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110 New Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas, Tips & Lists

Organising a photo scavenger hunt is a great way to encourage active engagement and participation to promote social interaction. They're also a lot of fun.

Learn | Uncategorized | By Jeff Collier

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You’re about to discover all the latest photo scavenger hunt ideas of the year.

Many moons ago, I was in charge of organising regular scavenger hunts at work.

Now with the advent of camera phones, photo scavenger hunts are a popular way to encourage exploration, creativity, and social interaction.

(There are even such things as ‘virtual scavenger hunts’ too!)

In this guide, I’ll introduce you to all the photo scavenger hunt ideas and tips I came across during my research.

I’ve also created a photo scavenger hunt list for you to download and print.

Table of Contents

42 Unique Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas & Challenges

a woman taking a picture of herself with her cell phone.

  • Nature’s Beauty: Explore a local park and capture stunning photos of blooming flowers or vibrant plants in their natural surroundings.
  • Color Explosion: Seek out colorful objects in your environment and capture a series of photos showcasing a variety of vibrant hues.
  • Team Building Challenge: Engage your team in a fun activity by recreating the iconic Rocky Balboa victory impression, capturing the energy and camaraderie of the moment.
  • Birthday Bash: Attend a lively birthday party and document the festive atmosphere, capturing candid moments of celebration and the joyous cake-cutting ceremony.
  • City Landmarks: Embark on a photo adventure in your city, photographing its iconic landmarks and architectural marvels that define its unique character.
  • Reflections: Discover reflective surfaces that add a touch of artistry to your photos, capturing intriguing distortions or mirror-like reflections.
  • Animal Encounter: Take a walk on the wild side and photograph animals in their natural habitats, capturing their beauty and unique behaviors.
  • Outdoor Adventure: Capture your team’s adventurous spirit by documenting exciting outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking, or rock climbing.
  • Hidden Gems: Seek out lesser-known spots on your college campus and capture photos that showcase their hidden beauty and charm.
  • Sports Spirit: Immerse yourself in the world of sports and capture the dynamic energy and passion of athletes in action.
  • Artistic Impressions: Visit an art gallery or museum and capture photos of your favorite artworks, using your creativity to add your own unique photography perspective .
  • Water Wonders: Head to a nearby body of water and capture photos that showcase its serene beauty or dynamic movements.
  • Funny Faces: Approach strangers and ask them to make funny faces, capturing their unique expressions and moments of laughter.
  • Team Spirit: Photograph your entire team wearing matching outfits or accessories, showcasing your unity and team spirit.
  • Historical Finds: Explore your local area and photograph historical monuments, buildings, or artifacts that hold significance in your community’s heritage.
  • Puzzle Pieces: Capture close-up photos of textures or patterns that others have to guess, using creative clues to enhance the challenge.
  • Miniature World: Use perspective and composition to create photos that make regular-sized objects appear tiny, immersing viewers in a magical miniature world.
  • Graffiti Art: Seek out vibrant and captivating street art in your city and capture photos that highlight the creativity and messages conveyed.
  • Silhouette Magic: Take advantage of the golden hours of sunrise or sunset and capture striking silhouettes against the dramatic sky.
  • Double Exposure: Experiment with double exposure techniques, overlaying two different images to create unique and artistic compositions.
  • Symmetry: Find symmetrical objects or scenes and capture them from perfectly centered perspectives, creating visually pleasing and balanced photos.
  • In the Shadows: Explore the interplay of light and shadow, capturing intriguing photos that emphasize the contrast and mood created by different lighting conditions.
  • Seasonal Delights: Capture the essence of each season through photos that evoke the unique characteristics and beauty associated with them.
  • Funny Signs: Discover humorous or quirky signs in your neighborhood and capture photos that highlight their amusing or clever messages.
  • Abstract Exploration: Get creative and photograph abstract patterns, textures, or shapes that catch your eye, encouraging viewers to interpret and appreciate the artistry in everyday objects.
  • Urban Exploration: Embark on an urban scavenger hunt, capturing the hidden gems, bustling streets, and interesting architecture of the city.
  • Nature’s Textures: Focus on the intricate details and textures found in nature, photographing leaves, bark, or rocks up close to reveal their unique patterns.
  • Candid Moments: Capture genuine and spontaneous moments by observing people in public spaces, documenting their emotions, interactions, and expressions.
  • Nighttime Magic: Embrace the mystery and beauty of the night by photographing city lights, starry skies, or creative light painting techniques.
  • Road Trip Memories: Document your road trip adventures by capturing photos that depict the journey, roadside attractions, and memorable landscapes.
  • Macro Marvels: Explore the miniature world through macro photography , capturing the intricate details of small objects or insects up close.
  • Urban Reflections: Photograph the reflections of cityscapes or architecture in glass windows, puddles, or shiny surfaces, creating visually captivating compositions.
  • Dynamic Motion: Experiment with capturing motion , such as flowing water, moving vehicles, or people in action, freezing or blurring the movement to convey a sense of energy.
  • Famous Landmarks: Capture iconic landmarks from creative perspectives, offering a fresh take on well-known tourist spots.
  • Textures of Life: Seek out interesting textures in everyday objects or surfaces and capture close-up photos that reveal their tactile qualities.
  • Nature’s Playground: Explore a local park and capture photos of people engaging in recreational activities, highlighting the joy and vitality of outdoor play.
  • Human Connections: Photograph candid moments that depict human connections, interactions, or emotions, conveying the power of human relationships.
  • Architectural Marvels: Explore the architectural wonders of your city, capturing the intricate details, shapes, and lines of buildings and structures.
  • Art in Nature: Find examples of art or sculptures in natural settings, capturing the juxtaposition of man-made creations against the backdrop of the great outdoors.
  • Minimalism: Embrace the beauty of simplicity by capturing minimalistic photos that focus on clean lines, empty spaces, and a sense of tranquility.
  • Street Portraits: Engage with strangers on the street and capture their portraits, showcasing the diversity and individuality of people in your community.
  • Abandoned Beauty: Seek out abandoned buildings or forgotten places and capture photos that evoke a sense of mystery, decay, or haunting beauty.
  • Photo Walks: Get out of your comfort zone by researching your local Facebook groups and organise a photo walk of a neighbourhood or nearby location.

Remember to adapt and customize these ideas and challenges based on your location, preferences, and the overall theme or purpose of your photo scavenger hunt.

13 Tips for a Successful Photo Scavenger Hunt

Here are my top tips to help you have a successful photo scavenger hunt:

  • Plan Ahead: Plan the scavenger hunt in advance, including the location, duration, and specific objectives or themes for participants to capture in their photos.
  • Define Clear Objectives: Clearly communicate the goals and expectations of the scavenger hunt to all participants, ensuring they understand what types of photos they need to capture.
  • Create an Engaging List: Develop a diverse and creative list of items, themes, or challenges for participants to photograph. Include a mix of easy and challenging tasks to keep the scavenger hunt exciting.
  • Set Time Limits: Establish time limits for participants to complete the scavenger hunt. This adds a sense of urgency and keeps the event moving at a lively pace.
  • Encourage Creativity: Encourage participants to think outside the box and be creative with their photo compositions, angles, and perspectives. This allows for unique interpretations and artistic expressions.
  • Promote Collaboration: Consider organizing the scavenger hunt in teams, promoting collaboration and teamwork among participants. This fosters a sense of camaraderie and enhances the overall experience.
  • Provide Photo Sharing Opportunities: Set up an online photo-sharing site or designated space for participants to share their photos after the scavenger hunt. This allows for discussion, feedback, and appreciation of everyone’s creative work. Some phone apps allow you to do this for free.
  • Offer Prizes or Recognition: Consider offering prizes or recognition for participants who successfully complete specific challenges or showcase exceptional creativity. This adds an element of competition and motivation.
  • Ensure Safety: Prioritize the safety of participants during the scavenger hunt. If the event takes place outdoors or in public spaces, provide guidelines to ensure adherence to local regulations and safety measures.
  • Promote Fun and Enjoyment: Remember that the primary goal of a photo scavenger hunt is to have fun and enjoy the experience. Encourage participants to embrace the process, explore their surroundings, and create lasting memories through their photos.
  • Provide Photo Editing Tips: If participants are allowed to edit their photos, offer some basic editing tips and techniques to enhance their images. This can include suggestions on adjusting brightness, contrast, cropping, or applying filters.
  • Share Inspirational Examples: Share some inspiring and creative photography ideas  to spark participants’ creativity and encourage them to think outside the box.
  • Document and Share the Experience: Take photos or videos during the scavenger hunt to document the event. This allows participants to relive the experience and serves as a memory keepsake.

Specific Examples of Photo Scavenger Hunt Challenges

Taking a few of the examples of the photo scavenger hunts above, here are specific ways you can execute them:

15 Team Building Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas

The primary goal of a Team Building Scavenger Hunt is to foster collaboration, communication, and teamwork among the participants.

  • Take a group photo with each team member forming a human pyramid.
  • Find an outdoor location on campus and capture a photo of your team members spelling out the word “UNITY” using only your bodies.
  • Locate a specific landmark and take a selfie with the entire team forming a human chain around it.
  • Find a stranger and have them take a photo of your team members jumping in the air simultaneously.
  • Take a group photo with each team member wearing a creative hat made out of natural materials found on the campus.
  • Locate a hidden spot on campus and capture a photo of your team members working together to solve a puzzle or riddle.
  • Find a reflective surface (e.g., a pond, window, or mirror) and take a photo of your team’s reflection with each member striking a unique pose.
  • Identify a specific tree on campus and have your team members gather around it, holding hands and forming a circle.
  • Locate a set of stairs or steps and capture a photo of your team members climbing them in a synchronized manner.
  • Find a spot with a scenic view and take a panoramic photo of your team members with their arms raised in celebration.
  • Take a photo of your team members building the tallest tower they can construct using only items found in nature.
  • Locate a sports field or court and capture a photo of your team members forming a human pyramid with a sports ball balanced on top.
  • Find a unique sculpture or art installation and take a photo of your team members imitating the poses or shapes depicted.
  • Take a group photo with each team member holding a sign or banner expressing a positive team motto or message.
  • Find a designated meeting spot on campus and capture a photo of your team members forming a circle, holding hands, and smiling.

