Toddler Time - Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger Hunts are a wonderful way to entertain and teach toddlers. They are an active way for young children to explore a theme or topic and can be used anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether you are outside or inside, what the weather is like, if you are home or in your car. With just a small amount of preparation you can have your toddlers exploring and learning about their surroundings and environment.
So, how does one do a scavenger hunt with a toddler?
The first step is selecting the scavenger hunt theme or topic. The possibilities are only limited by your creativity. Some examples of scavenger hunts include:
- Nature Scavenger Hunt
- Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt
- Alphabet Scavenger Hunt
- Letter Scavenger Hunt
- Colour Scavenger Hunt
- Magazine or Picture Book Scavenger Hunt
- Halloween Scavenger Hunt
- Christmas Scavenger Hunt
- Neighbourhood Scavenger Hunt
- Travel Scavenger Hunt
Then, you need to create a list of the items that you would like your toddler to find. As toddlers are still learning about all the things around them and they are not able to read clues, the scavenger hunt needs to be in a pictorial format. For example, for a nature scavenger hunt either draw, print out, or cut out of magazines, a picture of a rock, leaf, feather, flower, pinecone, and a stick. You could either have all the pictures on one page or on separate cards.
Once you have your picture cards ready, you can start the scavenger hunt. As your toddler finds each object, be sure to talk about the item including it’s colour, size, and texture. If your child finds two items which are suitable, be sure to compare them to each other.
Other resources which might be of interest:
