A photo scavenger hunt is a fun activity for kids of all ages. Keep it general or ask your child to choose a specific theme or location. No matter what, the ideas for a photo scavenger hunt are endless!

Plus, there are so many extensions that’ll add a dash of learning and make an even fuller project out of the fun.

In this guide, find photo scavenger hunt ideas and connected activities to get started!

How to Do a Photo Scavenger Hunt

The beauty of a picture scavenger hunt is that just about everyone has at least 1 smartphone or tablet that takes photos. Combine this with tech-savvy kids and you have a recipe for an instant activity with no additional training required.

Materials Needed:

1. A camera – This could be a smartphone, tablet, traditional camera, or something like the Fuji Instax Mini or the Polaroid Snap Instant that prints the photos as they are taken.

2. A photo scavenger hunt list for each person or team

3. Pencil – Players can check off the items they’ve photographed.

4. Timer – This is not appropriate for all ages but could be used to add excitement.

Photo Scavenger Hunt Tips for Success

• Safety comes first. If need be, set boundaries for where the hunt can take place. Avoid busy traffic areas. In the excitement, kids can forget to look both ways before crossing.
• Talk about any important rules. If indoors, are there places that are off-limits? If outdoors, remind kids to stay in public areas and only go into a neighbor’s yard with permission.
• Dress appropriately. I’ll spare you my story about the time I was geocaching with my niece and nephews and we discovered a motherload of ticks! Just remember bug spray, sunscreen, or even long pants and long sleeves if necessary.
• Discuss any photo scavenger hunt rules before starting. If you’re using a timer or keeping score, make sure everyone understands to avoid hurt feelings later.
• Mixed-age teams work best. For larger family groups, it’s best to mix it up and have old and young together.

Now that you’re ready, all that’s left to do is to choose from the picture scavenger hunt ideas below. At the bottom, you’ll find details about how to print all the scavenger photo hunt lists.

Indoor Scavenger Hunt

Outside Scavenger Hunt

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

Beach Scavenger Hunt

Fall Scavenger Hunt

Winter Scavenger Hunt

How to Extend a Photo Scavenger Hunt

A photography scavenger hunt makes for a fun activity. But it’s also easy to extend it into a project depending on your child’s interests.

Here are a few ideas to get you started!

• Art: Print out the photos taken during the scavenger hunt and make a collage or use them in other crafts like greeting cards or wall art.
• Technology: Use digital photos to build computer literacy. Your child can create a slideshow or use an app like Strip Designer to turn their photos into comic books.
• Literacy: Printed photos can be used as the images in a child-made book. It can be kept as a wordless picture book and talked through by pre-readers.
  • Emergent writers and readers could add a sentence to each page of their book to tell about the photo and then read it to themself and others. This is great to practice phonetic (sound) spelling and recall of common words using a Language Experience Approach. Children will decode their own book no matter their reading level because they wrote the words and have the prior knowledge that came from taking the photos. If your child isn’t ready to write, scribe the sentence as they say it. Then, the book can be used for decoding practice.
• STEM: Sort the photos based on characteristics and categories your child observes and decides. Sorting is an important STEM skill to develop because it relates to patterns and understanding the relationships between different things.

Print these Scavenger Hunt Lists!