scavenger hunts

the easiest way to entertain your children

May 20, 2026

One of the more memorable birthday parties I attended as a kid involved a scavenger hunt with a full-size candy bar at the end. So as soon as my first child started walking, I started creating scavenger hunts for her. It involved drawing objects on index cards and hiding them around the house. I saved this set of cards and broke it out for each kid, and they never tired of it.

A few weeks ago we had a random day off of school and I needed to get a lot of stuff done (it was the Friday before Mother’s Day), but had all 3 of my older daughters with me. So I decided to make all of my errands an adventure for them. I needed to go to the mall to return stuff, so I had my oldest daughter find a piece of pink candy, my middle daughter a rainbow sweatshirt, and my third a ride on the carousel. Next stop was the grocery store! They were tasked with finding cookie dough, clorox, wood cleaner, and more. Finally we went to FedEx where they had to ask for any leftover bubble wrap, my order, and packing tape to purchase. Asking adults for things got them out of their comfort zone, and I think they even forgot they were running errands with me.

I was also preparing for our last Girl Scouts meeting at a campsite in Crystal Cove that day. When my troop leaders and I started planning it, a scavenger hunt was definitely on our radar. If you go to the ranger station in the parking lot, they have similar scavenger hunts available - ask them for one! But if you want to make a little explorer pack with an amazon fanny pack, I link a compact and slightly cuter version, below.