Fall Scavenger Hunt.

Last week, once my boys were feeling better, I decided to take them on a Fall scavenger hunt. I did a little Googling for some ideas - came up with a few of my own - and then began telling Lane about the special outdoor hunt we were going to take.

Once Evan went down for his morning nap, Lane and I prepared a list of 14 items we might find outside during Fall. Some, I knew we could easily find: a red leaf, an acorn, a rock, stick and pumpkin. Others, I thought might be a little harder: a chipmunk, a bird's nest, a feather.

I explained to Lane that some of the things we would find we could bring home with us. Others, I told him belonged in nature and would have to stay where we found them.


I packed a picnic lunch for the three of us and off we went to the playground at our very favorite neighborhood.

With our list in hand, we set out to find a few items.

Showing me his acorns.

Right away we found an acorn, a rock, a red leaf and a stick.

Kissing the red leaf he plucked from a tree.

After our fortunate, and very quick, finds, my little hunter needed a break. So, we took some time to play on the playground and eat some lunch.









Then we got back to hunting. Lane knew about acorns - how they fall from trees and chipmunks eat them - but he didn't know about pinecones. I took a few minutes to find a pinecone. Show it to him and tell him all about them. Then he set off to find his own pine tree, as he renamed them.

It took him a few minutes but he finally found a tiny one and was so proud of himself.

Evan was there that day but the little guy must not have been back to 100 percent because he wasn't his normal happy, bubbly self.

Lucky for us, the weather was beautiful that day. Not a cloud in the sky. Unlucky for us, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. So, we couldn't check that one off our list.


I knew we wouldn't find some of the items on our list, like the turtle Lane insisted we would find outside in Fall, or a feather, which I added. Can you believe we really did find a feather. What luck. While I was showing Lane a mushroom, which wasn't on our list but will be added on future hunts, I looked down and there it was.

James even thinks it is a hawk feather. How cool.


It wasn't hard to find some red berries. I explained to Lane that we could just take a picture but he insisted on picking a few.

Right there in the red berry bush - a bird's nest. I lifted Lane up to see and told him how mama birds keep their baby birds in nests. He wanted to bring it home but I explained that nests must stay in trees.

(A few days later when we went to the zoo, he was thrilled when he got to play in a giant bird's nest.)


Once we tired of the playground, and I knew we wouldn't find any more of our items, including a pumpkin, orange flowers, and a chipmunk, there, we set off on a walk around the neighborhood.

We found pumpkins right away. Lane was so cute. When he would find a pumpkin on someone's front porch, he would run to it and give it a kiss. Again, I explained that some of our finds had to stay where we found them.

Especially when he spotted these pumpkins.

Buzz and

Woody!!!

Good thing we found them on our way back to the car because getting him to leave those pumpkins was quite a chore.




He was so happy to see his two favorite cartoon characters.

How he wanted to touch them and bring them home.

Once I finally convinced him to walk away from the pumpkins, we headed back to the car and all three of us had a good rest that afternoon.

A week later, Lane's finds are sitting on a plate in his room, and we are still talking about our hunt. This is such a simple, fun and free learning activity for a nice day and can be suited toward your child's age and ability.

Next time, I have a few more items to add incorporating our listening skills - the sound of wind chimes, or a train whistle or even birds chirping.

Hopefully, we've inspired some of you to take a Fall scavenger hunt. Or, you can join us on our next one!