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Getting Families Outside, One Adventure at a Time

scavenger hunt for kids

FALL, GOOD FOR NATURE, INFORMATION, OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Fall Scavenger Hunt
- November 4, 2021
Fall is the perfect time to get outside and explore with kids. Between the crisp cool air, the colorful leaves, and the abundance of nature treasures to be found, it’s peak season for a scavenger hunt! Today, Pennsylvania dad Matthew Marvich is here sharing how you can create your own DIY fall scavenger hunt for kids. Get them involved with the planning, let them help you brainstorm items to find and challenge them with a creative spin. Don’t want to make your own? We’ve even included a free simple printable fall scavenger hunt for your little ones.

The thrill of fall weather

Brisk mornings, warm sunlit afternoons, colorful landscapes, and shorter days; fall has officially arrived. All four seasons are adored for their unique qualities, but Fall may be top choice for some. There is something really special about time when you can feel the crispness of the air and those few weeks where the fall foliage is at its peak.

Whether you’re driving on your normal commute or hiking through the woods those beautiful colors catch your eyes and warm up your soul. Those images stay in your memory and bring you joy to recall them. What if there was a way to capture those images and bring the season of Fall to life? What if you could tap into all your senses and experience Fall in a way you never have before? Have you ever wondered what types of outdoor activities you will do with your family during Fall?

Fall scavenger hunt for kids

When the seasons change, so do our outdoor activities. One of our family’s favorite activities is a fall scavenger hunt. We love scavenger hunts anytime of year, but they’re particularly fun in the fall, as it’s just a wonderful time to be outside and observing nature. A scavenger hunt is a great way to make fall memories and identify the unique changes of the season with your family. Plus, scavenger hunts are easy enough for kids of all ages to do and adaptable so that you can do them anywhere!

You even get to bring some of it home with you! My son loves to bring all kinds of things home with him from our outdoor adventures. We have quite a collection of rocks, sticks, and acorns so this is a perfect outdoor activity for us. This activity is flexible enough that you can tailor it towards your location and things your children love to search for.

Getting your children involved in planning

You might be asking, how do I even get started making my own fall scavenger hunt? Well, let’s begin with the basics!

Once you have decided a fall scavenger hunt is your next fall activity, it is time to get your children involved. Ask them to help you brainstorm the items you will hunt for. This is a creative way to get your children excited about the scavenger hunt and thinking about the world around them. Trust me, they’ll come up with ideas you never thought to include that showcase what types of items are important to them.

Depending on their age, you can either ask them to blurt out things that come to mind while you write them down, or let them create their own list of nature items to look for. When kids are involved in the planning of outdoor activities, they’re more likely to be interested and invested in them.

Brainstorming the list of scavenger hunt finds

The list of items to be hunted for can be as vast or simple as you want it to be. If your kids are older and want a challenge (or you’ll be outside for a substantial amount of time), make your list extensive. If your kids are little and have short attention spans, keep your list simple and short. Own your scavenger hunt and just have fun out there.

Fall scavenger hunt items

Our fall scavenger hunt list of items includes, but is not limited to:
- leaves (red, yellow, orange, brown)
- rocks
- seeds (and seed pods, like milkweed)
- trees
- sticks
- acorns
- pinecones
- pine needles
- squirrels
- apples
- persimmon
- birds
- bird nests
- birdhouses
- cats
- dogs
- worms
- beetles
- pumpkins
- mushrooms
- lichen
- butterflies
- grasshoppers
- feathers
- spiders
- bugs
- slugs
- snails
- salamanders
- animal tracks
- fossils
- buckeyes
These are typical for us to see in Pennsylvania on a nature walk. Your fall scavenger hunt can include any/all of these, plus more items from your specific location. You can add variations to the list such as colors, shapes, sizes, etc. for each item as well. If your child is learning a certain color in school for that week, try to incorporate it as much as possible. If you want to work on your child’s ABC’s, have them find one item for each letter of the alphabet.

Get creative with how you implement your scavenger hunt

Creativity is what will bring this activity to life! Your fall scavenger hunt list can be written out in list form or typed and printed out. If you child can’t read yet, you could use photos of clipart images. Give a copy of the scavenger hunt to your kids on a clipboard, so they can check items off as they hunt the items down. Or just store a list of items in your phone and find one item at a time. If you have older kids, give responsibility for their hunt to them with their own printed sheet, which helps establish independence.

