5 Fun Summer Scavenger Hunt Activities for Toddlers (2024)

Scavenger hunts are not only fun, they’re educational, too. It’s easy to get creative to make up your own, or modify any of these fun ideas to make it fit for your area and the age of your child.

For older kids you will want to make it harder, and for younger toddlers make the scavenger hunt easy enough to keep them interested while still teaching them important skills.

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1. Nature Scavenger Hunt

Getting kids outside to explore is a great way for them to learn about nature and get exercise at the same time.

You can create a nature scavenger hunt for whatever types of things are in your backyard, the park or wherever you choose to do your scavenger hunt.

Here are a few ideas get you started:

• Four leaf clover
• Dandelion
• Large leaf
• Small leaf
• Sticks
• Large flower
• Small flower
• Worm
• Bug
• Smooth rock

An easy way to create your game is to gather the items from the area you’ll be playing and take a picture of each. That way you know the items will be there and you can print off a picture of each thing for your toddler to gather. Then all you need is a basket or bag for your little one to be off and running.

If you have a rock hiding group in your area, you can hunt painted rocks, too! Check Facebook for “(your city) rocks” under groups. People paint rocks and hide them in public places.

Toot loves to look for painted rocks. You can even paint your own rocks and hide them.

Download a free printable here.

2. Number Scavenger Hunt

Helping toddlers learn their numbers is easy and fun with a numbered scavenger hunt. You just need some colored paper and a pen.

Cut colored paper into pieces and write numbers on them from 1-10. Hide them around your yard or house – kinda like an Easter egg hunt.

Once your toddlers find all of the numbers you can have them match them up to a sheet of paper that you’ve written all of the numbers on.

You can also get foam numbers to hide like these.

3. Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

Have the kids search around your house for anything with words on it. They can identify letters they find, and you can have them find each letter of the alphabet somewhere in your house.

Or if your toddler is a little more advanced you can give them a letter and have them find an object that starts with that letter. As in, “Something that starts with the letter P” could be a puppy, a pan, or a pillow.

Another fun way to learn letters is to hide foam bath letters in your house or in the backyard.

4. Color Scavenger Hunt

You can print out a rainbow of colors and have your child find something of each color to gather.

Another variation of this color game is give them a bag of a certain color and have them find 10 objects of the same color to bring back.

As you help them go over their items you can reinforce the colors.

5. Treasure Hunt

Draw a map to several different areas, when they find the first item it should include a clue to the next item and so on.

At the end of the hunt they should find the buried treasure! You can use a shoe box as a treasure chest or get a cool one like this.

Bonus points if you dress like pirates!

If you want to up your treasure game, get some plastic doubloons.

Does your toddler like scavenger hunts?

Let me know in the comments below!

Also check out this Dr. Seuss scavenger hunt from Tiny Humans Read.

Scavenger hunts can provide hours of fun for kids of all ages. And if you have a wide range of ages, you might even have the older kids help to create the hunt for the younger ones.

Each child will learn some valuable skills, and you’ll be helping to alleviate their summer boredom.

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