Treasure Hunt

Treasure hunts are one of my favorite kid memories. I can't say I went on many planned treasure hunts, but I do recall many many hours of hunting in the backyard and neighborhood for some kind of unique find.

I was trying to think of a fun activity to get the kids outside a bit more in these last days before school starts. The good old treasure hunt came to mind and I wanted to share with you a couple of ideas you might want to use with your own kids in the waning days of summer.

For the younger kids: Give them a list of finds and tell them to go out in the backyard to find their treasures. When they have completed the list offer a little reward. Here are some simple treasures most everyone has in their backyards.
1. needle from a pine tree
2. pedal from a flower
3. a small rock
4. the longest piece of grass they can find
5. a bug
6. a piece of mulch
7. a toy they left out
8. something that a bug might eat

and some ideas that take a bit more work but are well worth it
9. 10 plastic easter eggs filled with little trinkets around the house
(this is great for more than just Easter!)
10. bury a few little trinkets (army men, marbles or some such thing)
and put little toothpicks with flags on top of them

For the bigger kids the ideas get a little more sophisticated and the backyard then becomes the entire neighborhood (or a nearby park). They might need to refer to an encyclopedia or the internet to find some of these.:
1. pedal from a black eyed susan flower
2. leaf from an oak tree
3. a part of a coniferous tree
4. a worm
5. a pill bug
6. a seed or a seed pod
7. moss
8. a piece of litter

and these require a little more work on your part:
9. bury a few treasures in the garden with a rock or toothpick on top
10. hand your child a camera and add these to the list.. a picture of.... a birds
nest, an animal with 4 legs, a frog or toad, animal tracks