Scavenger hunts are great for so many reasons. We like to use them at parties, play dates, and even on those days when the kids just can’t find something to do (even though they have 50 million toys to play with). Scavenger hunts are simple and easy for children of all ages to enjoy, even though the “bigs” may grumble at first within minutes they are racing around searching. If you are outside, look around you and you can easily come up with items for them to locate all you need is a category. If your mind is tired, like ours is many days, and you need support, take a look at the ideas below that we have used many times. Each time we learn something that can make it more organized and fun!
Our Top 5 Scavenger Hunts
1- Alphabet Scavenger Hunt – This is perfect if you have littles who are learning how to sound out letters and words. This is typically done in a group setting because some of the letters can get difficult to find. You ask the group to find something that begins with every letter of the alphabet (i.e. tree for T and rock for R). I love to use chalk and write the letters A thru Z on the driveway or the sidewalk for them to place the items they find. It’s a great way to see them work together and be CREATIVE. If they are not able to gather items you can also write the alphabet on paper and they can fill the items they identified for each letter. For this one, it is important to keep in mind the ages of the children. Younger children have difficulty spelling and thinking of how to spell the items they find. This can be used as an awesome learning game and you can pair them with an older child to help them locate items.
2. Color – Nice and easy. Perfect for all ages!! Ask them to find all the colors in the rainbow in nature (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple). Once again this is not only an activity to keep them busy but also one to teach/show them how colorful and beautiful nature is.
3. Use Your Senses – Have the kiddos name their five senses: sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste. Then have them then look around the yard using their senses and name something for each sense. This one can get pretty funny listening to the different things they come up with.
4. Glow In The Dark – This is a perfect early evening or nighttime scavenger hunt. All you need to do is take glow sticks and put them in hiding places around the yard. If there is a larger group of kids break them into teams. Give each team a specific color glow stick to search for. Hide the same number of each color glow stick and have each team find them. You may want to add a rule that you can not move another team’s glow stick, but we have not run into that issue just yet.
5. Shapes – For this one there are two different directions you can go. You can either put the ball in their court and let them discover the shape or have them look for specific shapes. If you have them discovering shapes, their goal could be to find as many different shapes as they can. If you have them looking for specific shapes their goal would be to find each one (you may want to make sure there are examples of all of these in your yard first). Remember rocks and leaves come in all different shapes and sizes!
All of these hunts can be done when you’re in the backyard just hanging out, having a party, and looking for a group activity. Let us know how these worked out for you. We are always looking for new ideas to share so let us know any modifications you made to make this activity work for you! Happy searching!