15 Virtual Scavenger Hunt Ideas

The primary goal of a virtual scavenger hunt is to engage participants in a fun and interactive activity that promotes teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, and social interaction in a virtual or online environment.

  • Find an item in your house that represents your favorite hobby and show it to the camera.
  • Locate a book with a specific word in the title and show the cover to the camera.
  • Take a screenshot of a website that provides free online courses.
  • Find a picture of yourself from a previous vacation and share it in the virtual scavenger hunt chat.
  • Locate an object that starts with the letter “B” and show it to the camera.
  • Take a selfie wearing a hat or a funny accessory.
  • Find a green-colored item in your living room and hold it up to the camera.
  • Capture a screenshot of a positive message or quote shared by someone in the virtual scavenger hunt chat.
  • Find an item that represents a personal goal you want to achieve and share it with the group.
  • Take a photo of your favorite snack and share it in the virtual scavenger hunt chat.
  • Find a musical instrument or something that can be used as an improvised instrument and play a short tune.
  • Take a screenshot of a funny GIF or meme and share it in the virtual scavenger hunt chat.
  • Find an item with sentimental value and share the story behind it with the group.
  • Capture a screenshot of a famous landmark from around the world and try to guess its location.
  • Find an object in your kitchen that you have never used before and show it to the camera

15 College Campus Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas

The goal of College Campus Photo Scavenger Hunts is to encourage exploration, engagement, and connection with various aspects of the campus community, landmarks, and activities through creative and fun photo challenges .

  • Grab a photo of five people wearing school colors.
  • Snap a shot of you and a stranger outside the main dining area by the freshman residence hall.
  • Take a photo with the school mascot.
  • Take your best action shot of an epic frisbee grab on the quad with one or two friends.
  • Find the only place on campus where you can buy a Spanish 101 textbook and grab a photo with the book in the store.
  • Find a unique campus landmark and take a selfie with it in the background.
  • Locate a hidden mural on campus and capture a photo with one team member imitating a pose from the artwork.
  • Snap a picture of your team members striking a pose in front of the library’s iconic staircase.
  • Find a professor’s office and take a group photo with a team member pretending to be the professor.
  • Locate a specific tree on campus rumored to grant good luck and take a photo of your team members touching it.
  • Find a vending machine that dispenses the most unusual snack and capture a photo of your team with the snack in hand.
  • Take a photo of your team spelling out the college’s initials using only your bodies.
  • Locate a piece of campus art or sculpture and take a photo of your team recreating the pose or shape of the artwork.
  • Find a bulletin board and take a photo with each team member pointing to a different event or club poster.
  • Snap a shot of your team members holding a copy of the campus newspaper with the headline clearly visible.

10 Conference and Trade Show Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas

The goal of Conference and Trade Show Photo Scavenger Hunts is to promote attendee interaction, networking, and engagement with exhibitors, speakers, and key elements of the event while fostering a sense of fun and exploration.

  • Capture the Keynote: Take a photo with the main keynote speaker in the background.
  • Exhibit Extravaganza: Take a photo with the most innovative product or booth display.
  • Networking Ninja: Take a photo with at least three different business cards from exhibitors or attendees.
  • Learning in Action: Take a photo attending a workshop or session and share a key takeaway.
  • Team Spirit: Take a photo with your entire team wearing conference-branded merchandise.
  • Influencer Encounter: Take a photo with a well-known industry influencer or thought leader.
  • Tech Showcase: Take a photo with the latest technology or gadget on display.
  • Booth Bonanza: Take a photo at a booth where you learned something new and capture the product or service being showcased.
  • Social Media Snapshot: Take a photo with a social media post or hashtag displayed on a screen or poster.
  • Behind the Scenes: Take a photo with the event organizers or staff members.
  • Fun with Swag: Take a photo showcasing the most unique or interesting piece of conference swag.
  • Networking Powerhouse: Take a photo with a new connection you made during the event.
  • Session Selfie: Take a selfie with a speaker or presenter during their session.
  • Venue Vista: Take a photo with a notable feature or landmark of the conference venue.
  • Collaboration Celebration: Take a photo with a team from a different organization, fostering collaboration.

Downloadable Photo Scavenger Hunt List

a picture of a team building photo scavenger hunt.

Free scavenger hunt PDF.

Tap the image above to get a printable version of all the photo scavenger hunt ideas.

Print one off for each member of your picture scavenger hunt so they can check off each photo challenge as they complete tasks.

Give out bonus points for completing every single one of the fun activities.

Summary of Key Benefits of a Photo Scavenger Hunt

If you don’t already know, organising a photo scavenger hunt can be a lot of fun.

Aside from having a great time, though, here are some more benefits of scavenger hunts for your team:

  • Encourages active engagement and participation. 💪📸
  • Promotes networking and social interaction. 🤝😄
  • Fosters creativity and problem-solving skills. 🎨🧩
  • Enhances exploration of the event or venue. 🚶‍♀️🔍
  • Provides memorable and shareable experiences. 📷🌟
  • Creates a sense of fun and excitement. 🎉😃
  • Boosts attendee involvement and satisfaction. 👥🙌
  • Builds connections with exhibitors and speakers. 🤝💼
  • Increases brand awareness and visibility. 📣👁️
  • Generates user-generated content for social media. 📲📸
  • Facilitates team building and collaboration. 🤝👥
  • Highlights key elements and highlights of the event. 📌✨
  • Improves attendee retention and knowledge retention. 🧠🔐
  • Offers a unique and interactive way to learn and discover. 🎯🔍
  • Adds an element of competition and friendly rivalry among participants. 🏆🤼‍♀️

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Jeff Collier is an experienced film photographer who enjoys experimenting with modern digital photography equipment, software and apps. He’s also an ex-world champion triathlete and avid cyclist, clocking hundreds of km each week in the beautiful Tweed Valley of northern NSW, Australia.

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The Ultimate Photo Scavenger Hunt Guide

If you’re looking for creative ways to spend some quality time with friends and loved ones, these photo scavenger hunt ideas should come in handy.

travel photo scavenger hunt

It’s no secret that we love a good scavenger hunt. In fact, we love adventures of all kinds, especially if they involve preserving memories with photos. Combining all three of those things—a hunt, adventure, and photos—is like finding the Holy Grail! If you’re looking for creative ways to spend some quality time with friends or are simply in need of a boredom buster, these fun photo scavenger hunt ideas should come in handy.

City Scavenger Hunts from Let’s Roam

If you like to see interesting sights and make memories, you really need to try one of our scavenger hunts! Available in hundreds of cities, our activities will have you exploring landmarks, appreciating street art, hunting ghosts, or hitting pubs across the globe. There are options for friends, couples, and families, and they include roles for each participant, tricky trivia, and awesome photo opportunities. Download our scavenger hunt app and find your adventure today!

What is a Photo Scavenger Hunt?

Quite simply, a photo scavenger hunt is a competition that challenges participants to hunt for items or complete tasks and show photographic proof. They’re fun games for individuals, couples, and groups, and can be done in just about any setting. Whether you compete for bragging rights or rewards, scavenger hunts that involve picture taking are a wonderful way to spend a day or evening with your favorite people!

Years ago, the only way to show evidence of completed tasks was by using Polaroid cameras, but now that just about everyone has a device that takes digital photos, it’s far easier to snap pics as you check items off a photo scavenger hunt list. Advancements in technology have certainly helped make these hunts more accessible, popular, and entertaining!

Types of Photo Scavenger Hunt s

A picture scavenger hunt can be held in-person, virtually, or could be a combination of the two. On an in-person hunt, participants are all meeting up in person to complete tasks in the same vicinity, even if their task lists differ.

Alternatively, virtual hunts allow hunters to compete with people in completely different locations and send photos to a central app or device. Individuals or teams might need to find 20 of the same 20 items in their own unique environments.

A hybrid hunt is very similar to a virtual hunt but allows for both face-to-face interactions and virtual competition. For example, you might have in-person teams competing with other groups in different locations. There is more of an expectation of some in-person interaction on a hybrid photo scavenger hunt.

Photo Scavenger Hunt Challenges

The key to a successful photo scavenger hunt is to make fun activities result in fantastic photos. Pictures can be selfies, group pictures, or photos of objects or scenery. You can require certain poses or just allow people to submit any types of pics, as long as they show that tasks have been completed.

Each activity should offer a way for participants to explore an area, learn something new, or get to know each other better. When it comes to challenges, the more interactive and off the wall they are, the better the experience tends to be!

Photo Scavenger Hunt Clues

When designing a scavenger hunt, the list of items to find or actions to complete is often presented in the form of “clues.” These clues can be distributed on paper, in a file, or delivered by an app that everyone can access.

Delivery can be very straightforward or make people think a bit. For example, if you want participants to take a photo of a big town clock with chimes that ring every day at noon, you might say, “find something that lets everyone in town know when it’s lunchtime.”

If you want to get even more creative, clues can be presented as riddles , rhymes, or pictures. You can use a DIY list or try finding one online. There are many available, and some free printable photo scavenger hunt lists can be edited.

Ideally, if you’ve got a budget to work with, it would be easiest to reach out to professional scavenger hunt organizers to create an event that meets your needs. You might be surprised to discover how reasonably priced custom scavenger hunts can be!

Photo Scavenger Hunt Settings

Photo scavenger hunts can be set indoors or outside. You can even create an in-home scavenger hunt to help brighten up a rainy day!

They can be held in public places, as long as they won’t interrupt the flow of activity or business. For instance, you can send people on a scavenger hunt through a shopping mall, but you don’t want to include any tasks that would require your hunters to cause a raucous in a store.

