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

• Copies of the printable scavenger hunt
• Dry Erase Markers
• Camera

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

• Indoor Photo Scavenger Hunt
• Printable Road Trip Scavenger Hunt
• Family Scavenger Hunts Bundle
• Camping Scavenger Hunt
• The Put Away Scavenger Hunt
• Photo Scavenger Hunt

The post Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt for Kids Free Printable appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

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. 

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:

• Printable scavenger hunt for each child 
• Laminator or page protector
• Dry erase markers

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.

The post Camping Scavenger Hunt Free Printable appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

January Copywork Emotions Sentences:

Kids need to develop a solid understanding of emotions and to learn how to effectively express their own. These January emotions printing practise worksheets allow kids to practise their printing while also normalizing talking about emotions.

These copywork pages allow students to explore their feelings and discuss them with a trusted adult.

Supplies needed:

• January Emotions printables
• pencil or pen OR
• plastic sleeve AND dry erase marker

Download the printable pages. If you want them to be reusable, laminate the pages or slip them into a plastic page protector. Kids can then use a dry erase marker to complete their tracing and writing.

For one time use, give the student a pencil, crayons, coloured pencils, or markers and the printed papers.

Instructions for the student:

1. Read the sentence.
2. Fill in the outline.
3. Trace the dotted words.
4. Write the sentence on the lines provided.
5. Discuss the different emotions.

These worksheets can be the jumping off point for a discussion with the whole class or one-on-one talk about different emotions. They can be used by teachers, homeschoolers, parents, or therapists.

January Feelings Log:

Keeping a daily log of feelings helps kids to look at their emotions and track any patterns they see emerging when looking back through each week. This can provide a lot of insight. 

Doing this quick daily exercise is an easy way to help kids to talk about their feelings and get to the root of why they might be feeling the way they are. Doing this at the same time each day can develop a positive habit. 

It can be a precursor for kids to have a journalling habit in later years.

For some kids, it may be most helpful to do this in the morning to then be able to adjust activities or expectations based on how they are feeling or it may be best to do after supper or before bed to reflect on the day.

Teaching emotions is such a powerful tool. It arms children with a skill that will serve them well for the rest of their life.

I’ve created a special Feelings Log for January. It includes a writing prompt and drawing prompt about winter, and weekly tracking sheet of “Today I feel” along with adorable snowman faces to use to help them better express their emotions.

Supplies needed:

• printed Feelings Log pages (download here)
• scissors
• markers, pencil crayons, or crayons
• pencil or pen

Enter your email below to download the free January Emotions Printables. You can use this with your child at home or print it off to use with your students in the classroom.

Our other monthly emotions printables:

• February Emotions Printables
• April Emotions Printables
• May Emotions Printables
• June Emotions Printables
• July Emotions Printables
• August Emotions Printables
• September Emotions Printables
• October Emotions Printables
• November Emotions Printables
• December Emotions Printables

The post January Emotions Printables appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ~ LM Mongomery from the book Anne of Green Gables

For years, I’ve created Summer Bucket Lists for the kids, but only recently realized I should create a fall one too. There are so many seasonal activities that can be done in these gorgeous months.

I chose activities for this list that were a good mix of things you can do at home and things to do in your community. I also tried to incorporate the use of as many of the senses as I could. 

This fall, get the whole family engaged in the season!

Fall Bucket List Ideas:

1. Visit a local farm.
2. Go apple picking.
3. Smell pumpkin spice.
4. Jump in the leaves.
5. Drink apple cider.
6. Roast pumpkin seeds.
7. Make leaf rubbings.
8. Bake something with apples.
9. Have a family board game night.
10. Go for an outdoor scavenger hunt.
11. Challenge a corn maze.
12. Visit a fall festival.
13. Make fall leaves slime.
14. Go for a crisp walk outside.
15. Make a toilet paper bird feeder.
16. Carve pumpkins.
17. Eat candy corn.
18. Bake a homemade pie.
19. Watch a football game.
20. Go on a fall picnic.
21. Eat a candy apple.
22. Paint with pumpkin puffy paint.
23. Cuddle under a blanket.
24. Play with a sensory bin.
25. Explore pumpkin pie scented moon dough.
26. Bake pumpkin muffins.
27. Bake sugar cookies with maple icing.
28. Go on a hayride.
29. Host an apple bobbing.
30. Create a fall sensory bag.

