Awesome Scavenger Hunts

By Cherie Gough

Ready for something new and exciting to shake up your routine? Scavenger hunts are great family entertainment. Plus, they get kids off the couch to explore familiar surroundings with fresh eyes. Whether you have tykes or teens, here are tons of ideas that bring adventure to your home, backyard or neighborhood walk. Who doesn’t love hunting for surprises?

Diy Scavenger Hunts

In an alphabet scavenger hunt, kids hunt for objects beginning with a designated letter of the alphabet. Help kids get familiar with how to find books at the library by searching your own bookshelf. Look for books by authors whose names begin with the same letter; for older kids, have them put your books in alphabetical order by last name.

Teach kids the five senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste) and go on a sensory adventure. Take a walk and look for natural objects that are soft, rough, smooth, sticky, wet or fuzzy. Listen for birds rustling leaves, laughter, chimes, a lawnmower, etc. Lie on a blanket outside and observe cloud formations. Finish up with a fun blind taste test at home with things such as cheese, whipped cream, olives, fruit, spinach, Nutella, frozen berries and marshmallows.

Go on a flag hunt. Look for the different types of flags your neighbors display or count the number of American flags as you stroll neighborhood streets.

I Spy animals. Visit your neighborhood park to look for living creatures such as birds, insects, ducks, dogs and butterflies.

Search for the colors while walking through your neighborhood. Paint the compartments of an egg carton different colors and collect objects of each color. Or have kids take photos of each color when they find it. Print the photos and make a rainbow scrapbook, categorizing everything by color.

Get Apps To Explore

Monkey Spot (free on App Store) offers storytelling and adventure with scavenger hunts that can be done anywhere. Designed for kids ages 6 and older.

Hunt for stars with Night Sky, an award-winning app that’s free on the App Store. Simply open the app to easily find stars and identify constellations. Fun when camping in the backyard or in the mountains.

Imaginative littles love hunting for pirate booty with the Treasure Hunt - Scavenger Hunt app, free on iOS. Designed for ages 4+, each adventure follows a treasure map to find items in the yard, on a walk, even in the fridge. A clever camera recognizes when kids locate each item allowing them to proceed and earn loot.

Seedling Scavenger Bingo app offers free ready-to-play games, with the option to pay to create your own bingo style scavenger hunt and take photos along the way. Explore categories such as the alphabet, road trip, and holidays. Available on iOS.

Geocaching is a fun scavenger hunt for real treasure. Using GPS, track down boxes hidden in local spots— maybe in a park or along a trail. Log your findings, collect “treasure,” and leave behind a surprise for the next participants. Use the Cachly app to find hundreds of geocaches near you. $4.99

HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES

The Idea Box Kids (on Etsy) offers a scavenger hunt box that contains 180 items kids can hunt for indoors or outdoors. Clues such as find something the “same size as a sandwich” and “something with an O on it” get kids thinking creatively. $24.99 theideaboxkids.com

Travel Scavenger Hunt for Kids by University Games is a deck of cards that challenges kids to find roadside items while on a road trip. university games.com/scavengerhunttravel. $9.99

MAKE YOUR CAR RIDES AN ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE FOR ALL WITH WAYS TO TURN UP THE DIAL FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.

By Erin Sernoffsky

Summer is the season of road trips. With grandparent visits, travel sports, or a weekend away, families are loading up the minivan and preparing for hours of very close proximity. While tablets have certainly made things easier, even they have their limits and the unending chorus of “are we there yet” is enough to make any parent want to yell, “I will turn this car around!” To make the time pass more enjoyably for all, and to take a break from screen time, check out the new generation of amazing kids podcasts. Entertaining, educational, and not annoying for grownups, podcasts are a valuable secret weapon for traveling families. With shows to match every age level and interest, podcasts get your kids thinking and inspire conversations. These are readily available on many platforms like Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, and can be easily downloaded ahead of time.

STORY PIRATES

Story Pirates features sketch comedy and songs inspired by stories written and submitted by kids. Performed by an incredible ensemble cast and a slate of celebrity guests like Lin Manuel Miranda and Cecily Strong, the results are hilarious, creative, and best of all, spark storytelling in kid listeners. storypirates.com/podcast

SMASH BOOM BEST

Get ready for your kids to call out slippery slope fallacies and ad hominem attacks when they see them! It features lively debate on funny topics like “Kraken vs Cyclops,” or “Lego vs Minecraft.” Kids learn new topics and the show teaches them how to defend their positions and listen critically to make informed decisions. smashboom.org

Circle Round

A-List actors bring to life fairytales and folklore from around the world in each 10-20 minute episode. Featuring stories of generosity, bravery, and kindness with diverse and unlikely heroes, Circle Round is full of imagination and conversation-starters wbur.org/podcasts/ circleround

Wow In The World

Fast-paced, frenetic, and funny, Wow in the World takes kids on scientific explorations of everything from prehistoric swimming reptiles, to sea pickles, to what it’s like on Mars. Hosts Mindy and Guy Raz and their cast of eclectic characters and a pigeon pet invite kids to see the world like scientists, to explore, take chances, and learn from experts. tinkercast.com/ shows/wow-in-the-world/

Winning Is Not Everything

Listening to conversations with top-tier athletes and coaches exploring the deeper elements of sports—coachability, adversity, handling loss, recruitment, teamwork, and resilience. From the NFL, to registered dieticians, to coaches, the deep catalog of episodes has something for athletes, sports parents, and fans of all types. winningisnoteverything.libsyn.com

FOREVER AGO

The sister podcast to the equally amazing show Brains On, Forever Ago explores the amazing history of both the extraordinary and ordinary throughout history—from mac and cheese, to emojis, to tomb raiders of the Egyptian pyramids. These deep dives are fun, informative, and brings to life parts of history even parents may not know about. brainson.org/collection/ forever-ago-podcast

Who Smarted

Why are donuts called dough nuts? Why are pencils yellow? What do we know about the origins of the universe? Who Smarted hilariously answers the big historical and scientific questions on kids’ minds using jokes, games, interviews, and truly unique characters. whosmarted.com

STORIES PODCAST: A BEDTIME SHOW FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES

As the name says, Stories Podcast is great storytelling for all ages. The weekly show features retelling of classic fairy tales and folklore, as well as original stories. The adventures are captivating and kids are invited to submit drawings of what they hear for the chance to be featured on the show’s social media. storiespodcast.com

TUMBLE

Tumble is a science podcast for kids created by a science journalist and a teacher. With interviews with subject experts, and perspectives from kid listeners, Tumble teaches kids both scientific facts, and does not shy away from the mistakes, false starts, and even fortunate accidents that come along with scientific progress. sciencepodcastforkids. com/podcast

LIVE FROM MOUNT OLYMPUS

This series brings to life the rivalries, adventures, and jealousies of ancient Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and mortals. Older kids dive into seasons exploring some of the most famous Greek myths in new ways by spending seasons getting to know Perseus, Persephone, and all the Olympian gods. onassis.org/initiatives/ onassis-podcasts/livefrom-mount-olympus