Children & Adult Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Here are some children and adult scavenger hunt ideas for parties for all ages. Whether for children or adults, scavenger hunts have common ideas: They involve searching for something (clues or items on a list), and teams ultimately succeed by either finding the prize or making it to the end before another team or individual does. 

Kids love to look for clues. For preschoolers, a hide-and-seek type scavenger hunt party will get them running around having fun. Just give the whole party group a challenge to find certain items hidden around the room, and, when they are all found, all the children get a prize. For young children, competition is stressful, and cooperative games are more rewarding.

For elementary age readers, a scavenger hunt party could include searching in teams for a sequence of clues until the final prize is found. The team that finds the prize first wins. The clues lead to each other in sequence, and they can be riddles, poems or puzzles that need to be solved in order to get to the place for the next clue.

Teens might enjoy a Polaroid scavenger hunt. This could also be done with a digital camera, or picture-taking cell phone, but have each team bring their own in this case. Each team is given a list of items that they need to find or arrange and take a picture of themselves with the item. In a shopping mall, this could include having a member try on a piece of clothing intended for the opposite sex and taking a picture of it, finding the strangest hat and taking a picture of a team member wearing it, getting a picture of a salesperson giving a hug to a team member and other silly scenarios. Otherwise, it could involve tasks such as getting people to pose with selected people or in specific locations, always getting a picture to prove it happened. Teen scavenger hunts can take place over a number of hours, or even days.

Adult scavenger hunt parties could be done as ice breakers at a party. In a few minutes, teams have to come up with items on a list, such as a purple shade of lipstick, blue socks, a sewing kit or pictures of grandkids. The team that has the most items after 15 minutes wins the prize.

Alternately, adult scavenger hunt parties could involve teams of four having a list of items to procure from various locations: A matchbook from an expensive restaurant, an energy drink, a new toy in a package, a religious object for the car and other random items that will have them driving around to each other's houses, stores, restaurants or city locations to find. With gas prices high, you may need to modify the scavenger hunt so it works for public transportation. The team that completes the list and arrives first at the final destination wins.