Download your free fall bucket list today simply by entering your email address below. 
Our other seasonal bucket lists:

• Winter Bucket List
• Spring Bucket List
• Summer Bucket List
• Simpler Summer Bucket List

The post Fall Bucket List appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

The pages include some common autumn scenarios such as raking leaves, going to the pumpkin patch, and playing in the leaves.

It also gives students the chance to express what they like about fall and what they don’t like about fall. For some students, it may be easy to think of things they like about winter and they may need some prompting. For others, it may be their favourite season and they may need help to come up with things they don’t like!

My Fall Feelings Mini Book:

Supplies needed:

• My Fall Feelings mini book printable pages. (download here)
• scissors
• pencil or pen
• markers, crayons, or pencil crayons
• stapler and staples

Instructions:

1. Download the My Fall Feelings mini book.
2. Print out the pages.
3. Cut apart the booklet pages.
4. Let your student decide how he or she feels about each fall activity and draw the corresponding face on the child on that page. Your student can use the Emotions Word Bank for ideas (for words to use and for faces to draw).
5. When your student has completed the book, stack the pages together with the cover on top and staple on the left side to create a little keepsake book.

After your child or student has filled out their booklet, it’s a great time to sit down with them and debrief. If there are some seasonal scenarios that seem to have potential to cause them some distress, together you can brainstorm ways they can better manage those feelings if they arise. 

Download your free printable mini book for kids and be signed up for our sensory solutions and activities emails. 

Mini books for other seasons:

• Spring Mini Book
• Winter Mini Book

Other free emotions printables that are perfect for fall:

• Pumpkin Emotions Game
• Spider Emotions Matching Game
• September Emotions Printables
• October Emotions Printables
• November Emotions Printables

The post My Fall Feelings Mini Book appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

Indoor Photo Scavenger Hunt

Supplies Needed:

• Printable scavenger hunt sheet
• Camera or cell phone

How to Play:

1. Print out the scavenger hunt sheet and give it to your kids.
2. Ask your child to use a camera or cell phone to take pictures of the things around the house that represent each of the words on the list.
3. Place a check mark next to the item after it is found.

How Do You Do an Indoor Scavenger Hunt?

Creating an indoor scavenger hunt is as easy as setting up a hunt outdoors. Since each of the items on the printable list are open-ended, your kids shouldn’t have an issue finding something to match everything on the printable. The printable indoor scavenger hunt for kids includes 16 clues:

• Noisy
• Bumpy
• Squishy
• Delicious
• Garbage
• New
• Beautiful
• Loved
• Light
• Old
• Precious
• Build
• Sock
• Piece
• Writing
• Button

As your children search around the house to find matches for each item, they’ll need to think about different things that could match the descriptive words. If you think your kids might have a hard time coming up with something to take a photo of, it might be a good idea to come up with some suggestions for them. Or set out items that match the words in plain sight so they can be found more easily as your kids are searching.When your child finds an item that matches the word, they can take a picture of the item and place a check mark in the box next to it. After the scavenger hunt is over, you can sit down with your kids and look at all the photos they’ve taken. Let them explain why they chose the item in each photo and how it matches the word on the list.

As your kids play this fun game, you’ll notice that they get to practice a variety of skills. Scavenger hunts are a great way for your kids to hone their:

• Creative thinking skills. The open-ended clues on this printable scavenger hunt are perfect for encouraging your kids to think creatively. And if you have more than one kid doing the hunt at the same time, you’ll get to compare their answers to see how creative each child can get. It’s fun to see the different perspectives each player has on the clues provided to them.
• Observation skills. Since this scavenger hunt will take place in the house, it’s likely that your kids are pretty familiar with their surroundings. That allows them to use their observation skills to match items they know are in their home to the clues on the list. Before the scavenger hunt starts, let your kids look over the list and come up with some ideas for each picture. This will allow them to think critically about each clue and give them time to come up with a create picture idea for each item on the list.
• Photography skills. Taking pictures isn’t just a fun way to play the game, it’s also a great skill for your child to learn. From making sure the item they want to photograph is in the frame to figuring out which buttons to press, there are several aspects of picture taking your kids will need to learn. These basic skills can help them develop their photography as they grow, which may even lead to a new creative hobby down the road.

