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You are here: Home / Outdoor Play / Nature Scavenger Hunt

Nature Scavenger Hunt

By Shaunna Evans 10 Comments ยท This content may contain affiliate links.

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We love to spend time outdoors, so I was excited when GummyLump Toys asked me if I wanted to be the camp counselor for “Trail Blazer” week in their Summer Camp at Home series.  We put together a nature scavenger hunt and set out to explore a new local trail.

Nature Scavenger Hunt for Kids

For our checklists we used a 3×5 index card. I made a simple grid on the cards and we brainstormed what we might be looking for during our nature walk. Because we made up our own, I was able to individualize the cards for each of the girls.

Tinker’s card focused on some of the colors, concepts, and shapes she has been practicing lately.

Toddler Scavenger Hunt

Lovey’s card helped us review some of the opposites we learned during our O is for Opposites activities.

Nature Scavenger Hunt

It’s a little hard to see in the images but I cut about a half-inch section at the end of each line and creased the ends of the cards. This gave us little tabs that we could fold backward as we found each item.  It was a great way to keep track of our checklist without having to carry too many items with us on our walk.

We also wanted to have our hands free to try out some of the fun toys Gummy Lump sent us to use on our nature walk. Tinker chose to explore with her new binoculars.

Binoculars

And Lovey preferred investigating with her new magnifying glass.

Hand Lens

The girls ended up helping each other, and they found all of their items together as a team.

Toddler Nature Walk

Tinker especially loved stopping along the way to look see what she could see “high” in the sky and “low” on the ground.

High and Low

Lovey’s favorite find of the day was our pictures for “big” and “little.”

Big and Little

Our index card checklists came in handy for keeping track of what we were still looking for. It also gave us a chance to incorporate literacy into our walk. Each time Lovey would find something she knew was on the list, she’d use the beginning sounds in the words to help figure out which tab to fold back.

A fun way to extend this activity would be to create a matching card game or book like we did for our previous shadow activities at the park.

GL_SummerCamp300

Disclosure:  GummyLump Toys sent me toys to play with, but in no other way sponsored this post.  All ideas and opinions are my own.

This post has been shared at some of these fantastic link parties.

 

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Filed Under: Kindergarten, Letter O, Nature, Outdoor Play, Preschool, Quick and Easy, Toddler Tagged With: nature scavenger hunt, Opposites, scavenger hunt ideas for kids

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ashley

    September 10, 2017 at 10:54 pm

    Thanks for sharing these wonderful activities, I like it and my kids will love it too. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      January 30, 2020 at 9:36 pm

      That’s wonderful to hear! Thanks for your comment.

      Reply
  2. Carisa

    March 16, 2014 at 7:25 pm

    Thanks for linking up this fun outdoor activity! I love it! ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Reply
  3. Clairin

    August 17, 2013 at 1:09 am

    Thank you for the simple structure and vivid photos. I live in Las Vegas, NV, a place I feel the media and general consensus feels is not a kid-friendly environment. I am out to break that myth. My prek children and venture out on scavenger hunt quests weekly. I look forward to incorporating your approach on our Clark County Wetlands Park and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area treks. I’ll backlink to you for sure.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 17, 2013 at 8:46 pm

      I think it’s wonderful to take your kiddos out for regular scavenger hunts. I hope they enjoy this version.

      Reply
  4. Emm

    August 12, 2013 at 6:32 am

    Thank you so much for sharing this idea! I’ve been looking for “sneaky” ways to work on opposites (if my 4-year-old thinks it’s anything learning, she’s off) and this is perfect because she loves scavenger hunts – a win-win!

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 17, 2013 at 9:12 pm

      So glad this will be helpful for you! I hope she enjoys the scavenger hunt and learns opposites along the way. ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  5. Caroline

    August 10, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    I love this twist on the normal scavenger hunt by looking for opposites! Great way to tie in that concept.

    Reply
    • Shaunna

      August 11, 2013 at 8:39 pm

      Thanks! It turned out to be a wonderful exploration. I also liked that the checklist was general enough for us to keep it and use it again in different settings.

      Reply
  6. Anna

    August 9, 2013 at 6:31 am

    Fabulous! My kids would love doing this in the backyard. Thanks!

    Reply

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