50 Nature Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Parks, Trails and Backyards
Updated September 8, 2026 6 min read
A nature scavenger hunt turns a walk into a search. It works for a class field trip, a family hike, a scout troop or a birthday in the park. The rule that makes it work: photograph, never pick. Everything stays where you found it.
The lists are split by what you find, by season, and by sense, so you can run the same hunt four ways.
Run this list as a live hunt
One click loads every clue below into the hunt builder. Edit what you like, share one link, and every team competes on a real-time leaderboard. Free for up to 20 players.
Things to find (any season)
- 1.Photo: a leaf bigger than your hand
- 2.Photo: a feather
- 3.Photo: an animal track in mud, sand or snow
- 4.Photo: a tree with a hole in it
- 5.Photo: moss on the north side of a tree
- 6.Photo: a spider web with the spider home
- 7.Photo: three different kinds of seeds
- 8.Photo: a rock with more than one color
- 9.Photo: water moving
- 10.Photo: something that an animal ate
- 11.Photo: a plant growing somewhere it should not
- 12.Photo: a Y-shaped stick
- 13.Photo: a bird's nest (do not approach)
- 14.Photo: a fungus
- 15.Photo: an insect that is not an ant
Spring and summer
- 1.Photo: a flower with a bee on it
- 2.Photo: a butterfly
- 3.Photo: a tadpole, frog or toad
- 4.Photo: a plant that smells like something in your kitchen
- 5.Photo: a berry (do not eat)
- 6.Photo: the shade of the biggest tree you can find, with the whole team in it
- 7.Video: 10 seconds of birdsong with the bird in frame
- 8.Photo: a dragonfly
Fall and winter
- 1.Photo: leaves in three different colors on one branch
- 2.Photo: an acorn or pinecone
- 3.Photo: your breath in the air
- 4.Photo: ice on something that is not water
- 5.Photo: a tree that has lost all its leaves next to one that has not
- 6.Photo: an animal track in snow
- 7.Photo: something green in winter
- 8.Photo: frost on a leaf or blade of grass
Use your senses
- 1.Text: sit still for one minute and list every sound you hear
- 2.Text: describe a smell you found and where
- 3.Photo: something rough and something smooth side by side
- 4.Text: count how many different bird calls you can hear from one spot
- 5.Photo: the brightest color you can find in nature today
- 6.Text: what does the bark of the biggest tree feel like? Three words
- 7.Photo: something that would be invisible if you did not look closely
- 8.Text: how many colors of green can you count from one spot?
Team challenges
- 1.Photo: build a small cairn of five stones (then take it apart)
- 2.Photo: the team arranged from tallest to shortest, next to a tree
- 3.Photo: a piece of litter you picked up (this is the one thing you can take)
- 4.GPS: check in at the trailhead at the end
- 5.Photo: a team member hugging a tree wider than their arms
- 6.Video: 10 seconds of silence, everyone still, in the most beautiful spot you found
- 7.Text: give the trail a new name and explain it in one sentence
- 8.Photo: the whole team pointing at the same cloud
- 9.Photo: a sketch of something you saw, drawn by the youngest team member
- 10.Photo: the group at the highest point of the walk
- 11.Text: the team's estimate of how far you walked. Closest wins
Tips for running it
- •Post the leave-no-trace rule as clue number one and make it worth points to acknowledge.
- •GPS check-ins at the trailhead and the turnaround point keep groups on the route.
- •For classrooms, the "use your senses" section doubles as a science journal entry.