Tips for a Fun Indoor Photo Scavenger Hunt

This simple game can be played just about any time and without much prep work. But to help the game run more smoothly, try some of these simple scavenger hunt tips:

• Laminate the sheets. With the help of a laminator, you can use your scavenger hunt worksheets over and over again. Run the printable sheets through the laminator, then let your kids use dry erase markers to check the boxes as they find each item. If you don’t have a laminator, try using plastic sheet protectors to hold the worksheets instead. Your kids can check the boxes using dry erase markers on the plastic page protector instead of on the paper itself.
• Use child-friendly cameras. If you’re not comfortable letting your child use your phone or camera to take photos, consider investing in a child-friendly camera. These kid-safe cameras typically feature a hard case that’s durable enough to withstand drops without breaking.

Grab your free printable indoor photo scavenger hunt checklist. Just enter your email below. 

Check out some of our other fun family scavenger hunts:

• Put Away Scavenger Hunt
• Alphabet Scavenger Hunt
• Outdoor Sensory Scavenger Hunt
• All our Family Scavenger Hunts

The post Indoor Photo Scavenger Hunt appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

In the past, some of the lists we’ve completed include the Summer Bucket List for Moms Who Want to Engage and the Bucket List for a Simpler Summer.

For this summer, I’ve decided to focus on things for the family. This is meant to improve family connection and time together, not add to the stress, so do this in whatever order you want and feel free to change or omit activities that don’t fit in with your family’s needs.

I chose activities that were low cost or free and don’t take a lot to set up. I want this to help you enjoy time with your family, not become another must-do list. This is meant only as a tool for family connection. 

Summer Bucket List Ideas:

1. Go berry picking.
2. Eat watermelon.
3. Practise cotton ball throw painting.
4. Paint with freezies.
5. Tent in the backyard (or living room).
6. Build tin can stilts.
7. Make lemonade oobleck.
8. Fly paper airplanes.
9. Make an ocean sensory bag.
10. Make homemade popsicles.
11. Run through long grass.
12. Play in rainbow soap foam.
13. Press seashells in playdough.
14. Pull some butterfly slime.
15. Have a three-legged race.
16. Explore in a summer sensory bin.
17. Participate in a library reading program.
18. Squish a mermaid sensory ball.
19. Build sandcastles.
20. Dig up worms.
21. Get messy with melting ice cream playdough.
22. Draw with sidewalk chalk.
23. Pretend play with lemonade sensory soup.
24. Have a sack race.
25. Hula hoop.
26. Skip rocks.
27. Have a water fight with sponges.
28. Have a picnic.
29. Play with bubbles.
30. Run through the sprinkler.

Download your free Summer Bucket List and print it off today. Simply enter your email below.

The post Summer Bucket List for Families appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

Affirmations can be centering and help encourage and inspire. 

They are not an automatic fix, but they can help change their mindset over time, especially when positive self-talk becomes a habit and begins to drown out the negative internal voices.

Speaking positivity into your child and teaching them to speak positivity into themselves can lead to more confidence and improved self-esteem.

Why use positive affirmations with teens?

Positive affirmations can also help to reframe negative self-talk into positive self-talk. For example the card, “I forgive myself for my mistakes,” can help someone who devolves into self-loathing and negative self-talk when confronted with a mistake. It can also help your perfectionist child work on opening themselves up to learning from their mistakes instead of working triple hard to avoid every mistake.

Affirmations can also help your child build their self-confidence. As they practice speaking these affirmations to themselves, they are reminding themselves that there is room for growth and that they are always changing, growing, and improving.

If your child is reluctant to use the affirmation cards, try modelling using the affirmations yourself. Let them hear you speaking them to yourself. You can also tape them up on bathroom mirrors, inside of kitchen cabinets, bedroom walls, and anywhere else your child can’t help but see them.Affirmations work with continuous practice over time, so the sooner they can get on board, the quicker they will see the changes in themselves.

