Printable Summer Scavenger Hunt

Last Updated on June 10, 2025

This printable summer scavenger hunt is a fun way to keep the kids occupied for an afternoon during summer break.

This list is full of items easily found in most neighborhoods so the kids can gather their neighborhood friends and go on the hunt. It will be nice for them to enjoy the fresh air and get some exercise while having fun.

If you have older kids, they would enjoy this teen scavenger hunt or mall scavenger hunt. It gives them something to do with their friends while they’re hanging out.

Jump to:

• How to Plan a Scavenger Hunt
• Creative Ways to Use the Summer Scavenger Hunt
• Mom Life - Made Easier
• Equipment Needed / Helpful Tools for Printables
• Download the Printable Summer Scavenger Hunt
• Printable FAQs
• Additional Summer Fun Ideas

How to Plan a Scavenger Hunt

It’s a good idea to plan the scavenger hunt if you’re going to have a group hunt, rather than just letting the kids loose in your backyard (which is perfectly fine if that’s what you want to do), because you want to make sure the kids have fun, stay safe and have a successful hunt. Here are some ways to make sure that happens:

• Get your kids involved in deciding how many friends they want to include in the hunt or plan it with some other moms as a fun surprise activity for your kids.
• It’s a good idea to have the hunt in a designated area that you’re familiar with. A park, someone’s backyard and a neighborhood are all places that would work.
• Decide how long the hunt should last. This depends on the age of the kids (younger kids would be less time and older kids could be more) and how easy/difficult it will be to find the items, but it could be an hour or a few hours.
• Make sure everyone will be safe at the event. By choosing a familiar area (as mentioned above) and having enough adults on hand to help watch the kids, that will help keep everyone safe. Also, tailor the event to the different age ranges of the kids and separate them if needed so the younger ones can run around searching without being run over by the older kids searching.
• You’ll need to figure out what you need for the hunt-make sure you have enough of these printable hunts for everyone in your group and then figure out if you’ll be able to find all of the items at the area you choose to have it at or if you’ll need to “plant” some of the items there ahead of time. If you’re going to use any of the Creative Ways ideas below, make sure you have what you need for that, and you should probably have food and drinks available to keep everyone cool, hydrated and with enough energy to participate.

Creative Ways to Use the Summer Scavenger Hunt

The summer scavenger hunt is easy to use. Your kids just need to head outside and search for the items on the list. Then, they check off each item as they find them.

However, if you want to get more mileage out of the scavenger hunt by changing up the game or if you’re planning it for a large group (as mentioned above in the How to Plan section), here are some fun variations:

Photo Hunt

Arm the kids with an inexpensive instant print cameras made for kids so they can take a picture of each item as they find it. If there are several kids doing the hunt together, have one of the kids be the designated photographer for their group.

Or, make it a family event and do the hunt with them. You can be the official photographer and take their picture with/next to each item.

Make it a Contest

Give each person or team their own list and have them compete to see who/what team can find the most items in a set time period. The winner gets a prize and everyone enjoys ice cream or popsicles after the game.

Group Activity

If you don’t want to have players compete against one another, you can instead create tiered prizes. This is especially fun if you do the scavenger hunt together as a family.

• Find 1-10 items, have watermelon as a treat.
• Find 11-20 items, catch fireflies after dark.
• Find 21-30 items, have a water balloon fight.
• Find all 33 items, go to the pool or water park on the weekend.

Obviously, you can make the prizes whatever you want. These are just a few suggestions to give you some ideas.

Equipment Needed / Helpful Tools for Printables

Printer: This one is a great budget printer. If you're willing to spend just a little more though, this is a better option. And if you're looking for an all-in-one home office machine, this one does it all, has high reviews and includes 2 years of ink.

Ink cartridges: Speaking of ink, this is where the cost of using printables can really add up! To save BIG on ink, buy it from CompAndSave.com. It’s substantially cheaper than anywhere else and they carry ink for all major printer brands and models.

Printer paper or cardstock: If you're printing for one-time, quick use, print on regular printer paper. If you need the printout to hold up to being handled often or if you plan to laminate it to use it multiple times, choose cardstock.

Laminator: Laminating your printable is an inexpensive way to use it multiple times. Just use dry erase markers and wipe off when you're done so you can use it again!  Alternately, you can cover the printable with clear contact paper to achieve the same thing or place the printable in clear page protectors.

Binder or Folder: If you’re using page protectors for your printables, binders are such an easy way to keep them together and organized. I love this colorful set. If you prefer to stick with standard white though, this set is highly rated and very affordable. And if you need larger binders, this set is terrific. If you go with folders, I like these.

Storage boxes: I like to keep a collection of coloring pages and activity sheets for kids in these plastic storage boxes that I pull out whenever I need to keep kids occupied.

Hole punch: If you don’t use page protectors but want to use binders to organize your printables, a hole puncher will be your best friend. This is the one you want if you’ll be punching holes in several pages at a time and want to do so easily. And this bargain option is ideal if you don’t mind limiting your hole punching to 2-3 pages at a time.

Clipboard: I love this clipboard for on-the-go with the kids. It has built in storage for both printables and markers or pencils.

Download the Printable Summer Scavenger Hunt

Now that you have some ideas of how to have fun with the scavenger hunt, here it is. Just fill in the form below the image for immediate access.

Printable FAQs

Additional Summer Fun Ideas

Keep the summer fun going strong for you and your family with these other free ideas, recipes and printables.

• 100 Things to do This Summer: Beat boredom this summer with our ultimate 100 Things To Do This Summer printable! From fun family adventures to creative ideas, this list will keep everyone entertained.
• What to do in Summer Family Fun Kit: Need ideas to keep the whole family happy this summer? Download this fun-packed Family Fun Kit! Includes creative indoor and outdoor activities and memory-making ideas the whole family will love!
• 30 Ways to Make Summer Fun for Kids (Without Breaking the Bank): Looking for cheap and creative summer fun for kids? This list has 30 screen-free activities to keep your little ones active, engaged, and smiling all season.
• Deviled Egg Pasta Salad: This Deviled Egg Pasta Salad combines deviled eggs with tender pasta for a tangy, crowd-pleasing twist. It's simple to make and packed with flavor.
• Starbucks Dragonfruit Refresher: Recreate the famous Starbucks Dragonfruit Refresher at home using only five ingredients! Make it at home for just a fraction of the price.
• Butterbeer Ice Cream: This Butterbeer Ice Cream is a rich and creamy, no churn ice cream, infused with the flavors of butterscotch and caramel.