Children's Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Indoors

• Prepare a list of items in the house for each child or team to find. Make sure each team member has her own list and bag for gathering items. Set boundaries for indoor scavenger hunts to prevent danger, invasion of privacy or mess. With proper boundaries, children ages 5 and up can play.
  Use timers in indoor scavenger hunts to add a challenge to the game. Decide the time based on how many items are on the list. An additional twist on the indoor scavenger hunt is asking players to find personal items such as glasses, keys, coins or certain clothes within their own team.

Outdoors

• Preselected lists for outdoor scavenger hunts direct players to search in the neighborhood for familiar nature items such as a maple leaf, a daisy, a rock or a pine cone. Once the list is completed, players race to reach the home base first with their items.
  Outdoor scavenger hunts can involve neighbors so that children ask them for certain items to borrow such as a scarf, an egg or a book. It is essential players note which house they borrowed the items from so they may return the items within an hour or two. This type of scavenger hunt is recommended for ages 8 and up.

Photograph Hunt

• Photograph scavenger hunts require a digital camera for each team. If adults are uncomfortable with children using their camera, appoint a chaperoning adult to each team.
  Teammates must take turns photographing the object on the list, or performing a task on the list. Tasks enable all players to be more involved. Tasks should require a player to find an object or a place and then do something specific such as using his fingertip to write "Hi" on the back of a dirty car then posing for the picture. Children ages 8 and up can play.

Video

• Video hunts require players to videotape certain objects or tasks. For example, a team may need to find a tiara and a player must be filmed wearing it and saying, "Hi, I'm Miss America." Most video hunts are intended to be humorous and require the players to do mildly embarrassing stunts. Prizes are rewarded for the most creative players as well as for the fastest. This game is for children 13 and up who are responsible with a video camera, or an adult may be appointed to each team.

Themed Hunts

• Scavenger hunts can be created around a certain theme. In the instance of a mall hunt, store managers could be contacted ahead of time to hold prearranged items for the party-goers to collect. For secret agent parties, clues may be devised for each item to challenge the players further in their task. A little creativity can add uniqueness to any scavenger hunt.