Collect (some of) your findings

On our scavenger hunts, we also bring a bucket. This is great for collecting many of the items on your list. Not all the items on the list will fit or go in here (or should be touched or collected), but that’s okay. Items such as rocks, acorns, pinecones, etc. are fine to collect and take home and examine more closely. Items like mushrooms, bugs, slugs, animals, etc. should be left where they are and only observed.

The bucket is a great idea if your scavenger hunt has them finding multiple variations of the same item (five acorns, three pinecones, 4 different color leaves) or if you’ll be collecting the items to use in nature crafts. For example, buckeyes (conkers) are great for making fun little animals and other art projects.

How to make your scavenger hunt more challenging

Perhaps your children are older in age and competitive. The scavenger hunt could get very specific, even more detailed, or even timed. Instead of finding any rock, maybe the rock must be a certain color, texture, or shape. Leaves are abundant, but it may be difficult to find a red leaf with yellow circles on it. Get creative with your children and make it fun and challenging for them.

My son is very keen to find things on the list so I have to make it a little more challenging for him. I try to use shapes and colors as the easiest way to add a little more spice to the hunt. If your children know specific leaves such as a maple leaf, then have them find a specific color maple leaf. He is only four years old but because we spend so much time in the woods, he knows where certain items would be easily found. Simple variations to the activity can go a long way in making it last long enough for everyone to enjoy it.

Challenge yourself to make the scavenger hunt more and more difficult as they become pros at it. There are so many possibilities to making this fun activity as engaging and challenging as you want. It could be as extreme as breaking up your nature area into quadrants where you have to find each item. Or, instead of specific items, you could choose more abstract concepts that require them to think more about what they’re looking for and get creative (something smooth, smelly, spiky, soft, wet, flat, old, crunchy). I truly believe this activity can be fun for everyone regardless of age and skill level.

What you need to go on a scavenger hunt

Checklist time. Do you have your list(s)? Your bucket? Your nature location? What about your children? (Don’t forget them.) Then you are ready to get started!

If your children are anything like mine, they will burst onto the scene with excitement and enthusiasm. That being said, let your children lead the way. You can follow along and help guide or nudge them towards certain directions. If you are in a familiar place then may know exactly where to go to find some of the items on the list. If you are in a new location then it may take a little longer to find everything.

What did you find?

Once you’ve officially completed your scavenge hunt, it is time to review your findings. Find a good gathering spot for your family to see what everyone found. How did each kid do? Did everyone compete the list? Were some of the items not in your location? What challenges did you face along the way? Make a mental note of what was hard/easy for your kids so you know how to adjust next time.

Learn to love nature through a scavenger hunt

Doing a fall scavenger hunt with your children is a chance to let them embrace discovery. If you are new to outdoor activities then your children are really going to love this activity. And if you’re avid nature lovers like we are, you will enjoy seeing the changes that take place during the fall and appreciate nature even more through this fun activity. This scavenger hunt is designed to inspire observation, creativity, and embrace the outdoors. My hope is that you won’t just walk through nature, but learn from it, and learn to love it.

Outdoor activities are meant to have you engage with nature. Nature’s playground offers us many opportunities to connect on a deeper level. We visit many different outdoor locations where we live and every time we go back, something is different. We notice. When fall is in full swing, that place you visited in summer will look completely different. Sometimes it is eye opening how vastly different one location can change in just three to four months. Kids notice, too. And by letting them observe and explore nature up close, it strengthens their bond with our planet and all it has to offer.

Free printable fall scavenger hunt for kids

We’ve shown you how to create you own fall scavenger hunt with kids. And hopefully you realize just how fun and easy it can be! However, if you don’t have the time to create your own or if want a good place to start with little kids, we’ve got you covered. Click here to get out free printable fall scavenger hunt for kids.

Are you a fan of scavenger hunts?

About the author

Matthew is a loving father to one nature-seeking son. They live in western Pennsylvania and focus on visiting every trail, waterfall, and scenic view they can find. He works full-time and his son is in preschool. They are adventure enthusiasts who love to hike, travel and learn everything they can about nature. Matthew grew up loving outdoor play and adventures so he has become intentional about displaying that love for his son to emulate. He focuses on creating and capturing moments that they experience together through photos and writing in a journal to one day give to his son about their journeys together.

You can find more from Tine online in the following locations:
Instagram: @matthew_marvich
RWMC posts: Matthew Marvich
NATURE SCHOOL, OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES, PRINTABLES, WINTER
Outdoor Learning: Winter Words Scavenger Hunt
- March 2, 2018
Today, I’m thrilled to share a fun outdoor learning activity created by Tara Rondinelli of Little Pine Learners. Tara has been an early childhood educator (K thru 3rd grade) for over 10 years and is mom to two adorable boys. She believes learning should be hands-on, fun and outdoorsy, if possible! She has an amazing talent for coming up with new and fun ways to get kids learning outdoors and incorporating natural materials into the classroom setting.

I absolutely adore Tara’s clever ideas and find her passion for outdoor learning inspiring! I’m honored to have her here sharing this awesome winter words scavenger hunt that you can easily do with your kids at home this winter, no matter what the weather. I hope she’ll be back soon to share more educational activities with us, but in the meantime, if you need some additional inspiration or ideas for other outdoor learning activities, be sure to check out her shop, blog and social media sites (listed below).

Take Learning Outdoors

As parents, it can sometimes be difficult to think of new, fun and engaging ways to support our children’s learning at home. Many of us have some not-so-fond memories of sitting at the kitchen tables doing homework, while we longingly stared outside. Learning is often associated with being inside and boring, while being outside is fun and adventurous. But it doesn’t have to be one or the other. What if I told you that it’s possible to meet the academic needs and interests of our children, while spending quality time outdoors having fun?

That’s what we’re all about! Taking educational activities outside is a great way to make learning fun and make outdoor time educational. The winter word search activity that I am going to share with you today offers a fun and hands-on way for children to learn basic seasonal vocabulary words and expand their knowledge of the seasonal differences in the natural world.

Benefits of learning outdoors

First of all, there are incredible benefits of taking children outdoors to learn. Learning outdoors is active and increases students’ physical, mental and social health. Outdoor education and play support emotional, behavioral and intellectual development. Most children learn better by using their senses, and outdoor environments provide wonderful hands-on experiences in nature. Outdoor environments also naturally inspire children to be more physically active, which decreases stress and anxiety, helps elevate mood, and helps with emotion.

Many experts have documented that when children are allowed time outside, they are given the opportunity to:
- connect with nature;
- burn off extra energy;
- develop leadership skills;
- increase attention span;
- develop muscle strength;
- increase problem solving skills;
- increase creative thinking;
- decrease hyperactivity; and
- develop empathy.
Winter words scavenger hunt

There are so many wonderful ways to incorporate academics into an outdoor setting. From writing with natural objects to telling nature stories with sticks and stones, I have so much fun coming up with new and creative ways to teach my kids while outdoors. Whether indoors or outdoors, my boys love to search for objects and be challenged with a finding game. I thought it would be fun to incorporate their love for seeking with a way to learn about the winter season and words associated with this time of year.

For this winter words scavenger hunt, I hide clothespins labeled with winter words in our backyard. I included objects that are easy to find during winter, like sticks and rocks. I also included words associated with wintertime, like snow and icicle. My older son collected the clothespins and colored the pictures on his recording sheet as he found each one (fine motor skills). He had so much fun searching high and low and running around looking for the words. A couple of clothespins were difficult for him to grab due to the uneven landscape and slippery snow, so he had to really focus and problem solve on how to collect them (problem-solving skills). We also discussed the words and used them in a sentence as he found them (textual usage and vocabulary).

Expand the learning

After he located all of the clothespins, we searched for the real objects in nature. We were lucky enough to find nine out of ten words! Learning in the outdoor environment gave us the direct experience of interacting with nature, so we were also able to describe the objects that we found in detail. For example, we decided the icicles were “cold” and “sharp.” The animal tracks we found were “deep” and “little.” He posed many questions as we were looking at the objects, which I recorded for us to research at a later time. We finished our outdoor activity by writing a story that included some of his new vocabulary words. It is so interesting to hear the stories this little guy comes up with. They are too cute and always loaded with information.

How can I try it at home?

This exercise is great because you can try it out during all four seasons. Plus, there are so many various ways to incorporate learning into the activity. If you want to try it out for yourself, it’s easy to create. All you need is a few printed pictures of natural items that you can find during winter in your area, some clothespins and a clipboard. If you like our list, you can find a digital download of the printable materials HERE (winter) and a bundle with all four seasons HERE.

I hope you and you little nature lover give this activity a try and enjoy it as much as we do!

Tara Rondinelli is an early childhood educator and nature schooling momma of two young boys. She is a blogger and creator of nature inspired resources for classroom, homeschool, and outdoor educators. She lives in Wisconsin and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from Alverno College and a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction (ECE) from University Wisconsin- Milwaukee. You can find her and Little Pine Learners at any of the online locations below.

Teachers Pay Teachers Store – Little Pine Learners
Instagram: @LittlePineLearners
Facebook: Little Pine Learners

Photo credit: Little x Little Photography