A day spent outdoors is the perfect way to unwind and enjoy nature. Children need to be outside and get their hands dirty. Try going on a scavenger hunt with your kids if you’re looking for a fun activity to do together! Scavenger hunts in nature are a fun way for kids (and parents!) to learn about the world around them. They can go on nature scavenger hunts in their own backyards or go on adventures in their local park or forest. You can use the nature scavenger hunt template provided in this post, or use it as inspiration when creating your own list.
What do you put in a nature scavenger hunt?
Here’s how to get started with the traditional scavenger hunt.
Create a list of items that your children should find during their adventures. This list may vary depending on where you live and what kind of terrain you have in your backyard!
Maybe you’re wondering, what are some good nature scavenger hunt ideas? As a starting point, here are some items to add to the children’s scavenger hunts:
- Leaf
- Rock
- Tree
- Bird’s nest
- Animal track
- Cute animal
- Feathers
- Flower
- Animal den
- Earthworm
- Snails
- Twig
The traditional scavenger hunt can be transformed into a fun bingo game by placing items from your own backyard on randomized bingo boards, where the first person to cross out five items in a row wins.
Download Nature Scavenger Hunt Template
texture-based nature scavenger hunt IDEAS
Perhaps you’d like to make your nature scavenger hunt a little more challenging for older children or adults! – Instead of giving participants specific items to check off on their lists, let them explore nature with loose guidelines like
- A rock with a moss
- A leaf with 3 veins
- Three leaves with different shapes
- Something that is pointy
- A sticky thing
- A thing which is soft
- Something that is hard
Exploring textures on an outdoor scavenger hunt would not only allow kids to discover objects found in nature, but also provide an opportunity for sensory exploration.
Make Your Scavenger Hunt a Trash Clean-up
It can be enjoyable to host a scavenger hunt in the great outdoors and discover various items in nature. But shouldn’t the rocks, twigs, and shells stay where they are? Nature.
Making your scavenger hunt a trash cleanup can be a constructive and fun idea for both kids and adults. Obviously, if you’re picking up trash, you should wear gloves to protect yourself from germs and to keep everyone safe.
You can include some of the following frequently discovered trashed items on your scavenger hunt list:
- Something that has no place in nature
- A bag made of plastic
- A bottle made of plastic
- A can of soda
- Straws \ Tissues
- Bags made of paper
DOWNLOAD AND PRINT
Grab the free printable by clicking below. It’s a PDF file you can download and print as many times as you need for personal use only – no commercial reproduction allowed at all.
Nature Scavenger Hunt Free Printable
We have free printable resources in our library that you can have a look at while you’re here. Our collection contains coloring pages for children as well as puzzles.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. Please share it below so that others can also enjoy it.

I have not tried a scavenger hunt with my three-year-old daughter yet. She loves the outdoors and nature, and I think she’s ready. I have to try these ideas with her. Your trash clean-up idea is a great idea, too!
Thank you so much. I hope you give it a try with your little girl.
We did scavenger hunt last year and we might do it again on Halloween. The whole family had fun. Your printable would be a very big help.
Thank you.I am glad you liked them. My kids also love to do all kind of different scavenger hunts.
I love these scavenger hunt ideas!
Thank you 🙂
I love this! Simple things that you can find outside and I never thought of doing something like this.
Thank you so much ! I am glad you liked it 🙂