For those who prefer outdoor scavenger hunts, create an opportunity for participants to get a fresh perspective on their neighborhood, explore a new cit y, or see everything a local park has to offer.

Photo Scavenger Hunt Themes

A true photo hunt.

If you desire, your hunt can be all about the photos. You can plan an all-day or extended event, challenging participants to take very specific and scenic pictures. For instance, you might have people capture a sunrise, a bird flying over a body of water, a wild animal eating, the tallest building in town, and a nearby mountain, before ending with a pic of the sunset. No matter what you choose, everyone will end up with some incredible photos. When all is said and done, you can all “ooh” and “ahh” over the scenic shots.

Other Popular Themes

Scavenger hunts are commonly based on a central theme, and that’s also the case with photo scavenger hunts. We’ve got some ideas that should give you a foundation on which you can build an amazing and memorable occasion!

A theme centered on learning makes an ideal scavenger hunt for kids. You might ask children to take a photo of an object that begins with the same letter as <insert a pic of an apple>. Or you could have each picture increase the number of objects by one to encourage counting. If you’re creating a scavenger hunt in a museum or town, clues could require knowledge about historical facts that have been shared in recent lessons.

• Sightseeing

Sightseeing hunts are one of our specialties! Ask explorers to find local landmarks and take pics of team members in a specific pose, small groups experiencing an attraction, or the entire team in front of the entrance or monument.

Sporting scavenger hunts are a blast! Send hunters to local fields, tracks, and courts. Challenge them to take photos of team members running the bases, goalkeeping, scoring an imaginary touchdown, running on a track, or faking a layup.

Arts & Entertainment

• architecture.

Structural design is always an interesting topic. Ask group members to travel to noteworthy buildings and capture certain elements in pics. To give you an idea, you could include a task to snap a shot of a team member hugging a gargoyle that guards a historic structure or striking a victory stance atop a famous set of stairs (like the Rocky steps in Philly).

• Movie Scenes

If your photo scavenger hunt is in a city where movies have been filmed, ask participants to recreate scenes from those films in their respective locations.

• Street Art

As we all know, sometimes, life imitates art. Ask hunters to imitate people featured in murals or pose like public sculptures. You could also include tasks like offering peace signs in front of calming pieces or appearing to interact with characters in other works.

Destinations

• amusement park.

Scavenger hunts set in an amusement park can add a little extra entertainment to an already action-packed trip. As your group roams the park, challenge them to find specific refreshment stands and take pics while trying treats. You might have them take photos with costumes characters. Additionally, ask them to show proof enjoying certain attractions, like having one team member photographing another on a rollercoaster hill with hands up!

A day at the beach can be enhanced with a well-planned scavenger hunt. Request pics of hunters holding certain seashells, riding a rented bike down the boardwalk, or surrounded by seagulls. Have each group build a sandcastle or bury a team member in the sand.

• Farmers Market

Markets are full of items to hunt and it’s easy to come up with ways to turn those finds into photos. Participants can be tasked to find 3 different red foods or 4 locally-grown vegetables. This theme also offers an opportunity to use clues like “something that is green on the outside but red on the inside” and teach kids about colors.

Friends & Fun

• acts of kindness.

This hunt is a favorite! Challenge hunters to show proof of performing acts of kindness around town. Nothing can bring warm fuzzies like making strangers smile. (Note: It’s best to not photograph recipients unless they agree to it.)

• Party Guests

Photo scavenger hunts make fun party games for events like reunions and birthday parties. Basically, you ask attendees to find other guests who meet specific criteria. You might request that they find someone who shares their birthday month or has a similar outfit on. A party guest hunt gives people an excuse to interact and makes an effective icebreaker.

• Pub Crawl

Pub crawls are prime for pics! Request that your bar hunters hit up specific places and knock back certain shots. Incorporate games like billiards or darts. For a video challenge, you could ask participants to perform a karaoke song or get everyone in the bar singing a tune.

Holidays/Seasonal

• spring/summer.

Spring and summer activities are always a pleasure, but incorporating them in a photo scavenger hunt adds a little something! While your group is out and about enjoying the weather, get them to find common spring and summer sights and take pics of themselves blowing up a beachball, filling a birdfeeder, watering a lawn or garden, or splashing in a downtown fountain.

• Autumn/Halloween

We don’t know about you, but we love fall! It’s so picturesque in climates with multiple seasons. Plus, autumn brings Halloween and, with it, lots of spooktacular sights and sounds. Ask hunters to find a fallen red maple leaf and five pine cones. They can snap pics of a porch scarecrow and a decorative “graveyard.” There are so many options!

• Winter/Christmas

Winter scavenger hunts might be tricky in cold climates, but they’re still fairly doable. Depending on the weather, get your participants to snap a pic of a fake snowman or build a real one. Challenge people to find holiday lights in a certain color combination. Ask for proof of team members hanging ornaments on a town Christmas tree or caroling in public.

Wildlife makes a wonderful addition to any photo scavenger hunt! We don’t advise having your hunters feed or touch wild animals, but it’s challenging enough to find and get photos of some elusive critters.

• Flowers & Trees

This theme can go hand-in-hand with a learning hunt. Ask participants to find specific types of flowers and/or trees and photograph team members with them. There’s nothing like asking people to literally stop and smell the roses. For bonus points, have a hunter hug a tree!

Not everyone feels comfortable around bugs, but this is another theme that can be highly educational. You can request teams to find a bug who changes form or take a pic of an insect in flight. Ask for pics of a hive (from a distance!) or a spider’s web,

• First Day of School

There’s no better way to get new students acclimated to a classroom or school than to make them familiar with it through a photo scavenger hunt. It’s especially beneficial for little ones who are starting preschool or kindergarten. Ask them to find different objects or places. They’ll have a ball taking pics of their classmates while getting to know them.

• Freshman Orientation

It’s not just little ones who might need a push when they start a new school. If you’re coordinating orientation events on a college campus, consider a scavenger hunt. It will help students find buildings and get to know their surroundings and each other.

• Homecoming

When you need a way to inject some school spirit into a group, or just bring out what they already have, look no further than a scavenger hunt. Ask students to find typical homecoming sights like a giant fan finger or a football. Have them take photos simulating a touchdown or doing a cheer!

• Around the Office

Photo scavenger hunts make excellent team-building activities and are ideal for onboarding new hires. You can challenge them as individuals, or ask them to compete in small groups. Get team members familiar with the office environment by challenging them to take pics in certain rooms or find specific office supplies. Feel free to include activities that help them to bond, like putting something together!

• Company Anniversary

Boost morale and increase engagement and investment by celebrating a company anniversary with a hunt. Create clues with trivia about your business, reinforce your mission, and give team members a great way to memorialize their celebration in pics. You could even post photos in the company newsletter.

• Trade Show/Convention/Expo

Last, but not least, photo scavenger hunts work great at business gatherings like trade shows, conventions, and expos. Create tasks featuring certain swag, booths, or displays. Have people pose with their favorite gear or in front of a sign.

Suggested Photo Scavenger Hunt Rules

It’s important to set some guidelines for your scavenger hunt, especially when it comes to taking photos. These are some suggested rules for a successful event:

• Do not enter private property.

• Use one digital camera or device (per team) to take photos. Keep a backup on another device. This keeps proof of tasks organized and helps to ensure that teams stick together.

• Establish guidelines on photo sharing. If you’re on a scavenger hunt with children or people who don’t share a lot on social media, it might be best to keep pics from the event within the group.

• Capture only one challenge per picture. Even if you can complete two challenges with one photo, capture each in a separate pic.

• Set a time limit. The winner is the first competitor or team to complete the hunt. If time expires, the winner is the team with the most completed tasks.

Photo Scavenger Hunt Rewards

Sometimes, people will participate in a scavenger hunt just for the experience or for bragging rights amongst their crew. Other times, a reward might be a nice touch. Who doesn’t love competing for prizes?

If you’re looking to offer an award to the winner or winners of your photo scavenger hunt, consider putting together some gift baskets. You might include little things that coincide with your team or gift cards to places they came across on the hunt.

When a hunt calls for prizes, think about offering things that promote further exploration. Adventures from Scratch would make great gifts! Each scratch-off activity book contains 50+ scratch-off challenges and other fun ideas for couples and families.

Finally, there’s always a monetary option. People love winning a little bank! Have everyone pay an entry fee that goes into a prize pot and give it to the winner(s) of the event. This is a popular choice for bar hunts .

Closing Thoughts

Hopefully, this guide sets you well on your way to a spectacular photo scavenger hunt. If you encounter trouble while planning your activity, or simply run out of time, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team. We love working with people and helping to create unforgettable custom events !

Have you ever been on a scavenger hunt? Let us know about your experiences in the comments. Or tell us which of our ideas you’ve tried.

If you haven’t experienced one of our scavenger hunts, pub crawls, ghost tours, or art walks yet, we hope you will soon. It’s super easy to get tickets and apply them to any activity offered on our app. Find a nearby city on the list or make a pit stop on an upcoming road trip or vacation. We know you’ll have a terrific time!

Frequently Asked Questions

A photo scavenger hunt is a really fun way for kids to familiarize themselves with the classroom and school while they get to know their fellow students.

Try this photo scavenger hunt guide or hire professional scavenger hunt planners to create your perfect event. Your friends and loved ones are sure to enjoy taking holiday pics and making memories!

If you’re looking for a fun activity for new hires, consider a photo scavenger hunt . These team-building activities offer opportunities for staff interaction while participants get to know the office.

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🎉🎈😍TREASURE HUNT-BIRTHDAY PARTY-SCAVENGER HUNTS-CHILDREN🎉🎈😍Scavenger Hunts 🎈💕💕

Scavenger Hunt

  • The Ultimate Photo Scavenger Hunt Guide: 40+ Ideas and Tips

Mar 17, 2024

The Ultimate Photo Scavenger Hunt Guide: 40+ Ideas and Tips

📷🖼️📸Photo Scavenger Hunt

A photo scavenger hunt can be more entertaining than a traditional scavenger hunt for several reasons:

Creativity : Participants have to think creatively to capture photos of the items on the list. This adds an extra dimension to the game as they not only have to find the items but also think about how to compose an interesting photo.

