Colour Scavenger Hunt

The first hunt to run with any group, in any country, at any time of year. It needs nothing and it fails for nobody.

The hunt

Print it, write it on a scrap of paper, or just read it out. It works either way.

1. Something red

2. Something yellow

3. Something green that is not a leaf

4. Something brown

5. Something white

6. Something black or very dark

7. Something with two colours on it

8. The most unusual colour you can find

How to run it

Give twenty minutes and a container. A basket, a paper bag, an egg box, or cupped hands. Set a boundary and walk it before you start.

Item three is the one that does the work. Green that is not a leaf forces a child to look past the obvious, and it is where the real searching starts.

For younger children

Drop to four colours and let them point rather than collect. Two year olds can do this if an adult carries the basket.

For older children

Add the rule that nothing may be picked if it is still growing. Everything must be found on the ground. That single constraint turns a collecting exercise into an observation one.

What to do afterwards

Lay everything out and sort it a second way. By size, by texture, by where it was found. The second sort is worth more than the first, because it makes a child notice that the same objects can be organised more than one way.

More like this

Every hunt on this site is free and needs no preparation. See the Start Here pages if you want them ordered by age.