The Chaos and the Clutter

Sharla Kostelyk

The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin

colored rice in a bin with bright colored pompoms, dice, tweezers, and a magnifying glass

By

Building a sensory bin around a book is a genius idea. Reading aloud is so incredibly valuable for our children. Not only will The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin encourage you and your children to read aloud together, it will also provide positive sensory input. Plus, your kids will be working on fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, gross motor skills, observation, and color theory. 

The top half of the image shows a close up of the sensory bin with magnifying glass front and center and the book staged behind. The bottom half of the image shows a different view of the sensory bin with the dice and tongs featured. In the middle, text states "The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin".Bright and engaging colors, a variety of interesting textures, and a story to tell, retell, and imagine will make this a sensory bin your kids won’t want to leave. The value of sensory input for children cannot be overstated. The same can be said for literacy. This activity encourages both.

About The Day the Crayons Quit

A delightful book, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Marichelle Daywalt, tells the story of a time when all the crayons were dissatisfied with their lot in life. Each of the crayons leaves behind a letter to explain their plight and a dissappointed young man must convince them to take up their posts again so that he can color. The book covers themes like communication, feelings, empathy, and respect.

Why Connect a Sensory Bin to a Picture Book

The beauty of reading picture books to children is that the pictures help  to bring stories to life for children and help them engage with the story even as they work separately on the skill of picturing a story as they read. Reading out loud to your children has immense value because they can hear and understand far more than they can read on their own. So by reading, you are providing an enriched literary experience they will come to crave for themselves. 

When you add a sensory bin to the picture book experience, you are extending the magic. You keep the story alive in their minds and give them one more way to explore the concepts introduced by the book. As they play, they replay or continue the story in their heads or outloud with each other. This gives kids practice using vocabulary, communicating with each other, using imagination, and exploring the world.

The connection between the sensory bin and the book strengthens neural pathways in the brain and improves comprehension through play. It’s a new way to process and work through new information. 

How to Make a “The Day the Crayons Quit” Sensory Bin

Supplies Needed 

Step-By-Step Instructions

  1. Fill the sensory bin with rainbow rice.
  2. Add rainbow pom poms and number mini erasers.
  3. Add small bowl, tongs, magnifying glass, and dice.
  4. Set the book next to the bin.

Suggested Activities to Go with The Day the Crayons Quit Sensory Bin

  • Read the book.
  • Roll the dice and find a matching number mini eraser with the magnifying glass.
  • Roll the dice and use the tongs to place the correct number of pom poms in the bowl.
  • Use the magnifying glass to take a closer look at the book.
  • Locate a color in the book and find the matching colored pom poms.

How to Play with A Sensory Bin

  • Sort and organize. This is such a valuable activity for kids. You can sort items in the bin by color, type, or size. 
  • Encourage your children to enjoy free play in the bin and see how they approach the experience. Let them run their hands through the rice, scoop and pour it, and play for as long as they like.
  • Compare and contrast. Talk about how the textures, colors, shapes, and sizes of each object compares to the others. Use descriptive words like smooth, soft, fluffy, or bright to describe the objects and compare them. 
  • Gather and distribute. Move all of the pom poms to the bowl. Then dump the pom poms and move all the number erasers to the bowl. Use tongs, tweezers, or thumb and index fingers to work on fine motor skills a variety of different ways.

Sensory Bin Variations

You do not have to use rainbow rice. You could use rainbow pasta, rainbow beans, or a different sensory bin filler in primary colors. 

Be creative! You can find mini crayon erasers and all kinds of things to use in your sensory bin if you have the room in your budget, but you can also pick things up at yard sales, at thrift shops, and from around your home. For this sensory bin focus on primary colors or rainbow colors to go with the theme of the book.

Add funnels, scoops, tweezers, measuring cups, spoons, and other tools to help your child experience the different materials in the bin. 