Technology Integration : In today's digital age, most people have smartphones with cameras. A photo scavenger hunt makes use of this technology, allowing participants to easily snap and share photos of the items they find. This can make the hunt more accessible and engaging for participants of all ages.

Social Interaction : Participants can share their photos in real-time with each other or on social media platforms, fostering interaction and friendly competition. This can create a sense of camaraderie and excitement as participants see each other's photos and progress.

Memories : Unlike traditional scavenger hunts where participants only have memories of finding items, a photo scavenger hunt leaves behind a tangible record of the experience. Participants can look back on the photos they took and reminisce about the fun they had during the hunt .

Variety : With a photo scavenger hunt , you can include a wide variety of items on the list, ranging from simple objects to more creative challenges. This allows you to tailor the hunt to the interests and abilities of the participants, keeping them engaged and entertained throughout the game.

Overall, a photo scavenger hunt adds an extra layer of fun and excitement to the traditional scavenger hunt format, making it a more entertaining and memorable experience for participants.

Discover our   Complete Scavenger Hunts Collection.

Best-Photo-Scavenger-Hunt-Ideas

  • Best Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas

1. Team Building Scavenger Hunt

A team building scavenger hunt is designed to promote teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills among participants. Teams work together to complete challenges and find items on a predetermined list.

  • Form Teams: Divide participants into teams of 3-5 members each. Encourage diversity within teams to enhance collaboration.
  • Create Challenges: Develop a list of challenges or tasks that require teamwork to complete. Include activities like building a human pyramid, creating a funny team pose in a public place, or solving riddles to find hidden clues.
  • Set Boundaries: Define the area where the scavenger hunt will take place. This could be a park, office building, or any other suitable location.
  • Distribute Lists: Provide each team with a list of challenges and a timeline for completion. Make sure to emphasize the importance of teamwork and creativity.
  • Capture Photos: Teams must use a smartphone or camera to capture photos of themselves completing each challenge. Encourage creativity and humor in the photos.
  • Review and Award: After the designated time, gather all teams together to review their photos and experiences. Award prizes for the most creative, collaborative, and funniest teams.

2. College Campus Scavenger Hunt

This scavenger hunt takes participants on a tour of their college campus while completing challenges and tasks related to campus landmarks, traditions, and history.

  • Research: Create a list of campus landmarks, historical sites, and traditions that participants should visit or learn about during the scavenger hunt.
  • Develop Challenges: Design challenges and tasks that require participants to interact with campus features, such as taking a selfie with the school mascot, finding a specific building, or reciting the school alma mater.
  • Provide Instructions: Distribute the scavenger hunt list to participants, along with any additional instructions or rules.
  • Set Time Limits: Specify a time limit for completing the scavenger hunt to keep participants engaged and on schedule.
  • Review and Share: After the scavenger hunt, gather participants together to review their photos and experiences. Share interesting facts or stories about each campus landmark.

3. Conference and Trade Show Scavenger Hunt

This scavenger hunt adds an element of fun and engagement to conferences and trade shows by encouraging participants to explore the event venue, network with other attendees, and discover exhibitor booths.

  • Identify Points of Interest: Determine key areas of the conference or trade show venue that participants should visit, such as speaker sessions, exhibitor booths, or networking areas.
  • Create Challenges: Develop challenges and tasks that require participants to interact with speakers, exhibitors, and other attendees. For example, participants could take a selfie with a keynote speaker or collect business cards from exhibitor booths.
  • Provide Instructions: Distribute the scavenger hunt list to participants, along with any rules or guidelines for completing the tasks.
  • Set Time Limits: Specify a time frame for completing the scavenger hunt, taking into account the duration of the conference or trade show.
  • Review and Reward: After the event, gather participants together to review their photos and experiences. Award prizes for completing the most challenges or for the most creative photos.

4. Nature Scavenger Hunt

Participants explore the great outdoors while searching for items and completing challenges related to nature, wildlife, and the environment.

  • Choose Location: Select a natural area such as a park, forest, or beach for the scavenger hunt.
  • Create List: Develop a list of natural items for participants to find, such as leaves, rocks, flowers, or animal tracks. Include challenges like identifying bird calls or building a natural sculpture.
  • Provide Instructions: Distribute the scavenger hunt list to participants, along with guidelines for respectful behavior in natural spaces.
  • Set Safety Rules: Emphasize safety precautions, such as staying on designated trails and avoiding potentially hazardous plants or animals.
  • Review and Reflect: After the scavenger hunt, gather participants together to review their photos and discuss their experiences in nature. Encourage reflection on the importance of conservation and environmental stewardship.

5. Zoo Scavenger Hunt

Participants visit a zoo and complete challenges related to the animals, exhibits, and conservation efforts.

  • Plan Visit: Choose a zoo with a diverse collection of animals and exhibits for the scavenger hunt.
  • Create List: Develop a list of animals and exhibits for participants to visit, along with challenges such as identifying animal species, learning about conservation efforts, or imitating animal behaviors.
  • Provide Instructions: Distribute the scavenger hunt list to participants, along with guidelines for respectful behavior towards animals and zoo staff.
  • Set Time Limits: Specify a time frame for completing the scavenger hunt to ensure participants have enough time to explore the zoo.
  • Review and Learn: After the scavenger hunt, gather participants together to review their photos and share interesting facts or stories about the animals and exhibits they visited.

6. Classroom Scavenger Hunt

Students explore their classroom or school while completing challenges and tasks related to learning objectives or educational themes.

  • Define Objectives: Determine learning objectives or educational themes for the scavenger hunt, such as historical events, scientific concepts, or literary works.
  • Create List: Develop a list of items, questions, or tasks for students to complete, incorporating educational content relevant to the classroom or curriculum.
  • Provide Instructions: Distribute the scavenger hunt list to students, along with any guidelines or rules for completing the tasks.
  • Facilitate Exploration: Allow students to explore the classroom or school environment while working individually or in teams to complete the scavenger hunt.
  • Review and Discuss: After the scavenger hunt, gather students together to review their findings and discuss the educational content covered during the activity.

7. City Scavenger Hunt

Participants explore a city while completing challenges and tasks related to landmarks, history, culture, and local attractions.

  • Choose City: Select a city with a rich history, diverse culture, and interesting landmarks for the scavenger hunt.
  • Create List: Develop a list of landmarks, historical sites, cultural attractions, and local businesses for participants to visit, along with challenges such as taking photos, answering trivia questions, or interacting with locals.
  • Provide Instructions: Distribute the scavenger hunt list to participants, along with guidelines for respectful behavior in public spaces and towards local residents.
  • Set Time Limits: Specify a time frame for completing the scavenger hunt, taking into account the size of the city and the number of locations to visit.
  • Review and Explore: After the scavenger hunt, gather participants together to review their photos and share interesting facts or stories about the city's history, culture, and attractions.

Photo-Scavenger-Hunt-Ideas

  • How to Create the Best Photo Scavenger Hunt

Creating the best photo scavenger hunt involves careful planning, creativity, and attention to detail. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you organize an exciting and memorable scavenger hunt :

Step 1: Define the Purpose and Theme

  • Determine the purpose of the scavenger hunt (e.g., team building, educational, recreational).
  • Choose a theme that aligns with the purpose and interests of participants (e.g., nature, urban exploration, historical landmarks).

Step 2: Set Objectives and Goals

  • Establish clear objectives and goals for the scavenger hunt , such as fostering teamwork, exploring a specific area, or learning about a particular topic.

Step 3: Plan the Scavenger Hunt Route

  • Select a location or area where the scavenger hunt will take place, considering factors such as accessibility, safety, and the availability of interesting landmarks or items.
  • Determine the boundaries and specific areas participants should explore during the scavenger hunt .

Step 4: Develop a List of Challenges and Tasks

  • Create a list of challenges, tasks, or items that participants must complete or find during the scavenger hunt .
  • Include a variety of challenges that cater to different interests and abilities, such as trivia questions, physical tasks, and creative photo opportunities.
  • Ensure that challenges are relevant to the theme and objectives of the scavenger hunt .

Step 5: Prepare Materials and Resources

  • Gather any materials or resources needed for the scavenger hunt , such as maps, clue cards, or props.
  • If necessary, obtain permission or permits for accessing certain locations or landmarks.

Step 6: Design Scorecards or Checklists

  • Create scorecards, checklists, or scavenger hunt apps to track participants' progress and completion of challenges.
  • Provide clear instructions and guidelines for how participants should document their activities and collect evidence (e.g., photos, videos).

Step 7: Determine Team Structure and Size

  • Decide whether participants will compete individually or in teams, and establish the size of each team.
  • Consider factors such as the number of participants, the complexity of challenges, and the desired level of interaction and collaboration.

Step 8: Set Rules and Guidelines

  • Establish rules and guidelines for participating in the scavenger hunt , covering aspects such as safety, respectful behavior, and time limits.
  • Communicate the rules clearly to all participants before the scavenger hunt begins.

Step 9: Promote and Invite Participants

  • Create promotional materials or invitations to generate interest and excitement among potential participants.
  • Use social media, email, or other communication channels to invite participants and provide them with relevant information about the scavenger hunt .

Step 10: Facilitate the Scavenger Hunt

  • Brief participants on the rules, objectives, and logistics of the scavenger hunt before starting.
  • Provide participants with any necessary materials, such as maps, clue cards, or scorecards.
  • Monitor the progress of participants throughout the scavenger hunt and offer assistance or guidance as needed.
  • Encourage teamwork, creativity, and engagement among participants.

Step 11: Review and Award

  • Gather participants together after the scavenger hunt to review their photos, experiences, and accomplishments.
  • Evaluate participants' performance based on the completion of challenges, creativity, and adherence to rules.
  • Award prizes or recognition to individuals or teams that demonstrate outstanding achievement or effort during the scavenger hunt .

