We’ve got another fabulous guest post for your guys today while I step away for maternity leave. This one hails from one of my very favorite kid activity bloggers, Jamie from Hands On: As We Grow.
It’s an activity that has come in very handy around here lately as I’ve become less and less mobile. Set your littles up for a scavenger hunt once and you’ll be hooked – I guarantee it!
Fortunately Jamie has kindly provided us with tons of ideas and variations to keep the fun going.
I am a huge scavenger hunt nut. The kids absolutely love them and we do them routinely at our house. Many times it’s the simplest version of a scavenger hunt – but that’s what’s so fun, it can be done on a whim and the kids love the impromptu fun we have!
I have been collecting all sorts of scavenger hunt ideas for kids and have noticed they happen to fall in one of the five following categories and all put their own little twist on it.
These are 5 different types of scavenger hunts for kids to go on:
- A traditional scavenger hunt: You make a list of items (text or photo, depending on the age of the child) for the child to go find and collect in a paper bag.
- A traditional one item scavenger hunt: This is your traditional Easter egg hunt. You set out many of the same type of object and have the kids find them. If they’re on their own, it could be on a timer if they like competition. Or if they’re with a group, it could be to see who finds the most.
- A scavenger hunt with clues: This is probably one of the most time-consuming of scavenger hunts, but also probably the most fun and rewarding for the kids. This is where you have a list of clues, such as the traditional scavenger hunt but descriptive, for them to hunt for.
- A treasure hunt: Much like a clue scavenger hunt, but this is one where they have to earn their clues by finding them. You may start them off with a clue to find the first one, where they then find the next clue at the destination and so on.
- An impromptu scavenger hunt: This is my favorite kind of scavenger hunt because its a quick way to save your sanity during that witching hour. Its simple done by handing the kid the bag [and that’s not entirely necessary!] and shout out various items or clues for them to find and once they do, you give them another one off the top of your head.
Bonus, make it one a learning scavenger hunt! This can be done in any of the above 5 ways, but with learning twists.
The clues can help them learn what they’re working on (could be a list of the letters of the alphabet in lowercase, and they’re finding the uppercase match). Or it could be a treasure hunt to follow the map to spell out sight words.
My challenge for you today is to do a scavenger hunt with the kids! Whether its a quick, impromptu scavenger hunt you do on a whim while you’re putting dinner together, or if you plan it out with clues placed around the house!
Be inspired by our 32 ways for kids to go on a scavenger hunt!
Jamie learned to be a hands on mom by creating activities, crafts and art projects for her three boys to do and shares them on hands on : as we grow. Jamie takes the creative outlet as a way to get through the early years of parenting with a smile!
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