Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Photo Scavenger Hunt

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The very same day that we took Ethan's 4 year photos at The Dallas Arboretum, I planned a little something fun for us to do after we were done with the photos. The boys (especially Ethan) love to go on scavenger hunts at home. They will carry their buckets around and find things that I come up with off the top of my head on our walks or just in our front/back yards. Then they bring them home and spend a great deal of time looking through what they have found. 

Since I knew we couldn't just pull up flowers and tear off leaves from trees at the Arboretum, I thought a photo scavenger hunt would be a nice change of pace. And this comes right on the heels of Ethan discovering a love of taking photos with a real digital camera...my little camera I used to carry around in my purse before I got my iphone. There is much more to say about Ethan and his camera, but I will save that for another post.

I made a list and printed two copies on cardstock so it would hold up better outside. I brought a couple of crayons so the boys could mark off when they found each item. I had gotten Logan a cheap disposable film camera in case he wanted to participate, but after a couple of photos, all he wanted to do was ride in the stroller and eat snacks. That worked out just fine because he was contained and busy, and I could help Ethan with his hunt. Because he was really into it and loved every minute.

Of course I had to read the list to him (several times), but he wanted to look at it on his own too:

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What I did not expect from this activity was that Ethan would practice/learn some things. You can see the list of items below, and he had to think a little bit on some of them like the rough, prickly, shiny, and metal things. It was fun watching him figure out if a certain item fit the description.

My very serious photographer:

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Ethan kept his blue crayon in his shirt pocket and the list on his seat in the double stroller. Every time he took a photo, he would come back and mark that one off the list. Then he would ask me what was left and we'd keep going on our hunt.

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Based on how much fun Ethan had with this scavenger hunt, I know we will do it again in the future. Maybe in the fall when the temperatures are more bearable and the pumpkins are out!

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Below is the list of items on our hunt. This document is available for download if you want to use it for a scavenger hunt of your own. You can download it by clicking on the photo or visiting the printables page

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And here are Ethan's photos (unedited) of his found items. I thought he did a great job!:

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6 comments:

Lindsay said...

Great idea!!!! Love it. Very sweet.

Unknown said...

My kids would love this! Thanks for sharing.

Nancy said...

A great activity for observation, vocabulary, shapes, and even organization. Ethan's photography skills are wonderful. Nice job!

Emily Cade said...

Such an amazing idea, Rachel!!! I even "pinned" it!!!

Christina said...

OK - that's just genius! I will have to try this with Ashton for sure...once I get me a point and shoot, haha!

Mary said...

We do this when we hike with the boys, but they collect items. Keeps them entertained when they would normally be bored enough we would have to carry them!