You’ll find that these cards also help foster a growth mindset. 

Affirmations can help your child rework their negative self-talk and help them to build self-confidence to conquer all the challenges that they face in their walk through adolescence.

Today, I’m sharing these downloadable affirmations cards. They can be used with teens or for older children or even adults.

Get your free affirmation cards for teens. Simply enter your email in the box below. 

You may also be interested in reading:

Unicorn Affirmation Colouring Pages for Kids (free!)Why Kids Need Positive Affirmations

The post Replacing Teen’s Negative Self Talk Using Affirmations appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

While worksheets and books are a great way to help your kids learn the alphabet, all that busy work can quickly get boring. That’s why it’s important to incorporate interactive learning into your curriculum. Active games are a great way to help your kids learn and play at the same time. With this fun alphabet scavenger hunt, your kids can practice reading letters and words while playing an entertaining game.

Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

Supplies needed:

• Printable scavenger hunt pages
• Pencil or dry erase marker
• optional: plastic sheet protector or laminator if using a dry erase marker

Instructions:

1. Download the printable scavenger hunt and print out the pages.
2. Ask your child to find the items on the list.
3. When they find an item, they can mark it off by putting a check or X in the box next to it.

Alphabet Scavenger Hunt Printable

This printable alphabet scavenger hunt is perfect for preschoolers who are just beginning to learn their letters or beginning readers in kindergarten. The printable scavenger hunt features each letter of the alphabet, along with a simple word and picture to correspond with each letter:

• A for art
• B for book
• C for clothes
• D for door
• E for empty
• F for furniture
• G for gift
• H for hard
• I for ice
• J for jar
• K for kitchen
• L for letter
• M for move
• N for nine
• O for orange
• P for pencil
• Q for quiet
• R for ring
• S for soft
• T for toy
• U for up
• V for vegetable
• W for water
• X for exit
• Y for yard
• Z for zipper

As they play, preschoolers can identify each letter and say the sound that it makes. After that, they can use the pictures as clues to help them determine what they need to find for each letter.

And Kindergarteners can read the letter and the word next to it to find each item on the list. The pictures next to each letter and word can provide context clues to help them figure out what each word says.

After identifying the letter and word they need to search for, your kids can start looking around their surroundings to find the different things on the list. When they find something, they can mark it off the list using the blank box next to each letter. After all the boxes are checked, the game is over.

Scavenger Hunt Ideas

After printing out your scavenger hunt pages, your kids can have a blast learning and playing! Try these tips to ensure your kids make the most of their printable worksheets.

Laminate the pages to reuse them. Your kids can play the game over and over again if you laminate the pages. After printing the scavenger hunt, laminate each page. Then, let your kids use dry erase markers to check off the items when they find them. After the game is over, simply erase the marks so the pages can be used again.

Use a page protector. If you don’t have a laminator at home, you can still preserve the sheets for future use. Just place the pages in a plastic page protector. Your kids can use dry erase markers to check off each box. And you can erase the marks when they’re finished playing.

Discuss each letter and word before you start. When your kids start playing the game, they may get too excited to listen and think about the words on the page. Before you send your kids off the begin their search, it’s a good idea to go through each letter and word so they understand what they need to do. Give them a chance to read the letter and word, as well as look at the picture next to it. Then discuss different things they could search for that go along with the word and where they might be able to find those items.

Encourage creativity. This open-ended game is perfect for encouraging creativity with your kids. Make sure they know that the words for each letter can be interpreted differently, allowing them to find a variety of different items for each letter. The word art, for example, could be a picture, painting, or even an art supply.

Include older kids. While this game at a glance is for preschoolers and early readers, older kids can get involved so that the whole family can play. With older kids, just encourage them to think outside the box. Be creative. 

