Scavenger Hunt Generator

How to set up a present hunt

1. Tick the hiding places you have: the fridge, under a pillow, the shoe rack, the car and 40 more, grouped by room. One card per place.
2. Pick who is hunting. Ages 4–6 get a picture of the place and one short sentence, so a child who cannot read yet can still solve it. Ages 7–12 get a rhyming couplet. Teens and adults get a riddle that never names the place.
3. Print and cut. 8 cards fit on a sheet, cut along the grey lines. The last page is the hunt map: it is for you, not the hunter.
4. Hide the cards using the hunt map, from the bottom up: first the present with the “You found it!” card, then the last clue card, and so on. Hand card 1 to the hunter, and the hunt runs card to card to the gift.

How to make a find-it list

A find-it list is the other kind of scavenger hunt: no clues and no hidden present, just a page of things to spot, each with a picture and a tick box. Press Find-it list at the top of this page.

1. Pick where you are hunting: Christmas lights (from the car or on foot), a winter nature walk, indoors at home, or a party. Each list has more than 30 things, every one with its own line drawing.
2. Pick who is hunting. Ages 2–5 get the picture and one word (“Reindeer”, “Pine cone”), so a child who cannot read matches the drawing. Ages 6–9 get a short line. Older hunters get the harder finds: a house with only blue lights, a reindeer on a roof, lichen on a twig, a guest born in the same month as you.
3. Pick 8, 12, 16 or 20 things and press Shuffle until you like the set. Untick anything you will not pass, type over an item’s words, or add your own (“Grandma’s house”, “the church with the big star”). A page holds up to 24.
4. Print one page per hunter, A4 or US Letter, in the same six designs as the clue cards, two of them black and white to save ink. Type a name and it prints as “Found by Mia”; leave it empty and the page has a line to write a name on, so one printout can be copied for a whole class.

Questions

How do you do a Christmas lights scavenger hunt from the car?

Give each child their own list on a clipboard or a book, with a crayon or a felt-tip rather than a sharp pencil, and agree a route of 30 to 45 minutes before you set off: 12 things suit that length, 20 suit a long evening. The driver does not play. Most displays switch on at dusk and many go off by 10 pm, so in December the window opens early (sunset is before 4:30 pm in much of the US and before 4 pm in the UK). Drive slowly on quiet streets, stop to look rather than tick while moving, and keep the inside light off except when parked: it stops you seeing out. On foot, wear something reflective and stay on the pavement. The older list has the finds that make children stare out of the window: lights flashing in time to music, a house with only white lights, a house with no lights at all.

A nature scavenger hunt for toddlers and preschoolers

Choose Winter nature walk and Ages 2–5, and start with 8 things. Each row is a large picture and one word, so the child spots the bird or the puddle and you read the word together. Twenty to thirty minutes is plenty at that age; an unfinished list can come out again on the next walk. Two- and three-year-olds often enjoy pressing a sticker into the box more than ticking it.

How do I keep a nature walk safe?

Some items say “look, don’t eat” or “never touch” on purpose: red berries such as holly and yew are poisonous, and nobody can tell a safe wild mushroom from a deadly one by looking. Spotting counts; picking does not. Never walk on ice over a pond or a puddle deeper than a boot. Keep small children within sight and agree a meeting spot before older ones go ahead, wash hands after touching moss, bark or stones, and set off early enough to be back before dark.

An indoor scavenger hunt list for a rainy or snowy day

Indoors at home has things every house has (a spoon, a sock, a key on a key ring) and, for older hunters, ones that make them think: something older than you are, something that stands on three legs, a magnet, something with the number 7 on it. Untick anything you do not want touched, like knives or medicines, and add your own house’s oddities.

A party scavenger hunt

The party list mixes things to find (the cake, a bendy straw, a piece of confetti on the floor) with people to find (someone who writes with the left hand, the guest who came the furthest), so it also gets guests talking. For a party of mixed ages, print Ages 2–5 for the little ones and Older for the rest, give each team one sheet, and the first team to finish shows the grown-up their ticks.

How does the chain work?

Clue 1 describes the place where card 2 is hidden. Clue 2 describes where card 3 is hidden, and so on. The last clue describes where the present is. So a hunt with 7 places has 7 clue cards: card 1 is handed over and the other 6 are hidden, and the present is in the seventh place. Press New order for a different route through the same places, for example when two children each get their own hunt. The cards and the hunt map always change together.

How many clues should a scavenger hunt have?

For ages 4 to 6, 4 to 6 clues. Small children lose interest after about ten minutes, and each picture clue takes a minute or two. For ages 7 to 12, 6 to 10 clues, and a hunt that crosses two or three rooms or goes upstairs and back feels longer than it is. Teens and adults can do 10 to 15, and the harder riddles take longer each. The suggested 7 places print as one full sheet: 7 clues and the “You found it!” card.