Learning Extension Activities for The Day the Crayons Quit

Create Your Own Follow-Up Story: The Day the Crayons Were Happy

The Day the Crayons Quit Coloring Page

Make Crayon Ornaments

How to Melt Crayons and Make New Ones

Beetlejuice Sensory Bin

bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, a green pincher, and striped play pumpkin

By

With the release of another Beetlejuice movie, there’s a whole new generation who will be introduced to the memorable characters. This Beetlejuice sensory bin would be fun to pair with a movie night or for Halloween. It’s spooky but not overly scary because it carries the quirky vibe from the movie.bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, a green pincher, and striped play pumpkinsThis sensory experience inspired by the unique world of Beetlejuice would also be a great addition to your classroom or party. It’s made with simple items that can often be purchased at a dollar store such as the Dollar Tree.

If you’re looking for similar ideas, check out our Eyeball Sensory Bin, Googly Eye Monster Slime, and Halloween Sensory Game. Or put them all together to create a themed sensory experience. 

bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, and striped play pumpkin

Beetlejuice Sensory Bin

Materials Needed:

  • Black Beans 
  • Ping Pong Halloween Eye balls 
  • Black and white pumpkins
  • Orange and black striped pumpkins 
  • Green curly ribbon bow 
  • Purple foam balls

dry black beans, green bow and ribbon curls, small striped pumpkins, and a bag of plastic eyeballs on a white background

Additional Ideas for your sensory bin:

Add Shovels, Scoops, and Tongs. These tools encourage fine motor skill development as kids dig, scoop, and sift through the bin. They can bury objects and dig them up using their tools.

Incorporate Characters: Position your Beetlejuice and Lydia figurines within the scene to give kids an opportunity to act out scenarios. Perhaps Lydia is searching for Beetlejuice, or the sandworm is chasing them both!

Set up scenes. Create a small “graveyard” area with miniature tombstones or small creepy trees. Position your Lydia and Beetlejuice figurines within a scene or set the sandworm up so that it is chasing them. 

Incorporate other senses. Play spooky music for auditory stimulation. Include citrus scents with candles or essential oils to engage the olfactory sensory system. 

bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, a green pincher, and striped play pumpkin

Other Beetlejuice themed play ideas:

Benefits of Sensory Play

Sensory bins are a great way to stimulate your child’s senses, improve fine motor skills, and encourage imaginative play.

  • Fine Motor Skills: Grasping, pinching, and scooping help to strengthen muscles in the hands and improve coordination.
  • Sensory Exploration: The various textures in this sensory tray stimulate the sense of touch and provide a calming, focused play experience.
  • Imaginative Play: The Beetlejuice theme encourages kids to use their imagination, reenacting scenes from the movie or making up their own storylines with the characters.
  • Language Development: Playing with a themed bin like this one encourages kids to engage in conversation, storytelling, and descriptive language as they talk about the different textures, characters, and elements they discover.

Sensory Play Tips

  • Supervise Young Children: If the sensory tub contains small items, make sure young children are supervised to prevent choking.
  • Store Materials for Future Play: When the bin has served its purpose, you can store the dry black beans in a sealed container to use for future sensory bins.
  • Encourage Open-Ended Play: Allow your child to explore the bin in their own way. Some might enjoy scooping and sorting, while others may create elaborate stories with the items.

bright green tray with dry black beans, purple pompoms, plastic eyeballs, green ribbon curls, a green pincher, and striped play pumpkin

I hope you and your child or students enjoy this Beetlejuice sensory experience. Just remember, you only need to say his name three times!

Cool Whip Play Dough

a ball of white dough sits atop a container of Cool Whip

By

Did you know that the simple act of playing with play dough has incredible benefits for kids? It’s a fantastic tool to keep in your parenting toolbox at all times. This taste-safe recipe for Cool Whip Play Dough is a fun way to engage your kids in sensory play for thirty minutes, an hour, or maybe an entire afternoon. 

The top half of this image shows a collection of cookie cutters and dough rollers with a container of Cool Whip and play dough with various letters pressed into it. The bottom half of the image shows a container of Cool Whip with play dough balled on top of it. In the center, text reads "Cool Whip Play Dough".