Step 12: Reflect and Follow Up

  • Facilitate a debriefing session to discuss participants' experiences, insights, and feedback about the scavenger hunt .
  • Reflect on the success of the event and identify areas for improvement or future opportunities.
  • Follow up with participants to thank them for their participation and share highlights or memories from the scavenger hunt .

By following these steps, you can create a fun, engaging, and memorable photo scavenger hunt that participants will enjoy and remember for years to come.

Photo-Scavenger-Hunt

Want More?  Here Are a Few Examples

Funny Faces : This challenge is all about letting loose and having fun! Gather your team members in a public place and encourage them to make the silliest, most exaggerated faces they can imagine. Whether it's crossing their eyes, sticking out their tongues, or contorting their features in amusing ways, the goal is to capture the spirit of playful spontaneity in your photos. Bonus points for incorporating unexpected props or surroundings to enhance the comedic effect!

Puzzle Piece : The world is filled with fascinating patterns and designs waiting to be discovered, and this challenge encourages you to seek out one that resembles a puzzle piece. Look for intricate patterns in architecture, nature, or everyday objects that evoke the shape or texture of a puzzle piece. Whether it's the interlocking lines of a cobblestone street, the geometric tiles of a mosaic, or the swirls of a seashell, capturing an image that resembles a puzzle piece will test your observational skills and creativity.

Shadow Play : Shadows can transform ordinary scenes into works of art, and this challenge invites you to explore the captivating interplay of light and shadow. Find a suitable backdrop—a blank wall, a sunlit sidewalk, or any surface that catches the light—and position your team members to create interesting shadow shapes with their bodies. Experiment with different poses, angles, and distances to achieve striking silhouettes and compositions. Whether you're mimicking iconic shapes or inventing your own shadow characters, this challenge encourages imagination and experimentation.

Reflections : Reflections offer a fascinating glimpse into parallel worlds, and this challenge invites you to explore the mesmerizing effects of reflective surfaces. Search for mirrors, windows, water bodies, or any other reflective surfaces that can capture intriguing reflections of your team members. Experiment with angles, perspectives, and compositions to create visually striking images that play with symmetry, distortion, and abstraction. Whether you're capturing distorted funhouse reflections or serene mirror images, this challenge celebrates the beauty of reflection in all its forms.

Nature's Art : Nature is the ultimate artist, and this challenge encourages you to uncover its hidden masterpieces. Venture into the great outdoors and seek out natural objects that resemble works of art, from intricately patterned leaves and colorful flowers to sculptural rock formations and textured tree bark. Whether you're marveling at the delicate symmetry of a snowflake or the vibrant hues of a sunset, capturing the artistry of nature in your photos will inspire awe and appreciation for the wonders of the natural world.

Urban Wildlife : Cities may seem like concrete jungles, but they're also home to a surprising variety of wildlife. This challenge invites you to look beyond the hustle and bustle of urban life and discover the creatures that share our urban spaces. Keep your eyes peeled for unexpected animal encounters, from squirrels darting across parks to birds perched on city rooftops. Whether you're capturing a curious raccoon exploring a trash can or a colorful butterfly fluttering amidst skyscrapers, this challenge celebrates the resilience and adaptability of urban wildlife.

Miniature World : Perspective is everything in this whimsical challenge that plays with scale and perception. Find small objects or scenes that, when photographed from a specific angle, appear larger than life. Whether you're posing with tiny figurines to create the illusion of giants or arranging everyday objects to resemble oversized props, this challenge encourages you to embrace your imagination and experiment with perspective. From towering toy buildings to monumental miniatures, the possibilities are endless in this enchanting miniature world.

Street Art : Street art adds vibrancy and character to urban landscapes, and this challenge invites you to explore the vibrant world of graffiti, murals, and public art. Venture into city streets and alleys in search of colorful and captivating artworks that reflect the creativity and diversity of urban culture. Whether you're admiring larger-than-life murals that tell stories of community and activism or stumbling upon hidden gems of street art tucked away in unexpected corners, this challenge celebrates the power of art to transform public spaces and inspire imagination.

Symmetry : Symmetry is a fundamental principle of beauty and balance, and this challenge invites you to seek out symmetrical scenes and compositions in the world around you. Look for natural or man-made elements that exhibit perfect symmetry, whether it's the reflection of a bridge in a calm river, the mirrored wings of a butterfly, or the repeating patterns of a kaleidoscope. Experiment with framing, angles, and compositions to capture images that showcase the harmony and elegance of symmetry in all its forms.

Color Explosion : Colors have the power to evoke emotions, spark creativity, and transform our surroundings, and this challenge celebrates the vibrant palette of the world around us. Seek out scenes bursting with color, from dazzling sunsets and blooming flower gardens to bustling marketplaces and colorful street art. Whether you're capturing the rich hues of a rainbow after a summer shower or the vivid hues of a bustling cityscape, this challenge invites you to revel in the kaleidoscope of colors that surrounds us every day.

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Photo Scavenger Hunt for Road Trips (and Around Town)

Hey everyone! Are you looking for ideas for a little change of scenery on your road trips? How about something new when you travel to a new destination? Or maybe just a fun date night with friends around town? Plan a photo scavenger hunt for your family or friends.

A scavenger hunt for road trips is one of the best games for travellers.

Have a little extra time in your itinerary? Scavenger hunt ideas are plentiful; the game is easy to plan and can be adapted to a variety of options:

  • Adult scavenger hunt
  • Travel scavenger hunt
  • City scavenger hunt
  • Road trip scavenger hunt
  • Scavenger hunt for families
  • Photo scavenger hunt
  • Scavenger hunt for kids
  • Camping scavenger hunt

Table of Contents

What is a Photo Scavenger Hunt?

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A photo scavenger hunt begins with location or travel destination where the players search for objects in a specific location. The idea is to create a list of things that participants need to find and then photograph.

Starting Your Photo Scavenger Hunt

Girls on a car Scavenger Hunt

Adventure awaits!

The options for planning a photo scavenger hunt for road trips or just for a fun afternoon as a family around town are unlimited. This travel game usually requires a licensed driver and a car.

You could obviously scale down your scavenger hunt and enjoy the game in a neighborhood, with younger children, at the beach, or as you drive through the countryside.

The number one rule? Be sure to follow all traffic and safe driving rules.

During Covid, when everyone was staying home but looking for things to safely do to get out of the house, my girls compiled a scavenger hunt list and created a game that our family could safely do from our car.

The goal was to take a picture of items on the scavenger hunt list when we found them. Thus, the photo scavenger hunt was born!

Our girls drove in one car (they were licensed drivers!) and my husband and I climbed into another car. We did make a ground rule that we couldn’t mark any of the items from the scavenger hunt list off until we left our neighborhood.

I managed the list as Chris drove, and we both looked for items along the way. It helps to scan ahead on the list to get an idea of things you should be looking for in case you happen to come across photo scavenger hunt items along the way.

It is fun to compete with your family and friends whether they live close to you or across the country.

You don’t even have to start at the same time! The activity is a timed scavenger hunt.

Find as many of the items on your scavenger hunt list as you can within the time frame.

Once the time is up, count up your points, share your score, and then find a fun way to celebrate the winning team.

As mentioned above, if you have a little extra time in your travel itinerary, plan a scavenger hunt for road trips, the beach , a botanical garden, or an adult scavenger hunt. It is a fun, cost-effective and easy way to explore a city and have some fun.

Scroll to the end of this article to download your photo scavenger hunt list!

Scavenger Hunt for Road Trip: Rules

  • Follow ALL traffic and driving rules. No speeding .
  • Designate a boundary for your hunt. It could be within the limits of a town or small towns that are close together, a neighborhood, a botanical garden, or section of a city.
  • Drive (or walk) within the area and take pictures with your cell phone of as many scavenger hunt items as you can find in the set time.

travel photo scavenger hunt

1 Point Each

  • Family or group selfie of those in your vehicle or group
  • People NOT social distancing
  • United States flag
  • Road on a hill
  • Movie theater
  • House under construction
  • Car dealership
  • High school

15 Medium Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Someone wearing a mask

3 Points Each

  • Swing set with a slide
  • Empty parking lot with over 20 spots
  • Gravel road
  • Boat out of water
  • People holding hands
  • Someone wearing a face mask
  • Home improvement project
  • Large mud puddle
  • Delivery truck
  • Chick-fil-A billboard
  • No U-TURN sign
  • People poorly dressed for the weather
  • Garden gnome

15 Difficult Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Hula hooping person road sign

5 Points Each

  • Bird nest in a tree
  • Clean car next to a dirty car
  • Water tower
  • Somebody you know
  • College or University
  • Absurdly large driveway
  • Abandoned grocery cart
  • Plant nursery
  • Roundabout sign
  • Road construction or funny road sign
  • Sign mentioning toilet paper

5 Super Difficult Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Capitola is one of the colorful destinations around the world

10 Points Each

  • Airplane on the ground
  • House with 3 or more paint colors
  • Weathervane on the top of a house or barn
  • Flying helicopter or drone
  • Someone with a musical instrument

Download the photo scavenger hunt and get set for an afternoon of fun.

Additional Games for Travellers

You may be looking for more fun games as you travel . Here are a few ideas:

  • License plate game
  • Travel-size games: Yahtzee, Sorry, Trivial Pursuit
  • Travel apps: Word Bubble, Crossword Puzzle, Search and Find
  • Alphabet game from road signs
  • Name the artist-The first person to name the artist or group when a song comes on the radio gets a point.
  • 20 Questions
  • Car color search

Road trips can sometimes be long and boring. Mix things up with by tossing a few games in for your next excursion. Adventure awaits around every corner.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is an adult scavenger hunt.

A adult scavenger hunt is an adventure game for adults where they follow clues or find objects in a variety of locations. These games can be collaborative or competitive.

What is the difference between a scavenger hunt and a treasure hunt?

