How to Make a Scavenger Hunt for Kids

Scavenger hunts can entertain your children and teach them about the world they live in at the same time. These games usually require the players to compete in finding a greater number of objects than their competitors, producing a winner at the end when the items have all been found and marked off their list. Prepare a hunt that will keep your children and their friends occupied as they search for and collect items from their surroundings.

  1. Provide Safety

    • Assign a responsible adult to each set of individual children or to each team before the hunt begins. The adults will not only protect the children as they conduct their hunt, but will also provide guidance about if they are going in the right direction. Direct the adults to follow the children, providing them with hints and information about the items they are collecting from their hunting grounds, for educational purposes.

    Create a List

    • Survey the area in which the children will be searching and list the items you deem worthy in alphabetical order. This is an effective way to teach younger children the alphabet. Keep age-appropriateness in mind when formulating your list of items, for some may be more difficult for younger children to find and older children could lose interest if the items are too accessible.

    Use the Senses

    • Section off various items from the list based on how they look, smell, feel, and taste or on the sound they make. Appealing to the five senses will teach children to use more than their eyes while conducting the search, fostering more mental activity. For example, the smell of a particular tree or the taste of a hidden treat can trigger mental connections that are associated with learning. The textures of items such as rocks, tree bark, or prickly leaves could fall under the "Feel" category.

    Employ Artistry

    • Have the children (or adults) use a disposable camera to take pictures of the items they are to spot along their search, creating a photo journal. Ask the children to also draw a picture of each listed item when found, or have them write a brief story about each item discovered.

    Encourage Competitiveness

    • Scavenger hunt winner prizes could be in the form of money, candy or just a sense of satisfaction.

      Award the winner of the scavenger hunt a prize, to promote competitiveness. This prize should take the age range of those conducting the search into account, and a small cash prize may be more of an incentive than candy for older children. This is also an excellent way to keep the attention span of older children focused as younger ones explore a world that is new to them.

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