American Sign Language Family Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to the Museum of the American Revolution! As you walk through the galleries, keep your eyes peeled and see how many of the items below you can find. Hint: Not every gallery will have a clue, and some clues might be in a case.

View the videos below for ASL interpretation done in partnership with the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. A downloadable PDF version is also available online or printed at the front desk.

Items to Find

1. A lion and a unicorn (ASL video)

2. A beaded belt with a heart (ASL video)

3. A lantern in a tree (ASL video)

4. A boy throwing a snowball (ASL video)

5. A sailor handing you a rope (ASL video)

6. A cannon ball (ASL video)

7. A gold helmet with a lion on the front (ASL video)

8. A woman with her hands on her hips (ASL video)

9. A fife (ASL video)

10. A boat with cannons on it (ASL video)

11. Two horses (ASL video)

12. A tall brown stone with a sun at the top (ASL video)

13. Brass buttons from George Washington's inauguration (ASL video)

14. The future of the American Revolution (ASL video)

Bonus: How many cannons can you find? (ASL video)

Answer Key

1. Rule Britannia!: The Lion and Unicorn are symbols of British monarchy. (ASL video)

2. The Price of Victory: This one symbolizes the peace between the six native nations (on the right) and nine British colonies (on the left. The GR and heart symbolize the love and protection of King George III (Georgius Rex) that would ideally bring peace between Native Americans and British colonists. (ASL video)

3. Liberty Tree: Liberty Trees were gathering places in the 1760s and 1770s, where news and ideas of resistance were shared and spread. Liberty Trees became symbols of this resistance. (ASL video)

4. A Brawl in Harvard Yard: Israel Task was 11 years old when he saw George Washington leap into a fight between American soldiers in order to restore order to the camp in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (ASL video)

5. The Promise of Equality: On July 9, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud in New York City. A crowd gathered and tore down the statue of King George III and smashed it into pieces. What would you do if someone handed you this rope? (ASL video)

6. The Battle for New York: This cannonball was found on the site of Fort Washington in New York City, which was captured by the British army in November of 1776. New York City remained under British control throughout the war, until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. (ASL video)

7. The Ten Crucial Days: This is an example of a Hessian cap and plate worn by German troops hired by King George III. Revolutionary Americans viewed Hessians as mercenaries and feared the loss of freedom they represented. However, many Hessian soldiers did not return to their homeland following the war, choosing instead to make their home in the new United States. (ASL video)

8. Oneida Nation Gallery: In 1776, there were over 250,0000 Native Americans, comprising more than 80 separate nations, living in British North America. The Oneida Nation was one of many nations of Native American people who had to decide how to engage in the growing conflict: side with the British or the Revolutionaries or stay neutral? By 1777, most Native American nations had sided with the British. The Oneida and part of the Tuscarora chose to ally with the United States. (ASL video)

9. Arms of Independence: This instrument is called a fife. Fifes served as important signal instruments for armies, alerting soldiers when to get up in the morning, advance in battle, or break down their tents and prepare to march. They were louder than an officer’s voice which meant you could hear them over the sounds of battle. (ASL video)

10. Aboard the Sloop: The ship is a replica of many privateer ships that were permitted by Congress to attack British fleets and keep whatever goods they captured. Privateer ships disrupted British supply routes and kept goods and money flowing through Revolutionary hands. (ASL video)

11. War in the South: These soldiers on their horses are Loyalist dragoons, Americans willing to fight and die for the King. (ASL video)

12. Unfinished Victories: This monument is a reproduction of one in Massachusetts that was hit with iron cannon balls during Shays’s Rebellion, a violent disagreement between farmers and the state government. (ASL video)

13. Ratifying the Constitution: When we think of political buttons today, the round plastic designs pinned onto clothing come to mind. For the country’s first presidential inauguration, these political buttons would have been used decoratively and tied onto coats, breeches, capes or other garments. (ASL video)

14. Revolutionary Generation: It’s you! The war may have ended, but the American Revolution continues even today. How will you be the future of the American Revolution? (ASL video)

Bonus: There are six cannons at the Museum. (ASL video)