VITAL COMMUNITIES
How to Make a Quest
Over the past 15 years, more than 2,000 children, adults, families, scouts, students, and historical society members have contributed to the creation of over 170 quests in and around the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire.
You may create a quest in your backyard for your friends and family—or you can create a quest as an offering to the greater community. Families, school groups, scout troops, museums, parks, historical societies, homeschoolers, and more have created quests for the fun and educational experience it provides. When you create a quest, you learn about a place and pass that knowledge on to the people who follow your quest.
Once you finish your quest, send it to us and we’ll put it on our website.
In addition to the simple instructions offered here, we have quest curricula to be used in a classroom.
How-to Videos
Simple Instructions for Making Your Own Quest
Pick a spot that is a special place for you—perhaps a unique natural or cultural feature of your town.- Find out who owns or manages this property and request permission to make a quest there.
- Make a few trips to the site to uncover its details, and to begin to think about the best approaches to making a quest on your site.
- Find people in your community who can teach you more about your site—community elders, or members of your town’s historical society or conservation commission. Invite them to take a trip out on the land with you.
- Take good notes!
- Decide on your quest strategy: a detailed map quest; a map-less quest; a jumble quest (collecting words); a pict-o-quest (no words—only following pictures!); or any combination. Use your imagination and creativity—it’s up to you!
- Draw rough maps of your site. Also sketch or note the unique features that would make good clues.
- Make a rough draft of your quest map and riddles or accompanying text.
- Test your quest with as many different people as you can get to try it out—and make appropriate changes.
- Create a written description of what makes the site special. This should come from your research and should only be a few paragraphs long—small enough to be laminated and glued inside the cover of the quest box. You can focus on whatever you think visitors to the site will be most interested in. Depending on the site, possible things to write about include the historical significance of the site to the town; a true story about something that once happened at the site; the natural history of the site—trees to look for, special rocks, plantings, etc.; why people in your town love this site so much; fun or interesting things to do; and amazing-but-true trivia facts about the site (height of steeple, age of building, number of orchid species, number of granite blocks and where they came from, etc.).
- Draw final quest map. Here are two helpful online map making tools: Vermont Interactive Map Viewer and New Hampshire Granit Data Mapper.
- Design a stamp logo for the site and carve it into a plastic eraser or make a stamp out of rubber and wood.
- Get a waterproof box, like a tupperware container, to use as a quest box (Vital Communities has many to share). Waterproof the introduction to the site and attach it securely to the inside cover of the box. Place in the box: a log book, pencil/pen, stamp, ink pad, pencil sharpener, and, of course- some information you’d like to share about your site.
- Hide the box.
- Make sure you have someone adopt the box for long-term monitoring.
If you would like your quest to be available to other Upper Valley Questers:
- Fill out the Valley Quest checklist and send your quest in to us. *Please note: we currently only accept Quests that are within our service area.
- Label the outside of the box with a waterproofed copy of the Valley Quest label, which can be picked up at the Vital Communities Office.
Quest Making Tools
Make a Stamp
Make a Book
Quest Making Book
Teaching with Quests
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Staff
Lauren Griswold
Valley Quest and Volunteer Coordinator, Valley Food & Farm Program Assistant
Valley Quest, Food & Farm
Valley Quest, Food & Farm
— Lauren Griswold, Valley Quest and Volunteer Coordinator, Valley Food & Farm Program Assistant
Lauren Griswold joined Vital Communities in May 2017 to coordinate Power of Produce (POP) clubs at Upper Valley farmers' markets and farmstands. In August 2017 she became our Valley Quest and Volunteer Coordinator, in addition to her role as the Valley Food & Farm Program Assistant. Lauren grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Vermont in 2011 with a Bachelor's degree in English and Environmental Studies. Her passion for sustainable agriculture took her out West, where she served as a garden educator in Bend, Oregon. After an enriching chapter in the high desert, Lauren is thrilled to be back in central Vermont. She is passionate about the rich communities and natural beauty of the Upper Valley, and enjoys engaging the next generation with wonder and enthusiasm about this special place. In her free time, Lauren can be found mountain biking, cross country skiing, gardening, knitting, and savoring meals with friends and family.