We like to make new and exciting playdough recipes to change things up, even though we love our Basic Homemade Playdough Recipe for everyday use. This recipe is so fun for kids because it is edible playdough, and they can help make this simple recipe. In fact, I recommend letting your kids help whenever possible!

Pro Tip: This is the perfect way to use up Cool Whip you forgot about over the holidays and found in your freezer three months later!

Cool Whip Play Dough Recipe

  • 8 oz. frozen Cool Whip
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2-3 cups cornstarch
  • Food coloring – optional

A close up of a container of Cool Whip with a large ball of play dough on top.

How to Make Cool Whip Play Dough

  1. In a medium bowl, add the frozen Cool Whip and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Stir to mix together well.
  2. Add 1 cup of cornstarch to the Cool Whip and powdered sugar, then mix again.
  3. If you’d like to add food coloring, add 4-5 drops and mix in.
  4. Place the Cool Whip mixture back into the container and refreeze overnight.
  5. Add the Cool Whip mixture into a bowl.
  6. Add another cup of cornstarch and mix well with a spoon.
  7. If the mixture is still sticky, add another 1⁄2 cup of cornstarch and knead with your hands.
  8. Play!

Pro Tip: If the Cool Whip play dough is still sticky, add the remaining 1⁄2 cup of cornstarch and knead well. More cornstarch may be needed as the dough absorbs moisture in the air over the next few days.

The steps to make this Cool Whip Play Dough Recipe are demonstrated in picture form with a mixing bowl, plastic spoon, and the ingredients (cool whip, powdered sugar, corn starch).

How to Store Cool Whip Play Dough

This is not the kind of play dough you can keep on the counter. Instead, store your leftover edible playdough in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Variations

You can substitute some of the cornstarch with chocolate cocoa powder or strawberry drink mix powder for different flavors. 

A bit of peppermint flavoring (not extract) will make this the perfect Christmas or winter play dough and add that amazing smell for sensory play. I don’t recommend using extracts because of the bitter taste of uncooked alcohol, but you can find alcohol-free flavoring oils in the cake decorating section of your local craft store.

Playing with Play Dough

I’m always looking for common household objects that will make our playdough play more fun. Set out the play dough with a few interesting possibilities and create an invitation to play. Here are some fantastic ideas for things that either cut play dough or make fun imprints, and most of these you already have or can grab at the dollar store.

  • Plastic Cups
  • Plastic Cookie Cutters (letters and numbers are fabulous!)
  • Cookie Press Cutters 
  • Dough Roller
  • Toy Rings or Jewelry
  • Lego® or Duplo®  (this may be a permanent sacrifice, so proceed with caution). 
  • Plastic silverwear (knives, forks, spoons)
  • Combs
  • Plastic Beads
  • Bubble Wrap
  • Hair Brush
  • Whisk
  • Plastic Animals
  • tooth brushes
  • doggy toothbrush 
  • leaves, flowers, and plants

Pro Tip: Contain the mess with play dough mats. I hear parents mention repeatedly that the reason they don’t do “XYZ” is because they don’t like the mess. As grown-ups we can figure out ways to contain and deal with that mess for a few years so that our kids get the powerful benefits of sensory play. Our Play Dough Mats Bundle can help you, and will even extend the fun! As a side note, this edible play dough wipes up easily with a hot wash cloth, and stray pieces on the floor may be snapped up by your pets.

A collection of cookie cutters and dough rollers with a container of Cool Whip and play dough with various letters pressed into it.

The Benefits of Play Dough Play

This playdough provides significant sensory feedback, including tactile (touch), proprioceptive from the squeezing and squishing of the dough, and gustatory (taste) sensory input. If you add smelly food-safe flavoring oils it can also add olfactory (smell) sensory input just like our Pudding Playdough or Melting Ice Cream Playdough.

Besides sensory input, play dough also builds fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, imagination, concentration, and problem solving.

