The Best Outdoor Nature Scavenger Hunts for Kids

There is no better way to get your kids outside, learning about the world around them, and having fun than with a nature scavenger hunt! A nature scavenger hunt is an outdoor activity that your whole family can enjoy together. You can make up a list of items to find on a nature walk or use one of the many free printable scavenger hunts available for free (see below). Keep reading for some ideas on how to make the most out of your next nature scavenger hunt! If you’re looking for a quick and easy nature scavenger hunt, without any setup – download our Nature Adventure booklet full of fun nature walk ideas including fun scavenger hunts!

We love scavenger hunts! Whether that be indoor scavenger hunts or outdoor scavenger hunts, but there is something extra special about a nature walk scavenger hunt, it is the perfect activity to do whilst exploring nature on a family walk and is a good way of making a walk or a hike fun for kids. There is something about scavenger hunts that makes kids get excited! They love the challenge of finding everything, especially if they are competing with others to find the most things or to complete the scavenger hunt in the shortest time frame. If your kids enjoy scavenger hunts, then you can compile this with nature walks and nature journalling. Find out how to create a nature journal with kids.

Planning Your Nature Scavenger Hunt

The first step in planning a successful nature scavenger hunt is picking the right spot. Depending on where you live, you may need to look around for good options. A park or a local forest are great places to start, but if you don’t have access to those kinds of areas, consider visiting a nearby beach or lake. If all else fails, your own backyard can be just as exciting with the right imagination! Once you’ve decided on a location, it’s time to come up with some items for the scavenger hunt list. Why not combine a Nature Scavenger Hunt with Geocaching? Find our top tips for Geocaching with Kids here.

Items To Look For On Your Scavenger Hunt

When creating your list of items, think about what kind of wildlife and plants are in your area. Most lists will have at least 10-15 items that participants need to find during their search but you may wish to have less items on your scavenger hunt for young kids. These can range from common items like leaves and sticks to more specific and different items like feathers and acorns. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could even add something like a feather from a particular bird species or an item associated with a certain animal (like rabbit tracks). Whatever you choose, make sure that it’s something that your kids will be able to recognise when they see it so they don’t get too frustrated looking for the wrong things! An outdoor nature scavenger hunt is the perfect outdoor activity for kids to learn more about species that are native to their area.

Fun and educational nature Scavenger Hunts for Kids

Making It Educational
A nature scavenger hunt is not only fun but also educational! Before setting off on your hunt, take some time to discuss what types of plants and animals might live in the area where you’ll be searching. Talk about different habitats and how different plants and animals adapt differently based on their environment. This will help give context to what your children are seeing in the wild and make their experience even more meaningful. Additionally, do some research ahead of time so everyone knows which things they should be looking out for—this will give everyone an edge when it comes time to tally up who found what first! Use our favourite nature books for kids to inspire kids to find out more.

Nature Scavenger Hunts are an incredible way for families to get outside together while learning about their surroundings — plus they’re lots of fun too! With these tips in mind, you can create an exciting adventure that both young and old alike can enjoy safely while learning more about our natural environment at the same time. So grab those binoculars and head outdoors – happy hunting! We’ve also used these scavenger hunts for birthday party ideas too – they’re the best way to keep the kids busy at a party. Check out our other ideas for fun outdoor adventures for families and outdoor activities for children of all ages!

Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Best Scavenger Hunt Ideas and FREE outdoor scavenger hunts!

Here’s our fun nature scavenger hunt ideas, there’s links to scavenger hunts that should suit kids of all ages. Many of them are free scavenger hunts and work for smaller children as well as older kids. Try printing out or writing your scavenger hunt list onto paper and sticking it onto a paper bag – your kids can then add the items they find into a paper bag. This works well for helping to turn your scavenger hunt into a treasure hunt too! If you have small items of your list – why not add a magnifying glass to help your kids up their observation skills too! Another tip is to use an old egg carton for an easy way to collect your different items from your scavenger hunt, this is a great way to collect small things from your walk too. 

Nature Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Younger Kids

Here are our favourite fun scavenger hunts that make a great activity for little kids! Check out these free nature scavenger hunt printables………..

Leaf Scavenger Hunts

Help your kids to learn more about leaves with this leaf fun and free printable scavenger hunt that’s perfect for any time of year. 

Senses Scavenger Hunt

Explore your five senses with this scavenger hunt. It’s a scavenger hunt that allows young kids to explore different textures and can be used in any venue and any place – a versatile hunt you can take anywhere! You can even complete a sensory scavenger hunt indoors using this list that encourages you to use all of your senses inside!

