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Fun Outdoor Activities & Scavenger Hunts for Kids

Getting groups of kids into the open air, in an organized and creative fashion, will keep them engaged and thoughtful. There are plenty of scavenger hunts and similar activities that allow a lot of room for your own unique alterations, as well as room for the kids to give their own input. Sometimes, creating the hunt or game itself is more than half the fun.

Scavenger Hunts
- Include items with requirements that are slightly more difficult to find.
  
  Try a photo scavenger hunt if you have a number of inexpensive digital cameras available. If there are only a few cameras, or parents aren't willing to donate, split the kids into teams to share cameras. Give them a list of things to photograph, and a set of boundaries outside. Include specific things on the list, such as:
  
  Three pink flowers
  
  A blue mailbox
  
  A line of small rocks
  
  A squirrel with food
  
  A Y-shaped sidewalk crack
  
  Someone doing yard work on his knees
  
  Also include more broad items that call for their personal input and creativity, such as:
  
  The cutest dog you can find
  
  A beautiful smile
  
  A cloud that looks like your favorite animal
  
  Something soft, brown and round
  
  A piece of trash (to recycle)
  
  To alter the hunt for after dark, spray glow paint on objects and then hide them in the yard. Make sure to give a small lesson on flash use in this case. Once the photos have been collected, stage a slide-show viewing for everyone to compare, with prizes for the most pictures found, as well as for the most creative photos. Play with the list to cater to the area in which you're hunting. A variation of this hunt involves a Sound Hunt, with cheap tape or voice recorders. Have the kids collect sounds such as:
  
  A birdsong
  
  A garbage truck
  
  Someone whistling (x tune)
  
  Kids yelling in unison
  
  A cricket
  
  Five seconds of a stream trickling
  
  Grass being pulled out of the ground
  
  Walking through mud
  
  Nothing but wind in the trees
  
  If the recorders are digital and you have a little extra time, mix the sounds together into an aural collage. Give the kids a final collective product for all their hard work.
Nature Hunts
- Color-tracing bark is a great way to learn tree names.
  
  Create a nature hunt, keeping the environment at hand in mind, so as not to send them out looking for things that definitely will not be available (whether it's a field, a neighborhood, or some woods). Include pictures of the items they're looking for, as it's a great way to introduce kids to the natural world and to help them learn the names of things. An example list might look like:
  
  Maple leaf
  
  Birch bark
  
  Conifer pine needles
  
  Waterfowl feather
  
  Fern leaf
  
  Include specificity, so they'll need to do some identifying. There are a couple of ways to collect the items. Either have them bring the items back in a bag to create a scrapbook or collage (the items will have to be mostly flat), or give them paper and crayons to collect the patterns and textures of the items by laying the item under the paper and coloring on top. Nature hunts provide great options for theme hunts, as well. You can craft an entire game out of coloring the bark textures of various trees, then later trying to identify them.
Other Outdoor Activities
- While scavenger hunts provide a plenitude of artistic possibilities, there are great alternative activities that work with nature.
  
  Build a Recycle Garden:
  
  Collect recyclables like glass bottles (without broken edges); paper plates and forks; milk caps; gum wrappers; OJ boxes cut into strips; etc. Help the kids sculpt flowers and plants out of the materials, using glue or tape, and plant them into the "garden." They can even make a posted cardboard sign that names their garden. This is a creative use of recyclable material that kids will have a lot of fun improvising with.
  
  Create a Natural Orchestra:
  
  In a large group, have each child find objects in nature that make an interesting sound, such as sticks and rocks, dry leaves, and pine cones. After everyone introduces their instrument and its sound, have them sit in mock-orchestra arrangement to begin composing music. Or, put them into groups and assign simple, recognizable tunes, which they can practice together and play for the rest of the group to guess.
Go Camping
- Telling stories by flashlight produces giggling.
  
  A classic activity that should never be forgotten, camping removes kids altogether from their comfortable indoor atmosphere and replaces it with an awakening introduction to "wilderness," even if just in the backyard or a neighboring field or campsite. While you'll need to chaperon younger people, you can fill the night with mountain pie-making (bread filled with jam or pizza sauce and toasted over a small fire); storytelling; and tent-building with sheets and rope, if you don't have a tent.

Kids Games