Like most sensory play, playdough is therapeutic and can relieve stress or tension as a calm-down activity for both kids and adults. Try our Calming Lavender Scented Playdough.

This is a huge list of benefits, and doesn’t even touch on ideas for using play dough to extend learning in math, science, and other academic areas — check out Dinosaur Fossils in Playdough as an example!

Tips to Keep Play Dough Time Fun and Interesting

Even though the sensory input is invaluable, some kids might find play dough boring after a while, and need inspiration to keep enjoying the experience. Here are some ideas.

Change up the toys. Don’t give your child all the things for play dough all at once, keep a few different bags of play dough tools and toys to rotate through. 

Change up the recipes. We have a huge and growing collection of play dough recipes on our site!

Connect it to hobbies and interests. Whatever your child is into right now can be connected to sensory play whether its play dough or sensory bins. Dinosaurs? No problem. Counting. Easy! Flowers? Piece of cake! 

Change the smell. Some kids may dislike the natural smell of our play dough recipes. Add a drop or two of essential oils, extracts, or food-safe flavorings to keep it fresh. *Make sure to use food-safe ingredients if your child puts everything in their mouths!

More Thematic Play Dough Recipes Your Child will Love

Frozen Inspired Elsa Microwave Playdough

Peter Rabbit Playdough Invitation to Play

Apple Tree Colour and Counting Playdough Game

Rainbow Playdough Colour and Counting Game

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt for Kids Free Printable

cartoon pictures next to boxes on a paper

By

Nothing gets the blood pumping like a good scavenger hunt competition! If you are looking for ways to get your kids off screens and running around the neighborhood with friends, you are going to love this Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt printable. Print, play, and conquer! 

The top half of the image shows the printable form to use for the game. The Middle of the image states, "Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt." The bottom half of the image shows examples from the photo scavenger hunt experience.

Whether you just moved to the neighborhood and want your kids to make friends or you’re hosting the annual block party, set aside time for this scavenger hunt. Form teams, tell everyone the rules, and watch the fun (and maybe a little chaos) commence. Here’s how to play.

How to do a Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

Supplies

Instructions

  1. Give each team a copy of the printable, a dry erase marker, and a camera of some sort.
  2. Since this is a photo scavenger hunt, the goal is to take a picture of each of the items on the list as evidence before checking it off. These photos will make such fun scrapbook images later!
  3. The game ends when the first team gets a picture of every item on the list OR at a designated time to meet back at a central location and assess. If neither of the teams finish, the team(s) with the most pictures wins. 

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt printout for game.

The items included in this scavenger hunt are the following: 

  • Sign
  • Shadow
  • Circle
  • Garbage
  • Animal
  • Person
  • Emotion
  • Tree
  • Fence 
  • Sky
  • House
  • Feet
  • Dancing 
  • Garden
  • Strong
  • Cartwheel

The Benefits of a Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

Whether you play this game with all the neighbor kids or within your own family, you will have so much fun. Be sure to culminate the game with a special treat like ice cream sandwiches to make it even more memorable. But, it’s not just fun and games. So many excellent skills are being built as your kids play scavenger hunt games. Here are just a few of those skills.

Critical Thinking. In a photo scavenger hunt like this one, there is room for interpretation and some of the items on the list are pretty open ended. What does it mean by “shadow”? The picture taken does not have to exactly match the image on the page. Kids have to think through the intent of the game and figure out how to get an acceptable match. 

Example images for different Neighborhood scavenger hunt topics like trash can, shadow, tree, or sky.

Observation. Once kids have completed the neighborhood scavenger hunt once, they will forever be on the lookout for circles in the neighborhood. Everywhere you go, they will be looking for items on this list. Its such a fun lesson on observing the world around you, and an excellent skill to have. 

Teamwork. Forming teams with a variety of ages and abilities can foster deeper bonds and challenge kids to learn to work together with others for a common goal. This is a valuable life skill since working on teams is a central part of many different careers. This practice is incredible training for life. 