Take the hunt outside your home. There’s no reason your kids need to restrict their search to your home. You can take the printable hunt with you as you’re out and about. Try taking the pages to these places to give your kids a chance to search for new items on the list:

• library
• in the car
• grocery store
• doctor or dentist’s office
• a walk around the neighbourhood

Change up the game each time. After your kids have played this scavenger hunt game once, you might think there’s no use in keeping the printable sheets and using them again. But there is a simple way to keep the game fresh each time you use it and challenge your children to think outside the box. Just tell them they can’t use the same item more than once. So, if they found their bedroom door for the letter D last time they played, that door is now off limits for the next round! This easy tactic will make the game more challenging each time your kids play, forcing them to use their critical thinking skills during each round.

Sign up below to get your free printable Alphabet Scavenger Hunt. 

Check out some of our other scavenger hunts:

• Family Bundle of Scavenger Hunts
• Road Trip Scavenger Hunt
• Outdoor Sensory Scavenger Hunt
• Backyard Photo Scavenger Hunt
• The Put Away Scavenger Hunt

The post Fun Alphabet Scavenger Hunt appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

As you’re planning your next road trip and finding activities for the car ride, don’t forget to grab this free printable road trip scavenger hunt for your kids to play while you drive.

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Ideas

With this road trip scavenger hunt, you can create a fun game to keep your kids entertained during a car ride. In addition to providing your little ones with a fun way to pass the time, they’ll be learning as they play!

Since it features both words and pictures, this cute printable is great for kids of any age. Young children can check the boxes next to the pictures when they see something along the road. And older kids can practice reading as they look for items on their scavenger hunt list.

The list includes a variety of different things your kids will see as you travel. Whether you’re on a long road trip or just taking a drive to the grocery store, your little ones will love looking for different things along the road as they’re riding in the car.

This printed scavenger hunt is also great for including in a road trip gift basket. My brother and his family gave us a special gift basket before we went on our 22 day road trip across part of Canada and the United States with 6 of our kids in two. After that adventure, I would say that we are definitely road trip veterans!

The scavenger hunt printable includes 16 different common roadside elements for your kids to search for, including:

• Road sign
• License plates from three places
• Cow
• Bumper sticker
• Bus
• Billboard with a phone number
• Barn
• Tunnel
• Bridge
• Construction
• Train
• Fast Food Sign
• Gas Station
• Rest stop
• Roof rack
• Park

On top of keeping your kids off their screens for a little while, the best part about this fun car ride activity is that you can easily turn the game into a learning experience. Using the road trip scavenger hunt printable, you can help your kids practice their:

• Observation skills. As your kids play, they’ll each be forced to look more closely at the world around them to find exactly what they’re looking for on their list. That can give your kids a chance to be more observant and aware of the things around them as you’re driving along the road.
• Teamwork. Instead of playing individually, why not ask your kids to play together to find each item on the list? When your kids work together to find the items on the hunt, they can practice working as a team to accomplish a goal.
• Memory skills. To quickly finish the game, your kids will need to remember a list of things to look for. As they mark items off their list, they will use their memory to recall other items they need to look for as you’re driving.
• Reading and matching. Young readers will get a chance to practice their reading skills as they read through the clues on the list. But even if your kids aren’t old enough to read, they can practice their matching skills by matching the pictures on the list to the things they see out in the real world.

How Do You Do a Driving Scavenger Hunt?

A scavenger hunt is a fun adventure wherever you are. But if you’re driving in a car, you may be wondering how a scavenger hunt would work. When on a traditional scavenger hunt, you typically look around in different areas to find the items on your list. But when you’re doing a driving scavenger hunt, you simply stay in your car and mark things off your list as you see them.

One great way to play this fun game with your kids while you’re on a road trip is to print out a list of things to find, then let your kids check each item off as you’re driving. The game can be a competition among everyone playing to see who fills out all their check boxes first. Or it could be a group effort, allowing all your kids to work together to find everything on the list.

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

Supplies Needed:

• Printable scavenger hunt for each child (download here)
• Laminator or page protector
• Dry erase markers

Instructions:

1. Print out one scavenger hunt sheet for each child that will be riding in the car.
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 in the car.
4. As you’re driving, let the kids search for items on the list. When someone finds something on their page, they can place an X or checkmark in the box next to it.
5. The first person to mark off everything on their list wins.
6. If no one is able to finish their list by the time you reach your destination, the person with the most checkmarks on their page is the winner.

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