Scavenger Hunts

A scavenger hunt is a fun way to keep little hands busy.  It can be pre-planned or spur of 
the moment, either way it will still be great fun.  This is a great activity for children of all 
ages, for younger children make it simple and tell them exactly what they are looking for.  
If you are playing with older children, give them hints and see if they can guess and find 
what they are supposed to be looking for.

The best type of scavenger hunt is a nature one that can be played in your backyard or in 
the park.  This will lessen the chances of children picking up garbage and having to leave 
your supervision to do their hunting.  A good rule of thumb for nature scavenger hunts is 
to incorporate a lesson for the kids and have them find items already on the ground so 
they can be gentle to nature.  Some examples of nature scavenger hunt items are:

* A special color or shaped leaf
* A flower – specify color or type
* Rocks – size, shape, or color
* Ladybug, ant, or a worm
* Moss
* Pinecone
* Anything of a certain color

With some pre-planning and a trip to the dollar store you can have a scavenger hunt with 
any theme you can think of.  Turn it into a secret agent mission and hide clues that they 
have to find or make it a treasure hunt and hide chocolate gold coins that they have to 
hunt for.  This is an activity that can take at least an hour or more.  If you have older 
children and know your neighbors quite well, you can include items that they can knock 
on doors to find – a penny from a certain year, a cinnamon stick, an unmatched sock – 
have fun with it.