Hearing Senses Scavenger Hunt

A sound scavenger hunt is a fun way to get kids outside and play whilst also developing your kid’s listening skills and observation skills! Check out this fun sound hunt for preschoolers and toddlers! 

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt Game

If you’re unsure what will be found when you’re out for a new walk or visiting a new place, try a gratitude scavenger hunt! This list is the perfect way to help kids appreciate their surroundings but also is a versatile list to use anywhere and everywhere! Scavenger hunts help young children to become aware of the simple things in nature they can be grateful for and develop a little creativity. A gratitude scavenger hunts can include things like – find something you’re thankful for, find one thing that makes you happy, find one thing you love to smell etc……..

With this backyard bug scavenger hunt, kids will learn more about beneficial insects, get outdoors, and get active!

If you don’t want to venture very far away from your garden, backyard garden this outdoor scavenger hunt has both UK and US spellings and kids can colour each item as they find them too. 

Seasonal Scavenger Hunts 

Help your kids learn more about the seasons and to appreciate each season that comes along with all of these different scavenger hunts for every season! The brilliant thing about scavenger hunts is you can do them anytime, anywhere – just by changing the items you search for.

Spring Scavenger Hunt for Kids

If you want to celebrate the Spring season with your kids, then our Spring Nature scavenger hunt is a great way of introducing the signs of Spring! Help your child spot the first signs of spring with this FREE printable.

Kids will have fun exploring outdoors with these seasonal find and draw scavenger hunt printables. There’s one downloadable scavenger hunt for every season. 

Summer Scavenger Hunts for Kids

During the summer months, you’ll love our beach scavenger hunt which is perfect for your next beach trip. Enjoy fun family days by adding this scavenger hunt to your beach bag. It’s perfect for a small or large group. What will you find on the sand and in the rock pools? 

Camping Scavenger Hunt

If you’re off camping, you’ll need a fun outdoor activity to keep the kids amused whilst you set up camp! You can find our camping scavenger hunt here along with lots of other camping printable to keep kids busy! Our other camping games and activities can be found here.

Autumn Nature Scavenger Hunt

I love noticing the way the outdoors change as we head into Autumn. I ooh and ahh over the changing leaves, the delicious fruits and vegetables at the Farmer’s Market, and even the stormy weather. Help your kids to appreciate the beauty of Fall with this free printable fall scavenger hunt.

Check out our beautiful Autumn Scavenger hunt – a free, interactive printable that you can take on walks with you to help your kids learn about nature.

Winter Scavenger Hunts

Christmas is a great time to be in the great outdoors, it might be cold but there are lots of fun winter activities to do with kids outside if you wrap up warm. This Christmas-themed nature scavenger hunt is a great way to get the kids outside in the run-up to Christmas. It’s ideal for burning off some of that excited energy too! 

This beautifully illustrated winter scavenger hunt is perfect for winter walks. Don’t worry though, it can be used all winter, no snow required! 

This is not the kind of scavenger hunt you can do in an afternoon, it’s not even the kind you could do in a day, this mega scavenger hunt is going to take you a lot of outside time to complete but it’s a fun idea if you’re looking to keep kids busy! Find more ideas for nature crafts here.

Nature Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Older Kids

Nature Scavenger Hunts can be a fun way to get older children outside too. Make it more challenging for teens and tweens by compiling the scavenger hunt in a larger local park or add in a little friendly competition or try adding bonus points or adding a time limit to make things more challenging. For a little extra fun, you could try adding clues and fun facts about the things you’re adding to the list. There’s loads of free scavenger hunt ideas with great clues for big kids in this post.

Photo Scavenger Hunts are a great way to get kids and teens outdoors – try our photo hunt challenge here. We also have lots of ideas for outdoor games for teenagers and outdoor activities that tweens and teens will love too!

Rainy Day Scavenger Hunt Ideas

A rainy day is a great day for a scavenger hunt! There are plenty of fun things to be found in the rain. Here’s our list of our favourite activities for kids to do in the rain and here’s our rainy day scavenger hunt! 

However, if it’s really rainy  – you can always compile an indoor scavenger hunt and turn it into a fun activity! For a simple indoor scavenger hint idea, you can try using the alphabet. Ask your kids to collect one thing beginning with each letter of the alphabet, they get bonus points if it’s a different item that nobody else chose! Or you can try searching Pinterest for some fun ideas for indoor treasure hunts! I have a scavenger hunt Pinterest board to help here!

Hope you have enjoy these fun scavenger hunts with your family!