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If you’re looking for a break over the holidays and just want to send the kids to the backyard for a while, then take a look at these printable scavenger hunt games. Below you have a choice of the longer version and also a smaller, easier to read version for younger children.

From a yellow flower to the clouds in the sky, this creative boredom buster is just what you need to get a bit of quiet time while the kids have fun exploring and learning about nature. Older children may want to use this hunt as a photo op to try and capture some unique and beautiful images for their Instagram accounts or maybe they’re interested in photography and want a challenge. Either way, we think the nature scavenger hunt applies to people of all ages.

Talk to your children first about the saying ” Take only memories, leave only footprints” [Chief Seattle]. Teach them it’s okay to look and touch, take pictures or cross it off on your list; but leave each item in its environment. This is a great way to teach them about the impact we have on our environment. Explain the quote and how it means you shouldn’t leave things out in the environment such as rubbish and foreign objects. Let them know that we care for everything in the environment and everything has it’s purpose and this is why we should leave each item where we see it.

Bonus Scavenger Hunt

We’ve also included a bonus game to encourage children to contribute to a cleaner community. Rather than the finding and spotting scavenger hunt, this one involves finding certain pieces of rubbish and collecting them. It could be described more as a mix between a scavenger hunt and bingo, where the first to collect all the rubbish on their list wins the game. We think this is a great way to introduce the importance of leaving only footprints in our earth. This could also be a good opportunity to explain the importance of habitat and that sometimes even man-made objects can become great habitat for wildlife, aquatic life and marine life. For example, a tyre that has been embedded in the bank of a creek for some time may now provide habitat for frogs and fish. Shipwreck provide habitat for coral and fish, turtles, rays etc.

PDF Downloads:

Click to download the PDF printable versions.

We hope your children have as much fun with these scavenger hunts as we did. Be sure to remind children of all ages not to touch or pick up any sharp objects, especially needles and glass. We recommend adult supervision for appropriate ages should be used.

Check out our blog for more ideas, tips, trick and more!

You can also check out this older post on Kids Looking After The Environment.