A treasure hunt often has only one item to find (usually a prize or reward) after you decipher a series of clues. A scavenger hunt involves finding multiple items on a list.

Do scavenger hunts have prizes?

Sure can. Obviously you don’t HAVE to offer a prize, but a prize often garners more interest and effort to find all of the items in a photo scavenger hunt.

What are good prize ideas for your next adult scavenger hunt?

Sweet treat Gift certificate Trophy House plant Lunchtime delivery Cash

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Final Thoughts on a Photo Scavenger Hunt for Road Trips (and Around Town)

A photo scavenger hunt is a fun way to challenge your family or friends. Looking for a great Friday night date activity ? Something to do to get out of the house? This scavenger hunt is the perfect activity.

If you are traveling, planning a scavenger hunt for road trips and new destinations is not only fun but also helps you to discover a new place. Scavenger hunts help family and friends bond with each other, build critical thinking skills, teach social interaction skills and could potentially double as a fun form of exercise if you are walking or running during the scavenger hunt.

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I’m a Colorado-based travel blogger with a passion for exploring the world, enjoying family time, and taking fantastic photographs. I am also a book writing, creative thinking, detail loving, frequent flying, comfort loving mom of three girls and wife to an amazing guy. Discover More .

24 Comments

Kline fam high score 158!

Lorenz family – 152

what a lovely idea! We have cold wet weather at the moment – but this is now on my list of things to do when the sunshine is again.

Hope the rains ends soon!

This is such a fun idea for a COVID-safe activity! I love scavenger hunts 🙂

Perfect to challenge your favorite neighbors too!

Let us know how you did!

This is such a cute idea! What a fun family day.

What a fun thing to do so much better than feeling hemmed in at home. I guess you can adapt the idea too to suit your own locale.

Exactly. It works anywhere and you can compete against family or friends who live elsewhere.

What a fun idea! We could do this on long stretches of driving on road trips! 🙂

Exactly! You could modify the list to what you might see along the way.

What a fun scavenger hunt. Will look into doing this later in the year!

We need to do it again for our family. It was a lot of fun.

Love this! Printed copies for a family road trip.

I love that you printed copies. Let me know how it went.

What a fun idea, loving the point system too!

This is a great idea and something we have never thought of. Going to print this and give to my sister for my nieces to try!

How fun! This is such a great idea for long road trips . I’ll have to take some of these tips for our next trip !

What an excellent idea! It works while travelling or at home and keeps active minds amused. Such an adaptable activity. Thanks for sharing!

A photo scavenger hunt sounds like a fun activity. It would certainly be something we could do with our adult kids. Especially with a fun celebration at the end. Good idea to set a boundary. Some great lists to get us started.

I’ve actually never thought about doing this during a road trip to make things more exciting, but will definitely keep it in mind for the future!

I’ve never done one of these but it sounds so fun!!

Well, this sounds like fun! We’ll have t o give it a try!

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17 Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas, Challenges & Tips

By Tata Rossi 13 days ago, Amateur Photography

travel photo scavenger hunt

Whether you're at work, in a college setting, or hanging out with your buddies, a photo scavenger hunt is a super easy and enjoyable way to unite people with a shared mission - discover all the items faster than everyone else. These kinds of activities involve participants taking photos on their phones and sending in their answers to pre-made questions using pictures.

1. Remote Work Safari

This cool game lets you check out your coworkers' cute pets and build some solid connections with your team. It is necessary to compile a list of photo challenges, all about animals. The majority of these tasks should be related to lovable house pets. But, to spice things up a bit and maybe even get folks out and about, add a few challenges featuring non-domestic animals too.

2. Team Photo Scavenger Hunt

Gather your team and have each person lock arms with two others until everyone's connected in a human chain. Once you've created such a lively chain, snap a group photo trying to squeeze in as many team members as you can into the frame. The team that manages to capture the most people in their shot wins!

3. Funny Before & After Photos

This is one of the best photo scavenger hunt ideas for adults. Start by getting your teammates to dig up some old photos, either baby pictures or ones from at least a decade ago. Once you've collected the images, share them with the whole team and try to recreate those scenes! You have options - you can either recreate your own pics or have a go at reenacting your teammates' memories.

Once done, gather before-and-after snapshots, do a bit of editing to turn them into a slideshow, and then share the results. Ask the audience to vote for the most believable, imaginative, or touching recreations.

4. Photo Effects Scavenger Hunt

This photography challenge is perfect for capturing creative pictures with a variety of effects. Create a list of the effects that should be applied and set the time frame to help the participants cope with the challenge more quickly. It’s better to leave some tasks open to interpretation. Then, ask the teams to share their improving photos online by uploading them to the album.

How to Make Scavenger Hunt Photos Memorable?

If you want to give your photos a professional feel but don’t have time to retouch them, you can outsource this task to our experienced team. It will use the most advanced editing methods and remove unwanted details from your photos.

5. Comparing Houses Challenge

This is a fun picture scavenger hunt that gets your colleagues to explore and share the differences between their present cities and their hometowns from when they were kids. Everyone gets a set of tasks and has to snap photos that match each category. We suggest giving out one task per week, making it an ongoing team-building adventure.

This scavenger hunt is a great fit for any team, but it works particularly great for remote teams and groups with diverse backgrounds.

6. Twelve Days of Christmas

There are several ways to dive into this game.

Song Style : Teams act out the "Twelve Days of Christmas" using photos. You can try such Christmas photo ideas : as capturing two turtle doves, five golden rings, and twelve drummers drumming.

Seasonal Style : In this variation, everyone gets into the holiday spirit by acting out different festive clues over twelve days. Each day, you'll receive a new challenge. For example, you may be tasked with giving someone a kiss under the mistletoe, sporting an outrageously ugly sweater, spotting a Santa Claus out in the real world, or capturing a photo of someone who's definitely landed on the naughty list this year.

7. Travel Scavenger Hunt

Many people are fond of traveling, and a travel photo scavenger hunt can be a fantastic way to connect with each other. Everyone needs to use travel photos from their previous adventures to play the game.

You can give some bonus points to teams depending on how many categories their members have in common or for some truly extraordinary coincidences they stumble upon. When the activity wraps up, everyone can pick their favorite photo and share a story or an anecdote about that picture with colleagues.

8. Bucket List

The challenges can range from simple tasks like "baking a fancy cake from the ground up" to more ambitious goals like "winning a marathon." Participants need to send in photos of themselves completing these challenges. You can decide whether pictures should be taken during the hunt or let players use old photos, allowing the team to celebrate past accomplishments too.

This picture scavenger hunt idea brings the best results when you spread it out over a more extended period, like a few months or a whole year. To encourage more employees to join in and chase their dreams, you can even consider offering a little financial support to help with expenses. Plus, since this is all about experiencing things, players can swap photos for videos if they want.

9. Iconic Places Photo Scavenger Hunt

In this challenge, participants need to have fun snapping photos at well-known spots like parks, monuments, and in front of famous buildings. To really enjoy it, we suggest spreading the game out over a more extended period, like a few months or even a whole year. If anyone has some awesome older photos, they can use those too.

If you want to add a dash of humor to the game, you can ask players to create their own silly versions of well-known landmarks. For instance, they can snap a picture of three people looking amazed at a running shower and jokingly label it "Niagara Falls," or capture a housecat striking a Sphinx-like pose.

10. Beach Scavenger Hunt

Make sure to add this concept you your photo scavenger hunt list if you need something for hanging out with friends, team outings, retreats, or company trips. You can reward the participants who capture the most photos, come up with the most interesting beach photo ideas , or snap the most captivating pictures with a prize. Once you're back home, share the most fascinating snapshots in an email or a shared photo album to relive the highlights.

11. Ugly Location Beautiful Photo

You can ask the participants of your game to capture boring or downright ugly locations. The result might surprise you as such places often look great in photos.

12. Selfie Scavenger Hunt

You need to come up with several requirements and ask other people participating in the game to take selfies following several simple steps. Since this game has basic rules, you can award participants who took the most attention-grabbing pictures.

13. Recreating Movie Scenes

These days, you can find plenty of interesting locations where popular movies or TV series were filmed. You can organize a game and ask your guests to recreate the scenes from these movies. Alternatively, you can borrow Thomas Duke’s idea and use the screenshots of popular movies to show where a particular scene was filmed.

14. Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

You can suggest your children explore the locations nearby to learn more about the area you live in. They can even invite their friends from the same neighborhood to make the photo scavenger hunt even more thrilling.

15. Puzzle Pieces

Snap close-up pictures of interesting textures or patterns, and then challenge your friends to guess what they are. Make it even more fun with creative hints to spice up the challenge. You can photograph a piece of your smartphone wallpaper, a section of your dining tablecloth, or the design of a fresh set of dishes.

16. Unusual Signs

Explore your neighborhood for funny or quirky signs and snap some creative photos that bring out their hilarious or clever messages.

17. Nature Beauty

If your friends or colleagues like being outdoors, this is a terrific photo scavenger hunt idea to try. Search for samples of art or sculptures in natural surroundings, and take photos that showcase the contrast between human-made artworks and the beauty of the great outdoors.

Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Photographers

Reflections . Seek out shiny surfaces that can add an artistic flair to your photos. Capture captivating distortions or create mirror-like reflection photography .

Silhouette magic . Make the most of those magical moments during sunrise or sunset, and snap some mesmerizing silhouette photos against the backdrop of the dramatic sky.

Symmetry . Discover things or scenes that are perfectly symmetrical, and take pictures of them from the very center to get eye-pleasing and well-balanced photos.

In the shadows . Devote some time to playing with light and shadows, and their mixes. Take photos that bring out the contrast and the mood that different lighting conditions yield.

Abstract Exploration . Let your creativity flow and capture photos of abstract patterns, textures, or shapes that grab your attention outdoors. Invite viewers to interpret and admire the artistry found in everyday objects.