Photography. Hand over a kid-friendly camera or even a phone camera to the kids and expect them to take recognizable photos in order to win the game. You can even coach them ahead of time about framing the subject and checking the lighting and focus. Again, this is great practice even if the results are less than stellar the first time or two.

Image of a circle for the neighborhood scavenger hunt game

Tips for an Incredible Scavenger Hunt Experience

Laminate. My number one tip for these printable scavenger hunt is to laminate the copies. By laminating color copies you prevent accidents like someone’s paper getting torn or ruined by sudden rain. It will also allow you to use the game over and over. 

Get dry erase markers or crayons. If you can find them, the dry erase crayons are much harder to accidentally wipe off than the markers. 

Assign a parent to each team. Have an adult or older teen go along so that they can help kids work through harder questions like “What does strong mean? How could we represent that in a photo around the neighborhood?” This will help prevent gridlock.

Use a child-friendly camera. This puts more of the fun and responsibility in the hands of the kids and gives them an important task. Kids will step up to the plate so beautifully when we empower them with tools and gentle expectations.

Capture scrapbook worthy photos. To make this event something you will look back on for years and smile, you can make a rule that every photo has to contain a member of the team. Photos with our people in them are so precious! 

Grab your free printable Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt here: 

Be sure to check out our other scavenger hunts.

Yoga Bingo for Kids Free Printable

cartoon girl sits cross-legged on a yoga mat with words on a grid beside her

By

When self-regulation is a struggle, simple yoga activities can help. These centering activities for the whole body are a great way to calm down in stressful situations. When your child needs to regain control, suggesting yoga poses can stop the spiral fast. First, your child needs to know how to do the yoga poses. Practice yoga poses using our free printable Yoga Bingo for kids. Spend ten or fifteen minutes on this activity daily for long-term rewards as they help your child regulate his or her sensory, vestibular, proprioception, and tactile sensory systems.

Yoga poses are just one tool in your “calm-down” arsenal. At The Chaos and The Clutter, we are all about arming kids with the tools they need to gain control and self-regulate on their own. Your goal is to help your child become an independent adult who can navigate tricky emotions and stressful situations successfully on their own. You’ll find ideas for sensory bins, strewing, and games to help your child learn self-regulation throughout this website.

Image showing free printable Yoga Bingo for kids.

The Benefits of Yoga for Children

Vestibular System Function. The vestibular system is one of the sensory systems that helps create a sense of balance and spatial orientation to coordinate movement with balance. Yoga provides direct feedback and practice for this system.

Proprioception. Understanding one’s place in space is not as easy for some children as you might expect. Neurons in the muscles, joints, and tendons help a body feel grounded and aware in any environment, able to experience and understand self-movement, force, and body position. Yoga provides practice for all of three of the components of proprioception.

Tactile Sensory Play. The sense of touch may seem normal to you, but what is normal? Not everyone experiences touch the same way. Tactile play can help children who struggle with touch to interpret those brain signals more effectively. Sensory bins or bags are another great way to incorporate tactile play into your day. Yoga, especially when moving through different environments, provides direct tactile feedback for the body.

Physical Strength. Yoga is well known for building core strength and developing the muscles of the limbs as well. Children with sensory disorders often lack muscle strength because of avoidance of certain types of feedback. So any time you can participate in strengthening activities that don’t feel threatening, it’s a good thing. As an example, basketball practice builds physical strength, but because I am no good at it and it’s all about competition, it’s a very threatening experience for me. Yoga, on the other hand, is a competition with yourself. Can you do that pose better today than you did last week? That’s progress. That’s a win. As long as you keep yoga fun and low-key, it won’t be a threatening experience at all. 

Grounding. There are two types of grounding. Grounding for mental health is the process of providing your brain with a distraction. Anything that uses the left brain will help take your brain away from the emotional right sphere and regulate your response. Yoga can be a left-brained activity. Counting, deep breathing, marching to a beat, and naming items in a list are other ways to engage the left brain. The other type of grounding is the process of connecting with gravity or the earth’s electrical energy. There are many theories on this, but yoga outside in the grass would qualify as grounding in this way.

