Scavenger Hunt for Spanish Class: ¡Corre en Círculos!

Are you looking for a way to get your students up and out of their seats? ¡Corre en Círculos! is my favorite scavenger hunt for Spanish class because students move around the classroom in this review game for Spanish! It’s perfect for your middle school and high school students. In this post, I’m going to share some of my favorite tips for running this scavenger hunt activity with your students, plus a freebie for you to get started right away!

Benefits of a Scavenger Hunt for Spanish Class

This review game is super engaging for your students! Not only do they get to stretch their legs, it’s challenging for their brains. They have to look for the right answer, and if they get it wrong, they’ll get feedback as they realize they ended the search too quickly! They wind up needing to retrace their steps and figure out the puzzle.

Some students also like to do this together! They wind up practicing teamwork and cooperation as they coach each other through the skills you are practicing as they race to be the first to the end of the hunt!

How do you make a fun Scavenger Hunt for Spanish Class?

¡Corre en Círculos! is my favorite way to do a scavenger hunt with students. Here’s how to do this activity:

• Students can start at any page around the room.
• Read a prompt at the bottom of a starting page.
• Record their answer to the prompt.
• Find their answer on the top of a new page.
• Look at the prompt on the bottom of the new page, record their answer, then find the next sheet.

This continues until students find the prompt that leads them back to where they started (thus Círculo). You can make this circle as big or as small as you want. Get a more in-depth explanation here!

How long should a Scavenger Hunt be for Spanish Class?

You can make the circle as big or as small as you want! Most of my scavenger hunt sets are 25 prompts, but some are smaller by necessity (Spanish-speaking flags and countries has 22, weather has 9). Depending on how well the students know the material, or how difficult the prompts are, this can take them between 25-40 minutes.

Check out this video to see how I fit it into a lesson plan in a 45-50 minute class period!

How do you set up Scavenger Hunt for Spanish Class?

Print the file and cut the sheets in half. Tape the sheets in random order around the room – or have your students do it! I travel between rooms so I usually just set the sheets and a few things of tape by the door. Students know they are expected to help with set up by grabbing a sheet or two, then attaching it to an appropriate space on the walls.

How do you explain the game to students?

This can be a little tricky the first time you introduce this to students! Check out this video to see a demo of exactly how I like to explain this to students:

Grab a free hunt to use with your students!

What are some more ways to do a scavenger hunt for Spanish classs?

Once you have the prompts or “clues” prepped, it’s nice to get more use out of them! Here’s a few options for different ways you can use the cards in your classes:

• I have, who has
• Station activities
• Mini hunt
• Relay Race
• Race the clock
• The hands and the brain

Quite a few of those variations work better when you print the prompts as a mini version! Here’s a simple tutorial to show you how to do that, in case you haven’t done it before!

How often do you do this in your Spanish classes?

I usually like to do these activities about once a chapter, which is about once every 2 weeks. However, I don’t always do the “usual” scavenger hunt! I like to mix it up and do one of those variations I mentioned above so my students don’t get too bored!

How do you grade this review game?

Good news is, this game gives students INSTANT feedback so they know right away how they did. If you do want to double check their work, just line up the key and their responses to check. Take a look in the video below for a quick walkthrough!

If you’d like to see another example or look at a visual example of an answer key and student responses, check out this short video here!

Scavenger Hunt for Spanish Class

Are you ready to do a fun scavenger hunt for your Spanish class? You can find over 60 scavenger hunts in one time-saving download! It includes all of the instructions and clues you will need to complete these engaging activities with your students. If you’d like to take a closer look at this resource, you can find it in my shop.

Incorporate Speaking for an Extra Challenge

If you’re ready to level up your scavenger hunt, try adding a speaking component. Before students can move on to the next clue, they must read their answer out loud to a partner or small group. This extra layer turns the review game into an opportunity for speaking practice without the pressure of a formal assessment.

You can give them sentence starters like “Yo pienso que la respuesta es…” or “El verbo correcto es…” to help support their output. Students still move at their own pace, but now they’re saying the target structures out loud, which reinforces fluency and boosts confidence. It also gives you a great chance to walk around and listen in, or jump into conversations if needed.

Fast Finisher Add-On: Create a Clue

Once students complete the full scavenger hunt loop, they turn in their answer sheet but don’t stop there. Give fast finishers a challenge by asking them to create their own clue for the topic.

I like to keep it simple. They can pick a vocabulary word or grammar concept from the set and write a new prompt and answer that could fit in with the rest. Then, if it’s solid, I’ll use it the next time we play. Students love seeing their clue in the mix and it adds a little creative ownership to the activity.

This bonus task keeps students engaged and focused while their classmates finish up, and it gives you a growing collection of extra prompts you can use in future versions of the game.

Save These Scavenger Hunt Activities

Be sure to save this post so you can easily find it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You can quickly find this post the next time you’re looking for fun scavenger hunts for Spanish!