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Scavenger hunts are a fun, flexible way to entertain children. You can hold a scavenger hunt on the spur of the moment, or can plan one in great detail. Older children can be challenged with harder-to-find items and less specific clues, while younger children can be told exactly what to find.

For older children, consider using trickier clues that hint at, rather than specify, what they are to find. See if they can guess the items correctly.

You don’t want kids wandering away from supervision while they look for things, though, nor do you want them picking up garbage. To avoid these possibilities, consider holding a nature hunt in your backyard, or in a local park.

One important element for a nature scavenger hunt is the nature reminder or lesson. Children should be reminded that the hunt is fun, but should not cause harm to nature. They need to remember to be careful, and to only take items from the ground. Children may worry that they won’t be able to find the items with this rule; explain that there will be plenty of items on the ground that will let them complete the hunt. Choose items that can be found on the ground, such as:

Items of a specific color - red leaves, for instance, or black rocks. Items of a specific shape - things that are round, things that are triangular. Leaves of a specific type, pinecones, twigs, moss. Small insects that are safe to pick up, such as ants or ladybugs (be specific about type of bug, to prevent kids from picking up something that might sting).

You don’t have to go into nature for a successful scavenger hunt, however. You can spent a bit of time and a small amount of money in a dollar store and host a theme hunt in your home.

You might also consider sending the kids off to find ‘treasure,’ by providing hints that lead to a stash of chocolate gold coins. Or, host a secret agent mission hunt, and have them search for the clues as well as the items!

With a well-planned scavenger hunt, most kids will be entertained for at least an hour if not more. You can also expand your hunt to include neighbors’ houses, if you know them well and if the kids are older. Consider sending kids out to find household items such as a clothespin, or a mismatched sock, to add to the hilarity.

Besides fun games, the author also frequently blogs about free small business accounting software and business inventory management software.