There are so many ways to do scavenger hunts in nature with big kids, including seasonal twists on the idea, hunting by color, and more. But these complicated hunts can be daunting to younger siblings along for the walk, so today I made a scavenger hunt that Veronika could do too, with items that she was guaranteed to find!

Before we set out, I printed out a template from The Resourceful Mama, and we had fun coloring the cards in together. This was a great way to set expectations for what we might see once outside! I cut the cards into squares, hole- punched each one, and then secured them together with a bit of yarn. This little packet was easier for toddler hands to hold than a standard scavenger hunt score sheet!

On our walk, everything was pretty much obvious right away, including tall trees, green leaves, and grass on the ground. But we had fun gathering items together, like a pine cone, stick, and rock.

The last item on the list that she spotted was the flower, which happened to be purple. How perfect because we’d set the goal to also find something in her favorite color!

You can also encourage your child to think beyond the cards. Could we find something that smelled nice? Had a nice texture? Feel free to ad lib!

In total, her list today included:

Tree

Grass

Rock

Stick

Insect

Leaf

Flower

and Pine Cone