Summer photography fun with kids: Treasure hunt

Let’s go on a treasure hunt

Here is a new take on an old theme, a Treasure Hunt. I used to love these as a kid. So did my kids. And I am betting today’s kids will too. Now, let’s mix it up a little and bring it into the 21st Century.

Make a list of random items and then send it to the kids via texts, since most kids these days all seem to have a phone of some description and most of those phones have cameras, so let’s make this a photographic treasure hunt. This also means you don’t end up with a whole heap of junk hanging around afterward, bonus…no clean-up!

Set some boundaries

Depending on the age of the kids and where you live, how many of them there are, defines how far you may want them to roam. If you have a garden and a backyard, or a local park, they need not go far.

Add some easy things to the list to keep them enthused, and also add some more unusual or difficult items to find as well. This can get them excited for the ‘hunt’. It is up to you whether to suggest they find all of the items or that the one finding the most items wins. Perhaps even a small prize for the most creative filters and edits applied to each image.

Some examples of items for your treasure hunt list

• Ladybug or Dragonfly
• Small rock or pebble
• Cobwebs
• Pink flower
• Red flower
• Yellow flower
• Rusty nail
• Grasshopper
• Ants
• Three different leaf shapes
• The numbers 5 or 40

.mgl-tiles { display: none; } #mgl-gallery-634eca2fcf04c { margin: -5px; width: calc(100% + 10px); } #mgl-gallery-634eca2fcf04c .mgl-box { padding: 5px; } @media screen and (max-width: 768px) { #mgl-gallery-634eca2fcf04c { margin: -5px; width: calc(100% + 10px); } #mgl-gallery-634eca2fcf04c .mgl-box { padding: 5px; } } @media screen and (max-width: 460px) { #mgl-gallery-634eca2fcf04c { margin: -5px; width: calc(100% + 10px); } #mgl-gallery-634eca2fcf04c .mgl-box { padding: 5px; } }

Prize categories

I am sure you are getting the idea, once the kids collect all or as many as they can find the one who has the most wins right? Don’t forget the most creative edit, too. Kids don’t need anything fancy for a prize. A candy or chocolate bar, an extra hour of TV time, or to pick the movie on family movie night, stuff like that. It’s the joining in and the fun of the hunt that they love. You can enjoy some fun and laughter too. Instead of the bickering of bored kids, maybe, you can enjoy a little peace and quiet?

Take it to the next level?

If you really want to get creative and involved as well, you could have clues that you hide in various places to look for one item at the end or hide clues to different objects at each point. Perhaps a clue regarding the letterbox “where we get mail” and then in the letterbox place another clue to the next object, “where we keep the milk” in the fridge and so on. Make it kind of like the amazing race, just don’t make it too hard, as the kids will get frustrated and bored, likewise don’t make it too easy. Keep it age-appropriate, or perhaps have the older kids help out the younger kids. There is no limit, apart from imagination to things you can create with this one simple idea.

You can always take things a step further and create a digital collage of their images and have it as a desktop wallpaper. Or even print each kid’s collage and keep it on the fridge. This really is endless fun that you can have with the images captured.

Check out my other tips on how to get your kids involved with photography this summer!