Treasure hunt clues for home with answers

Every clue on this page has its answer on the hunt map: “Hide card 3 in: the washing machine (empty, door closed). Its answer: the bookshelf.” If a child gets stuck, read the answer of the card in their hand and give a hint (“it’s in the living room”) rather than the place. The rows have tick boxes so you can check off each card as you hide it. A missed card is the usual way a hunt breaks.

Scavenger hunt clue ideas around the house

The 48 places are grouped by room: kitchen (fridge, freezer, oven glove drawer, cutlery drawer, bread bin, cereal box), bathroom and laundry (washing machine, bath, laundry basket, the spare toilet rolls), bedroom (under a pillow, under the bed, sock drawer, slippers, teddy), living room (bookshelf, sofa cushions, curtains, a board game box), hall (shoe rack, coat pocket, doormat) and outside (the car, the bike, the wellies). Spread the chain across rooms: a hunt that goes kitchen, bedroom, kitchen, hall is more fun than four drawers in one room. The generator shuffles your places, so check the hunt map and press New order if two neighbours land side by side.

How do I hide the cards safely?

Put cards for the fridge or freezer in a sandwich bag, and only use the washing machine and dishwasher when they are empty and nobody will switch them on. Do not hide anything in the oven, near a heater or behind the TV’s cables. Tape a card under a table rather than leave it on the floor where a dog can eat it. The car and the bike are outside places: the card for them says “ask a grown-up”, and you keep the key.

Christmas scavenger hunt clues for kids

Choose Christmas morning for the holly, starry night or black and white designs, and the Christmas tree and stocking places. A hunt is a good way to give one big present that cannot sit under the tree: a bike in the garage, a dolls’ house in the wardrobe, tickets in a coat pocket. Set Where is the present hidden? to that place and the last clue leads there. The Birthday theme has confetti, balloons and black and white designs.

A Halloween scavenger hunt for kids, teens and adults

Choose Halloween for the pumpkins, moon and bats, or black and white designs. It ticks seven places, four around the house and three Halloween ones (the dress-up box, the candy bowl and the jack-o’-lantern), and the last card leads to a bag of treats. You can also tick the trick-or-treat bucket in the hall. Pick the age band by who is hunting, not by the costume. Ages 4–6 get a picture and one short line (“Look by the big orange pumpkin”). Ages 7–12 get rhyming couplets. Pick Teens & adults for a party: those riddles never name the place (“I am full at six and empty by nine”). A good pre-trick-or-treating game is 5 or 6 cards that end at the treat bucket, so it doubles as the starting whistle. For a grown-up party, hide the last card with the drinks or a prize. Put a card beside the jack-o’-lantern, never inside one with a candle or near its flame, and use a battery tea light if small children are hunting. Hide wrapped treats only: unwrapped sweets on the floor attract dogs, and chocolate is poisonous to them. If a guest has a nut allergy, check every label in the bag.

A Thanksgiving scavenger hunt for kids and adults

Choose Thanksgiving for the autumn leaves design (rust, gold and olive on cream) or the black and white one, which prints on any home printer. It ticks seven indoor places: four that only exist on the day (the napkin basket, the coat pile on the bed, the spare folding chairs and a cool, empty pie dish) plus the oven glove drawer, the bookshelf and the sofa cushions. Seven clues and the “You found it!” card fill exactly one sheet, roughly 15 to 20 minutes of hunting for ages 7 to 12: a good length while the turkey rests or the table is laid. Set it up before the guests arrive, because the coat pile only grows. Ages 4–6 get a picture and one short line (“Look under the pile of coats”), Ages 7–12 get rhyming couplets, and Teens & adults get riddles that never name the place (“Extra seats that snap open when the guest list does”), so cousins of every age can hunt in pairs. No clue sends anyone to the oven or the stove, and none should: hide nothing in the kitchen while it is busy, except the glove drawer, and keep pie dishes that are still warm out of the hunt. For an outdoor version, tick the front porch, the mailbox, the woodpile and the leaf pile under Outside & more. Tape the mailbox card underneath the box or to its post, not inside (in the US a mailbox is for mail only), weigh the leaf-pile card down with a stick, and put the woodpile card on the top log rather than in the gaps. Make the last card lead to the dessert table, a box of pie-shaped cookies, or a promise that the winner skips dish duty.

Is it free, and is anything uploaded?

It is free, with no sign-up and no watermark. The cards, the find-it lists, the PDF and the PNG are made in your own browser and nothing you type (a name, your own items) leaves this page. The clues were written for this tool, and the pictures are its own line drawings. Print at 100% (“Actual size”): A4 cards are 95 × 69 mm, Letter cards 98 × 65 mm, inside a 10 mm margin that home printers do not clip.