Nature Scavenger Hunt

Twenty-four things to look for outside make up this nature checklist. Most are easy wins in a yard or park, like a leaf, a stick, a rock, grass and a cloud. Others take more looking: a mushroom, a feather, a snail, a frog, a dragonfly, a fern. Each item is a small picture with its name underneath, so kids who can’t read yet can hunt by the picture.

Three ways to print the list

The main page is a big grid of 24 boxes, four across, with a checkbox in each corner. The next page lists the same items in two columns with smaller pictures, and the one after that squeezes them into three columns to leave room for four bonus challenges: find something older than you, something that makes a sound, three different leaves and something soft. Below them is a line to fill in, “I found ___ out of 24 items!”

Playing for points

The score hunt page splits the finds into two columns. Common things like a leaf or a rock are worth 1 point, and rarer ones like a butterfly, a squirrel or a mushroom are worth 5. Whoever has the most points wins. The how-to page gives the game as ages 3 and up for 2 to 6 players, and the last page is an I Did It! Nature Explorer certificate with lines for a name and the date.

Color or black and white

The color version uses bright flat pictures. The black-and-white version draws the same 24 items as simple outlines, which saves ink and gives kids something to color in once the hunt is over. The how-to page suggests laminating the checklist so it can be reused on the next walk.