Nature Scavenger Hunt

A nature scavenger hunt can be as straightforward or as complicated as you like.  The most important factor is that it should be fun for both adults and children alike!

There’s nothing more exciting than hunting for hidden treasures, there’s always something to find, wherever you are - in the garden or the park, or just walking down the street.  Did you know London has over 3,000 parks and is made up of 40% public green space? There are also recordings of more than 14,000 species of plants, animals and fungi in London!  So, if you’re lucky you may well come across a bat, a skylark or even a Peregrine Falcon

“The greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.” – Roald Dahl

How do you run a nature scavenger hunt?

Nature Scavenger Hunts are suitable for adults and children of all ages.  Firstly, create a list of items to be found.  You can base it on themes, such as seasons or colours, or if you’re feeling creative write some brain-teasing clues.   Don’t have time to conjure something up, or not sure where to start? Check out the internet for ready to use resources to print off and use.

Each team or person is given the list of items to find.  Decide on a time limit to find the items, after which everyone comes together and shares their findings.  You’ll be surprised at the variety of discoveries from the same clue.

What can you find in a nature scavenger hunt?

When coming up with ideas for your scavenger hunt – think about your location.  Are there lots of things in one colour?  Does this change with the seasons?  Crunchy leaves in the Autumn, big puddles in the winter, blossom in the Spring and dandelions and daisies in the Summer

It doesn’t just have to be about what you can see, items can also be sounds and smells.  Older children could listen out for specific bird calls – there are lots of apps to identify birds from their colours and features and listen to their song. Younger children could listen out for dogs barking or ducks quacking and bees buzzing.

What are good clues for a scavenger hunt?

Keep things interesting by making sure that some clues are in the sky, others in the ground and make sure there’s a good mix of easy and difficult things to find.

Pre-school children can use pictures to find things.  For older children try blanking parts of an image out, to make it harder to find.

Clues and riddles always add a level of intrigue – link these to your child’s favourite book – “Who lives in the log pile house?”

Suffering from blank page anxiety?  Turn the game around, send everyone off to find 5 items and write a clue for them – then all gather around and try to solve each other’s clues.

Apps for Scavenger Hunts

Can’t get your pre-teens off their phones?  There are lots of free apps you can use to generate a scavenger hunt - https://www.goosechase.com has a free version for setting up a Scavenger Hunt

Looking for more ideas to keep the family occupied and connect with nature? Subscribe to our mailing list.