Urban exploration . Why not dive into a city adventure? You can participate in an urban scavenger hunt, taking photos of the hidden gems, busy streets, and unusual buildings that make this place so special.

Double Exposure . Delve into double exposure photography , overlaying two different photos to get offbeat and beautiful compositions.

Candid moments . Focus on real, unplanned moments by watching people in public areas, and photographing their feelings, interactions, and expressions.

Dynamic motion . Have some fun trying to catch motion in your photos, like flowing water, moving cars, or people on the go. You can either freeze the action or let it blur, and that way, you can show off the lively energy in your shots.

Nighttime magic . Explore the enchanting allure of the night by capturing the magic of city lights, the shimmering starry sky above, or even experiment with light painting photography ideas .

Urban reflections . Capture the captivating sights of cityscapes or architectural wonders as they mirror in glass windows, puddles, or glossy surfaces. You can spot some stunning compositions that'll grab viewers’ attention.

Minimalism . Appreciate the elegance of simplicity through minimalistic photo ideas that put the spotlight on neat lines, empty spaces, and a feeling of peacefulness.

Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Different Locations

Whether you're in the office, out in nature, or exploring a new city, there are plenty of intriguing photo scavenger hunt ideas to discover. For example, when you're preparing for a trip, you often have to spend much time in the airport while waiting for your flight. To amuse your family members, you can go on a scavenger hunt after crossing the security line. However, make sure to ask other people for consent before taking photos of them.

Strike a pose like Madonna's Vogue with three of your team members.

Channel your inner Robert de Niro and get a shot of the whole team doing their best impression.

Create a human pyramid with your team for a group photo.

Find natural materials around the office and make creative hats, then take a group photo wearing them.

Discover a staircase and capture a synchronized shot of your team climbing it.

Challenge your team to build the tallest tower using only office items, then snap a photo.

Locate an interesting sculpture or artwork and have your team imitate the poses or shapes in it.

Show team spirit by taking a group photo, with each member holding a sign or banner displaying a positive team motto or message.

In Your College

Hunt down and photograph people sporting our school's colors.

Discover the lone spot on campus where you can buy a Spanish 101 textbook and snap a pic with the book right there in the store.

Find a hidden place on campus and take a shot of your buddies teaming up to crack a puzzle or riddle.

Spot a particular tree on campus, gather your pals around it, and have them join hands to form a circle for a photo.

Grab a quick shot with a stranger outside the main dining area near the freshman residence hall.

Make sure to take a pic with our school mascot!

Showcase your frisbee skills with a fantastic mid-air grab on the quad, and have one or two friends join in for the action shot.

Seek out a unique campus landmark and snap a selfie with it as a backdrop.

Find that hidden mural on campus and take a photo with one of your team members mimicking a pose from the artwork.

Capture your team members striking a pose in front of the library's famous staircase.

Locate a professor's office and take a group photo with one of your team members pretending to be the professor.

Track down a vending machine that dispenses the quirkiest snacks and snap a photo of your team enjoying the unusual treat.

Events and Expos in the Business World

Find someone you've never met who shares your first name and snap a pic together.

Take a photo of a fellow resident of your dream city.

Get a shot with the main keynote speaker in the background.

Showcase the most groundbreaking product or impressive booth display and snap a photo.

Gather your whole team and take a photo while proudly sporting conference-branded merchandise.

Foster collaboration by taking a group photo with a team from another organization.

Seek out a company with a four-letter name and capture their booth in a snapshot.

Pose at a booth with four different laptops in front of you, channeling your inner mission control for a fun photo opportunity.

Capture a penguin enjoying a swim, and have a teammate imitate the delighted expression on the penguin's face in the same photo.

Discover a stuffed animal that resembles one of the zoo animals, and snap a picture where both the real animal and the stuffed one are visible (don't forget to include yourself!).

Spot a winged bird that can't fly and photograph it, preferably with a fellow group member.

Treat yourself to a funnel cake by the aquarium and take a photo or two.

In the Educational Setting

Go to a supply cabinet and take a photo of you and a friend, both looking like you're in dire need of a pencil.

Show off your top-notch air guitar skills up at the front of the room, and ask a classmate you don’t know to snap a picture of your rock & roll performance.

Team up with three friends, each grab a book and take a photo of yourselves pretending to read and engage in animated discussion.

In the City

Spot someone wearing a sports jersey from a different city or state, and invite them to join you and your team for a photo.

Snap a selfie of you and your team with the city's founder's statue in the background.

Playfully pretend to be a parking meter attendant and demonstrate what you'd do if you were worried about someone's time running out.

To ensure the success of your picture scavenger hunt, plan a hiking tour carefully and create a list of clues that your friends will encounter along the way.

Find and photograph:

Intricate details, like frozen flower buds or picturesque landscapes

Your reflection mirrored in the water

Hollow or gap in a tree

Leaf with three distinct points

Rock that's as big as your hand

Grocery Store

It might be challenging to entertain your children at the grocery store and ensure that they won’t get bored. The photo scavenger hunt will allow you to buy everything in peace and keep your kids busy.

Find and take a picture of an exotic fruit that you've never tasted before

Count how many different types of non-alcoholic carbonated beverages are lined up on the shelves and take photos of the ones you'd like to try

Seek out and photograph the largest fruit you can find

Tips & Rules

Think about equipment . Participants don't need fancy, expensive cameras to realize photo scavenger hunt ideas. But to make it fair for everyone, ensure all players have devices to take pictures. Begin the game with some photography tips for beginners . It's also a good plan to give your team some time to download and try out the scavenger hunt apps you'll be using, like Scavify and TurfHunt, before the game starts.

Set specific goals . Make sure to clearly explain the aims and what you expect from all the participants in the scavenger hunt. It's important to ascertain they fully understand the kinds of photos they should be taking.

Define a time frame . Decide how much time participants have to finish a picture scavenger hunt. This will make things feel more urgent and ensure the event stays exciting and fast-paced.

Encourage teamwork . Think about arranging the scavenger hunt in teams to create a feeling of togetherness and make the whole experience even more enjoyable.

Give out prizes or recognition . Reward participants who successfully tackle specific challenges or display outstanding creativity.

Share some photo editing tips . If participants can improve their photos, give them some pointers and easy-to-follow photo editing tips for beginners . This may involve recommendations on tweaking brightness, contrast, cropping, or trying out filters.

Show some inspiring samples . They can really ignite the creative spark in participants and get them thinking in innovative ways.

Make sure everyone gets to see the pictures . Instead of collecting photos separately and choosing a winner privately, it's way more enjoyable to look at them together as a group. We suggest either creating a photo slideshow or uploading pictures to a shared album or social media page. You can even take it a step further by designing T-shirts, Zoom backgrounds, Slack icons, physical photo books, or online photo albums.

Before taking photos of strangers, always ask for their permission . Explain that you're involved in a photo scavenger hunt and request their consent before taking any shots. This not only shows good manners but also helps participants improve their social and communication skills.

Prioritize safety . If you're holding the event outdoors or in public places, it's important to share some guidelines covering local rules and safety precautions.

Bonus Tools

Once you've completed a photo scavenger hunt, you'll likely have a bunch of pictures that may require editing. You can use software such as Lightroom and some free tools to make the colors in your photos really stand out. These tools allow you to edit multiple images at once and give them a consistent look.

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Vacation photo scavenger hunt ideas

The Ultimate Vacation Photo Scavenger Hunt

travel photo scavenger hunt

One of my all-time favorite memories growing up was for my 16th birthday, my mom threw me a photo scavenger hunt party. It’s something my friends still talk about more than 20 years later. We were split up into teams, given a polaroid and a list, and sent on our way for a few hours. You received points for successfully completing each photo and then there were also awards for most creative, most difficult, best overall photo, etc.

Today I’m applying this concept of a photo scavenger hunt to be used on vacation with friends and family to help you document your getaway whether it’s with us at one of our Door County cabins, or beyond.

how to capture the best photos on your vacation

How to plan a vacation photo scavenger hunt

Now, this isn’t your normal scavenger hunt. You’re not going to find things like “take a picture of something shiny” or “take a picture of a flag” on the list below. Although that’s fun too, the purpose of this type of scavenger hunt is to walk away with epic vacation photos. It’s not just a game, we have an ulterior motive here. It’s all about noticing and appreciating the little moments that make up your vacation and documenting them in a fun way.

There are a couple of wins that organizing a photo scavenger hunt for your vacation will get you:

  • Extra creative, thoughtful, and fun photos from your time with friends and family.
  • Kids are engaged in the process of documenting your vacation instead of constantly asking them to smile for the camera.
  • EVERYONE takes photos of the trip (vs. that one designated documenter) offering a unique perspective and depth to your photos.
  • It becomes an activity that lasts the duration of your time away and will become one of those stories you talk about for years to come.

At the time of writing this, what follows is my plan for our spring break and I will update this post with how it went, things I would have done differently, and tangible tips so you can plan your own ultimate vacation photo scavenger hunt for your next getaway!

Photo scavenger hunt rules

First things first, let’s set some ground rules. Feel free to make this your own, but I’ve found the following rules will help make this idea a success.

  • Not all photos can be taken in one day, divide the number of total photos you put on your list by the number of days you’re on vacation and make sure photos are evenly spread out – this prevents people from rushing through the process and selfishly, it ensures that your entire vacation is well documented.
  • The goal is not to simply complete the challenge, but to think out of the box and get creative. Bonus points will be awarded for the funniest, most creative, most difficult to capture, prettiest, etc. photo.
  • There must be a substantial prize. If this is going to hold everyone’s attention long enough, there’s got to be a payoff that’s bigger than bragging rights or awesome vacation photos (at least where children are concerned).
  • Create a shared album on your phone so that everyone can easily photo dump everything they capture so the entire group has all the images.
  • Create a shared album by team and have them heart the final images they are submitting when it comes time to judge the photo scavenger hunt competition.
  • An alternate idea for older kids: have them present a video photo montage at the end of the trip. Our kids love the app Capcut for this.
  • Teach everyone how to use the timer on their phone so they can easily take group photos if someone isn’t with them to capture their idea.
  • Consider giving different point values to various photos that may be more or less difficult
  • Clearly state an end date and judging time

Picture scavenger hunt list

Now that we’ve set some ground rules, here is a list of ideas for your picture scavenger hunt to pull from and make your own. Keep your location and group type in mind when creating your own list. For example, we’re heading to Costa Rica so I’m going to add things like “entire team on a surfboard” or a teammate with a monkey to our list.