How to Use Yoga Bingo for Kids

As soon as you download this printable, I recommend that you print at least one copy and laminate it so that it will survive the mom purse. Carry it with you as you are out and about with kids, and keep a copy handy at home, too. Make Yoga Bingo a habit with your kids, and they will learn all of the poses quickly and be able to take the pose when asked. Try to fit in ten to fifteen minutes of yoga per day in non-stress situations. Practice when everything is low-stress so that it is an easy ask during high-stress situations. Deep breathing in mountain pose can be done almost anywhere as long as you have practiced.

Finding Time to Fit Yoga into Your Day

Once you have a laminated copy to keep on hand, you can start working yoga training into your day. As you start making yoga bingo a habit, you will find ways to get more and more creative while out and about. Here are some ideas to get you started. 

  • Standing in line at the grocery store? There are actually several yoga poses you can practice while waiting in line. Start with the mountain pose, and then try the tree pose. Once your children complete a pose, have them mark it off on the chart with a dry-erase marker or removable sticker. Then, look for another pose you can do without disturbing others in line. Once you learn them all, it gets easier! 
  • Waiting between appointments? Find a grassy area in the parking lot where your kids can get a little more elaborate. Here, they can practice and learn the cat-cow pose, the downward-facing dog pose, and the camel pose. Bonus: These poses all have animal names, so you can also practice animal sounds and sing Old McDonald Had a Farm, depending on the ages of your kids.
  • Does your wait have to be in a carpeted room? Try some of the seated or floor-friendly poses like the frog pose, boat pose, or the seated forward bend pose. Some of these can even be done in a chair! 

Make Yoga Bingo a Game

Keep it fun and low-key so that yoga is never a chore. If competition is a positive thing, you can give each child a card and have them work towards an individual bingo for the win. But, if competition is threatening or unpleasant for any of your children, work towards a family bingo instead — everybody wins, and as long as everyone participates, you can enjoy a group reward. It doesn’t have to be something you announce, and it doesn’t have to cost money. Just some form of encouragement. Here are some ideas for encouragement when everyone participates in family yoga bingo.

  • group cheer
  • high fives or fist bumps all around 
  • group hug
  • a stop at a local park
  • pizza night (for bigger wins, like a week or month of consistent participation)

So, to recap. Print your copy of yoga bingo for kids right away so you don’t forget about it. If you have a laminating machine, get it laminated for protection, and consider making a copy for each of your kids. Practice yoga for ten to fifteen minutes per day to make sure everyone in the family learns the poses in a short period of time. Make it a game, but don’t make it a competition unless that is good for everyone. Reward positive behavior. When you are ready, encourage yoga poses in stressful situations when appropriate. 

Download and print your Yoga Bingo for kids:

Camping Scavenger Hunt Free Printable

Worksheet format with camping items next to check boxes with the header "Camping Scavenger Hunt" across the top in large font.

By

Camping with children is fun, entertaining, and terrifying all at once. On the one hand, we want them to have all of the experiences of camping – from weird toilets to friends at the camp playground. On the other hand, we want to protect them from all the hazards – from snakes in the woods to creeps on the trail. And in the midst of it all, we want everyone to be one big, happy family of happy campers. One of the ways to keep the camping experience happy for everyone is to make sure you have a range of activities on hand to choose from. Our Camping Scavenger Hunt printable is an easy and fun activity to take along on your next camping trip. 

You can make this a raucous game and burn off energy by choosing teams for competition, sending everyone out in droves across the campgrounds, and awarding prizes at the end. Keep it in the family, or join up with other friends for the fun. If you’re looking for even more fun, be sure to try our Camping Minute to Win It Games.

