Camp Treasures—Treasure Hunt

Tammi Hoerner July 17, 2008

The wilderness is full of beautiful and fun treasure hunt items. Challenging the kids in your group to locate these items is a fun and creative way to learn about the environment! You can focus your treasure hunt on specific colors, textures, or language concepts such as adjective words like wet or dry. This is a game that requires very little advance preparation and can entertain and challenge even those who aren’t really thrilled about being outside!

Items you need to pack:
Paper
Pencils or pens (try to be sure to pack enough so everyone has one.)
If the winner is to receive a prize, don’t forget to pack it!

Directions:
Try to prepare a list before you leave for your camping or hiking trip. Duplicate your lists for as many kids (or adults) are playing. Each hunter will receive one list and one writing utensil to mark off the items they find as they go. You might include a prize or award the winner with the first toasted marshmallow from the fire! You can ask your hunters to find the items but not disturb them, asking them to draw the items, or identify where they were located, when found. Once all the items are found, if you’ve chosen a theme, see if the players can guess the theme!

Here are some ideas separated by age group. Try throwing one or two challenging items on the list even for the littlest hand providing a great feeling of satisfaction and triumph when the items are found!

Need some more inspiration? Try this great sample treasure hunt list.

For the Littlest Hands, try items like pinecones, pine needles, sticks, bugs and rocks. Try themes like the color green, or brown, trees, or a season.

For the older group, try items like sticks for S’mores, fire kindling, and big rocks for the fire pit! Then not only do they find the treasures on the list, but they also can see how they may be used when they are enjoying the outdoors! Sample themes could be colors, shapes, or size related!

Use the following links for additional ideas for your wilderness treasure hunt!

http://www.camping-field-guide.com/camping-treasure-hunt.html

http://www.little-kids-games.com/camping-games.html

Age Groups– as young as three and as old as would like to play!

*Keep in mind that you can modify this activity to be as easy or as difficult as you like, suit the age group you are trying to entertain!


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