
Can we write our own list for our topic?
Yes. Custom items are a Pro feature, so you can build a hunt around Romans, Victorians, materials, shapes or whatever the unit is, and the AI checks against your own descriptions.
What age group does it work best with?
Roughly Reception to Year 6, with the sweet spot around Years 2 to 5. Older students tend to want the riddle mode or a genuinely hard list, otherwise it feels babyish to them.
Try it before you commit to it
Download it free and run a three-player hunt round the school field before you plan anything around it. If you have a safeguarding or procurement question, email and you will get a straight answer from the person who built it.
See also child safety and privacy and the free printable sheets if you would rather go paper.