Camping Scavenger Hunt Ideas

The beauty of a printable scavenger hunt with both words and pictures is that it works for all ages. You can get everyone involved from the smallest to the tallest. Little kids can look for the pictured items and circle them or check the boxes. Older kids can practice reading skills as they complete the hunt. Tweens and teens can practice critical thinking skills, observation skills, and teamwork. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

This list includes a variety of things your kids will commonly find around a campsite. We have so many different scavenger hunts available though! Be sure to check out our Road Trip Scavenger Hunt, or purchase our Scavenger Hunt Bundle for lots of choices. to have on hand. I recommend printing several copies of each scavenger hunt in full color and laminating them to keep them nice and re-useable. Then purchase dry-erase markers to keep with each set. 

Worksheet format with camping items next to check boxes with the header "Camping Scavenger Hunt" across the top in large font.

If you are looking for a fun gift idea, laminate these and add markers as I described, then make a fun Camping Basket gift with S’mores ingredients, roasting sticks, bug spray, a picnic blanket, fire starters, and our Camping Minute To Win It Game!

Our Camping Scavenger Hunt list includes sixteen simple-to-find items including: 

  • Animal
  • Marshmallow
  • Tent
  • Campfire
  • Cooler
  • Bird
  • Firewood
  • Insect
  • Pinecone
  • Picnic
  • Wildflower
  • Fungus
  • Sky 
  • Leaf 
  • Backpack
  • Roasted Item

Learning with the Camping Scavenger Hunt

As I mentioned earlier, kids can work on lots of different skills while they are completing a scavenger hunt. Not only will you be giving them a fun activity, you’ll be stretching their learning muscles at the same time. Here are some of the things they are learning.

Observation Skills. Kids will have to slow down and look around to find a bird at your campsite, especially if they have been noisy. They will have to adapt and get quiet! Finding a fungus might prove to be a challenge and will your kids becoming sleuths. They might even have to look up where fungi like to grow! What a fun chance to get your kids to actually look at the world around you.

Teamwork. Build your teams with a variety of ages and you’ve instantly created a fun lesson in teamwork. Adults can coach the team through any relational issues that come up and the teammates will work together towards a common goal. Learning through play is so powerful.

Memory Work. The more the team members can remember from the list, the more quickly they will be able to work. Encourage the teams to work in batches, looking for three or four items at a time before returning to the list to cross things off and remind themselves what to look for next. 

Critical Thinking. Young students can practice reading the simple words we have included in the scavenger hunt, and can turn on their critical thinking skills to ponder where an item is most likely to be found. 

How to Play A Camping Scavenger Hunt Game

Participation. You can either split your family or group into teams or have everyone participate individually.

Game End. The game can end at a specific time (5:00p.m. EST), after a certain length of time (twenty minutes), or whenever the first person or team finds all of the items. If you want to set a specific time to meet back at a central location, that allows everyone to regroup and determine the winner. The team leaders can all set a timer on their phones to give players a specific length of time such as thirty minutes. If you want to work until someone completes everything on the list, have some way to signal each other. 

Completion. You might find it fun to require picture proof for each item on the checklist. Its also fine to take each person at their word. You decide! Scoring is as simple as one point per item, or first person to complete everything on the checklist. 

Prizes. I recommend finding something simple and fun for everyone to enjoy after the scavenger hunt, like ice cream bars you’ve kept hidden in a cooler, or lollipops. 

Camping Scavenger Hunt 

Supplies Needed:

Instructions:

  1. Print out one scavenger hunt sheet for each child or team who will be at the campsite. Get your copy here.
  2. Laminate each page or put each piece of paper in a plastic page protector so it can be used more than once.
  3. Pass out dry erase markers to each child or team leader.
  4. Arrange a time when everyone will complete the scavenger hunt. In order to keep from disturbing other campers, you should probably compete before dark. When someone finds something on their page, they can place an X or checkmark in the box next to it or circle the picture.
  5. The first person or team to mark off everything on their list wins.
  6. If no one is able to finish their list by the time you designate, the person or team with the most checkmarks on their page is the winner.