A scavenger hunt for kids is a great way to explore the world around you. My kids love them. They have minimal exposure to them, but every time we’ve done one they have had a blast. We played a New Year’s Eve game where we hid clues for the kids that lead them around the house finding photos to recap the year. I don’t know if that constitutes a true scavenger hunt, but I’m also not sure what it’d be called otherwise!
There’s also a fun app called “Klikaklu” (click-a-clue for those of you who have trouble with “license plate words” – lookin’ at you dad!) where you can create a scavenger hunt for kids or adults on your phone and share it with friends or family (or make public!) My husband’s family has used this app at our annual Christmas hotel reunion weekend (scavenger hunt + hotel = great fun, if you’re the ones participating!), and my boys have been asking me recently if we could do more scavenger hunts.
I thought it would be fun to make an outdoor scavenger hunt, and what better place to search than our local city park? Having a park scavenger hunt was also a win for me because, to be honest, I sometimes get tired of the same old park trip. We always have fun there, but there is very little way to “mix up” playing on the swings, going down the slides, and looking at/being terrified of ducks. Seriously. Why are they under the park equipment? Go to your home! Wait, is this your home?
In any case, Klikaklu is still under development for Android users, and at this time us Droidies (can we get this nickname to catch on?) can only access scavenger hunts created and shared by others, not create new ones. So I figured I’d just start from scratch and make one up that we could print and take with us. Ditch the phone and play the old school way. Incidentally, it was also a great way to get some quality time in rather than just watching them play. (If you missed the discussion on love languages, read more here!)
What Age to Play?
I made the scavenger hunt for kids ages 3-6. My oldest boys are 3 and 5, and I had both of them in mind when I created the categories. That’s not to say that an older child wouldn’t have fun – they probably would – but the target age group is 3-6. I took a young 3 and an older 3 to the park to try it out, and both of them enjoyed it and were able to participate. I included pictures on the page to make it easier for them to recall what they are looking for. This way they can be somewhat independent as they search. The younger the child, the more “reminding” you’ll have to do as you search, and the more breaks they will need as they lose focus quickly!
Learning Through Play
I’m a teacher by trade, but I very rarely do any “formal” learning activities with my 3 year old. I’m a believer in learning through play and wanted to be sure to include some age appropriate learning opportunities in the game. We were able to talk about a variety of topics throughout the course of the scavenger hunt:
Size/length comparisons
Counting
Color recognition
Physical health – talking about types of exercisers to look for, the reasons people would be exercising and why exercise is important
Imagination
Citizenship – taking care of the park by helping clean up a bit
The kids knew they were learning something, even though it was not explicit. In this picture, he had just found an item and yelled, “I’m a genius!”
And also, isn’t he so sweet in his rain boots!? These are falling apart from his hard use – time for a new pair. Totally off topic, I know, but have you seen the “Hunter for Target” collection that’s coming out?! So cute!
Prepped to Go
Before we went, I told the boys we had a fun game to play at the park and got them excited about participating. We looked at the scavenger hunt page and talked about every box and what the pictures said to look for. I also explained to them that the white boxes were to mark off the items that they’d found. They each picked their writing utensil, and we were on our way. Finny of course wanted a sparkly crayon!
I think that prepping the kids before you leave the house is essential for this activity – especially with the younger ones. If you get out of the car and say, “WAIT! We’re not just playing today!” chances are that you’ve already lost them to the distractions going on around them. After we talked about the scavenger hunt, they knew what to expect and that they had a mission upon getting out of the car. (In fact, my son had an item knocked off before I even had everyone unstrapped from their car seats!)
Ready, Set, Hunt!
As soon as we got out of the car, the boys were ready to see what they could find. They remembered as soon as they saw a squirrel shoot past that they had animals on their list. The race was on! When we got to the play area, I first let them search for things at their will. We, of course, spotted litter very quickly, and they were eager to help clean it up. (Use your judgement here – if you think litter is too gross to touch, take a look around. There’s plenty of litter that is likely not too disgusting. We found a plethora of zip ties – creepy – and left over cracked plastic eggs from Easter hunts. In fact, Finn acted like he’d just found an Easter egg with each piece of trash.)
If you spend much time with 3 year olds, you know their attention span is pretty short. I had no illusion going into the day that we would go and they would be totally focused on the hunt the entire time. We went back and forth between playing and hunting. After they played for a few minutes, I’d either say something like, “Is there a box on your sheet you haven’t checked yet?” (they loved checking items off!) Or, “Oh wow! I think I see something purple!” I wouldn’t point out an item directly, but giving them a teaser like that made them eager to see what I was seeing!
We were able to play, mark everything off our lists, and have a fun morning out of the house. Our total time spent at the park was about an hour, but the hunt could’ve been accomplished in a 30-45 minute trip.
Park Scavenger Hunt for Kids
I created this scavenger hunt in the hopes that my boys and I could have a fun out of the norm activity to do together. I hope you’ll do the same. One thing I didn’t want to come from this is stress – for me or the kids! If they’re not into it, try again another day. If you try it, let me know how it goes! I’m always open to making improvements, and would love to hear if your kids (and you) enjoyed it! Feel free to share the link to this post in your moms groups on Facebook. What do you think about a scavenger hunt for kids of different ages?
Looking for more summer fun?? Try our Summer Reading Challenge for Kids or learn How to Start a Butterfly Garden!
Tag me in your scavenger hunt photos on Instagram if you try it out! @moretimesdesigns #moretimesscavengerhunt
