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Fun and easy kids activities

Sticky Color Scavenger Hunt

Mar 12, 201511,959 views
Nature Play
Scavenger hunt for kids : Sticky color hunt Save
final show of our scavenger hunts for kids Save
sticking yellow for scavenger hunts Save
scavenger hunts for kids collecting material Save
collecting white roses for scavenger hunts Save
sticking orange in scavenger hunts for kids Save
green color nature bits Save
final show of all colored nature bts Save

by TurkeyMom in Nature Play

Ages2–5 yrs
Prep15 min
Activity30 min
Leveleasy
MessLow
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Tape contact paper sticky-side-up onto colored paper to make sticky color cards. Then kids hunt outdoors for flowers, petals and leaves that match each color and stick them right on the card.

⚠️ Safety first

  • Toddlers may put petals, leaves or berries in their mouths. Supervise closely and only let kids pick plants you know are safe.
  • Roses and some other plants have thorns. An adult can help with prickly stems or pick those items.
  • Ask permission before picking flowers, especially at parks or in other people's gardens.
  • Kids with pollen or plant allergies may react to handling flowers. Wash hands after the hunt.
  • Supervise kids outdoors at all times.

Before the kids arrive

  • Cut several sheets of colored construction paper in half.
  • Tape a piece of contact paper to each colored half-sheet, sticky side facing up, so you have colored sticky cards.

Steps

  1. Clip one sticky color card onto a clipboard or a thick book with a clothespin.

  2. Pick a color together.

  3. Hunt around the yard for flowers, petals and leaves that match that color.

  4. Stick each find onto the matching color card.

  5. Switch to a new card and a new color. Stick to one color at a time.

  6. Away from home? Collect nature bits in a bucket, then sort and stick them back home.

  7. Look over the finished cards together and talk about what you found.

  8. Tape the cards to the wall so you can add new treasures from hikes and walks.

Tips

  • Holding on to all the sticky cards was not that easy. Better to "stick" to one color at a time.from the author
  • No clipboard? A thick book with a clothespin works just as well.from the author
  • Instead of just collecting items, the immediate gratification of sticking and organizing seemed to have a good effect on them.from the author
  • With a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, expect to tweak the game as you go. Ours turned into running back and forth for sticky sheets and getting super excited about all the flowers, and it became a collaborative activity.from the author
  • Watch for fun surprises: my 4-year-old picked a bright green leaf and a yellow leaf from the same plant and got a kick out of it.from the author

Make it your own

  • Take the hunt to the park: collect nature bits there, then sort and stick them onto the color cards at home.
  • Hang the finished cards on the wall as a place to stick nature bits collected on future hikes and walks.
  • Add a white card (or clear contact paper on white paper) for white flowers and shells.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · March 2015
scavenger hunts preparation colored paper
For this activity, I cut several construction papers in half and used tape to secure contact paper to the colored paper. The sticky side faces you, so now you have colored sticky paper.
1 / 10

Sticky Color Scavenger Hunt: the original post

Scavenger hunts have recently become fun for my kids. These kids activities are perfect for younger kids - gets them outside, happy, moving, exploring nature and more than anything appears to be a game. Setting up scavenger hunt for kids followed naturally since hunting for things and accomplishing a task has become a favorite for my preschooler. The sense of achievement during a fun scavenger hunt for kids seem to fuel her and this has been a fairly recent development. I can’t say the same for my toddler who still much prefers to not follow directions obviously owing to her age. Ironically I had my toddler in mind when we designed this scavenger hunt. Materials

For this kids activity, I cut out several construction papers into half and used tape to secure contact paper to the colored paper. Now the sticky side of the contact paper will be facing you and you will now have colored sticky paper. That’s the only prep you need to do for this kids activity.

scavenger hunts preparation colored paper

Before ” announcing” the scavenger hunt for kids, I did a minor thing to keep the process manageable. Use a clipboard!actually a thick book with a clothespin.

scavenger hunts for kids prepare with color paper and contact paper

Since we have a 4 year old and a 2 year old I had to tweak the whole game multiple times during the play session and we ended up with the kids version- which means run back and forth to get all the sticky sheets and get super excited with all the flowers available for plucking.

My 4 year old was just as excited for this scavenger hunt as my toddler for whom this kids activity was initially planned. It soon became a collaborative kids activity.

We would pick a color and run around the house looking for same colored items.It soon became look for flowers! Instead of just collecting items on a scavenger hunt, that immediate gratification of sticking and organizing seemed to have a good effect on them.

scavenger hunts for kids collecting material

sticking yellow for scavenger hunts

After a while they tried to hang on to all the sticky cards so that they can pick any color an instantly sort them. Holding on to all the sticky cards was not that easy. Better to “stick” to one color at a time.

collecting white roses for scavenger hunts

beautiful white

Our California Poppies in all its glory.

sticking orange in scavenger hunts for kids

We even took out scavenger hunt to the local park since we had a play date right after our at-home play session. Although we didn’t do the entire scavenger hunt there we collected nature’s bits and came back and sorted and stuck them to our color cards.

backyard scavenger hunts

Our green and yellow scavenger hunt color card have one thing in common. My 4 year old picked 2 leaves from the same plant - one was bright green and one apparently is over-watered since the leaf was yellow. She got a kick out of that one!

green color nature bits

After sorting and sticking here are our colored scavenger hunts sticky sheets. I love our yellow!

final show of our scavenger hunts for kids

What did we do with our sticky treasures sheets from our scavenger hunt? The kids taped them up on the wall. The idea is to use them as a place where they would stick their nature bits they collect during our hikes and walks.

final show of all colored nature bts

Do your kids pick up stuff on your hikes and walks? I bet they do! Do you keep them? What do you do with the treasures? We have shared a few toddler friendly intentional learning ideas before

SPRING CRAFT COLOR LEARNING toddlers math activity with play dough and numbers sensory activities for toddlers

shapes for toddlers

spring crafts

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