A selfie of your group at your favorite place on vacation A photo of you with an animal A human pyramid Give a teammate a piggy back ride Your team crammed into a small space Picture of your groups reflection or shadows in an unexpected place Can you find us photo – (think iSpy) Entire team jumping in the water Photo pretending to be a mannequin somewhere creative Entire team pretending to nap somewhere unconventional All groups together posed formally like an olden-day portrait Someone or something in motion Create a word where every person is one letter (can recruit others if your group isn’t big enough) Fill in the blank _________________ (aka you decide bonus photo submission) Your favorite memory from the trip Someone looking unusually small (play with perspective!) All team members doing something at the same time (blowing a bubble, jumping in the air, etc.) The entire team wearing sunglasses The entire team upside down Grab someone from the other team and make a funny face A photo at sunrise or sunset A photo of one of your teammates and 3 other people on vacation with you doing their best Madonna Vogue pose impression Strike your best yoga pose Posing as a boy band Two team members best tango move frozen in time Take a photo of the group crossing the street, Beatles style OR duckling style Team doing the chicken dance Group hug photo A photo with everyone on vacation linking arms Take a photo of something in nature to remember your vacation by A treat you had on vacation Capture a feeling or emotion in a photo Capture color A photo in a mirror A picture as soon as you wake up A picture in the biggest hat you can find Looking surprised Looking relaxed Your bare feet A group high five Someone making a duck face Moon walking Walking penguin style Entire team sharing one milkshake/soda with their own straw Entire team on a slide Team in a grocery cart Best professional photo shoot picture Best scenic photo from the vacation Best photo of the entire group on the vacation

Add video to the mix!

Make up a vacation secret handshake Entire team dancing Play leap frog Play ring around the rosie Teammates walking the runway like fashion models Sing a song by an object (ex: wheels on the bus by a school bus or star spangled banner by a flag) Pretend to be a band (air guitar, drummer, lip sync, drums) Challenge someone from the other team to arm wrestle/rock paper scissors/something of your choice

These are just some general ideas to get you started but I’d encourage you to make this your own! If you know you’re going to a specific type of place or setting, incorporate those details into your list! Eating ice cream, writing names in the sand – get creative with the type of vacation you’ll be on and customize the list to fit your group and location.

How to design your photo scavenger hunt

Once you’ve decided on what items from the list above you’d like to include in your photo scavenger hunt, it’s time to put it into a printable design. My go-to place for that is Canva . It’s a free online design tool that has a ton of templates you can choose from to customize for your needs.

Something else we are doing for our photo scavenger hunt is creating the list in the notes app on our phone and sharing it with the team members. You can even make it a checkmark list so they can easily mark off what’s done and always have the list with them vs. a printed list wherever you go.

What to do with the photos when you’re done?

One of my favorite things to do is to pick my favorite 10 or so images and print them on our Fuji Film Instax printer . It connects to your phone and you can print any image on a polaroid. This way you can print images for everything there, or capture the perfect compilation of vacation photos in one image by styling the polaroids together.

Pick your 10 favorite photos for each person on the trip and send people you vacationed with an everyday print set from Artifact Uprising . This is such a beautiful way to have a tangible print and memory of your time spent. I think it’s so important to get your memories out of the digital space, off your phone, and some place you can enjoy them. One of my favorites is an album by Artifact Uprising called The Stories We Tell .

I hope this post inspired you to get creative with your vacation photos and to plan your own photo scavenger hunt! I’d love to hear from you if you tried it and how it went!

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Vacation Vacation Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas

June 15, 2013 by Kimberly Danger 1 Comment

50 Not-to-Miss Vacation Photos | Mommysavers.com #photography #travel

Family Vacation Travel Photography Tips

  • Don't just stand in front of things.  Interact with your environment, engage with your surroundings, and don't be afraid to act a little silly.
  • Get mom in the pictures.  If you're the one always taking the shots, you'll never be in any of them.
  • Hand the camera over to the kids.  Their unique perspective can generate some memorable photos.
  • Ask a stranger to take a photo of your entire family once in a while.
  • Avoid too many posed shots.
  • Try to compose shots without too many strangers in the background.
  • Don't have a fancy camera?  Use your phone paired with great photo apps like Instagram, Pic Jointer, Hipstamatic and Labelbox to create fun, memorable images.
  • Heading to Disney?  Check out our Disney Photo Tips & Ideas

vacation photo scavenger hunt ideas

Vacation Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas + 50 Vacation Photo Ideas

  • A funny hat
  • A tacky souvenir
  • The back of a car featuring a state license plate and bumper sticker
  • By a state sign
  • Someone from your travel crew with a group of tourists you don't know
  • A funny sign
  • Someone hugging
  • Low perpective (lay on the ground, shoot your subject looking up)
  • Someone from your group imitating a statue
  • Your reflection in water
  • A restaurant menu (especially if it features local dishes)
  • At a park on a slide, merry-go-round or monkey bars
  • A dog, cat or other animal
  • A receipt or price tag of something you purchased
  • In front of a store with your shopping bag
  • An old water tower
  • Something you ate
  • A unique door or entryway
  • Bricks or stone in a street
  • cakes or pastries at a bakery
  • A streetlamp
  • Someone from your travel group jumping (get shot in mid-jump)
  • Unique architecture
  • Trinkets at a restaurant: napkin, coaster, sugar packets, etc.
  • Your drink at a bar
  • produce at the supermarket
  • flowers at a floral shop or street market
  • A sunrise or sunset
  • Someone from your travel group with a character or mascot
  • A local newspaper headline
  • A different currency (if traveling abroad)
  • A ticket (plane, subway, event, etc.)
  • A transportation station sign (subway, airport, bus stop, etc.)
  • Someone kissing
  • A phone booth
  • Trying on clothes
  • Someone from your travel group with a server/waitress/bartender
  • Your shadow
  • A unique window
  • A tree, flower or plant native to the area
  • Someone from your travel group doing a headstand or cartwheel
  • The view from where you're staying
  • The contents of your suitcase
  • Your hotel room

vacation photo scavenger hunt ideas

What to do with your Family Vacation Photos When You Return:

  • Create a photo book, scrapbook or photo album for that vacation only
  • Use an app like Mixtiles to create a gorgeous wall display with your Instagram Photos
  • Get that holiday card done ahead of time with one of your favorite pics, or a collage!  If you're like us, you are rushing around in December trying to find a photo and get the cards out in the mail.
  • Turn one of your more artistic photos in a blanket, pillow, iPhone case or accessory on a site like Zazzle

vacation photo scavenger hunt ideas

[…] travel to any of the Disney parks your best (and most frugal) souvenirs are your photos (see our Vacation Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas post too).  Disney is filled with wonderful scenery to use as photo backdrops.   Make the most […]

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Free Printable Road Trip Photo Scavenger Hunt

Looking for fun ideas to make family vacations a little less stressful? I am partnering with Best Buy to share tips on how to make it easier to travel with the whole family, we love this free printable road trip photo scavenger hunt idea!

Road Trips photo scavenger hunt photo

Travel scavenger hunt printable

Are you planning taking any fun family trips anytime soon? If so, the time to start looking and booking is NOW. There are so many things that go into the planning and preparation of a family trip that it feels like I need a vacation from my vacation! If a road trip is in the cards, keep the kids busy in the car with our free printable road trip photo scavenger hunt.

Family Road Trip

Tech meets family travel photos

The last thing we need as parents are to feel frazzled and stressed while we’re traveling . Whether you’re flying your family across the Pacific, taking a road trip to ski in the mountains, or hopping on a cruise ship to sail through the Caribbean, don’t fret! There is a great resource that has a few good tips that I plan to use for our next vacation. We road trip often, and I’ve found that Best Buy’s Family Travel Tips site is the place to go for tech-related travel tips and ideas for the whole family.

Print our free printable road trip photo scavenger hunt

One of my personal favorite travel tips on their site has got to be this idea to put together a family travel photo scavenger hunt! Print out a couple of road trip photo scavenger hunt sheets and bring along your cameras, smartphones, and tablets to snap away! If you’re up for it, make it a competition so that the kids aren’t thinking about how long it’s taking or how hungry they are. Have them take photos of items as they find them and cross them off on the list. What a great way to battle the inevitable “ are we there yet ” syndrome!

CLICK IMAGE TO PRINT

Road Trips photo scavenger hunt photo

Have a wonderful, stress-free family vacation!

travel photo scavenger hunt

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Awesome read 😀

That’s a pretty cool idea! This way the kids will be preoccupied with completing the hunt rather than whine at the length of the trip. Have you tried this with your kids?

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travel photo scavenger hunt

20+ Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas for All Ages

  • Post author: Mike and Lora Green
  • Post published: May 20, 2020
  • Post category: Tips + Tricks
  • Post comments: 0 Comments

Whether you are creating a Photo Scavenger Hunt for kids, teens, or adults – this list has you covered. Over 20 ideas for a Photo Scavenger Hunt that will get you moving, encourage team-building, and inspire creativity!

Photo Scavenger Hunts can be used to fight boredom, as a team-building activity, to build photography skills, or inspire artistic creativity. Whether you want to learn about Photo Scavenger Hunts or gather sample clues, you’ve come to the right place! With over 20 hunts and even more ideas, this article is the Ultimate Guide to photo Scavenger Hunts .

20+ Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas by ScavengerHuntIdea.com

What is a Photo Scavenger Hunt?

A Photo Scavenger Hunt is like a regular Scavenger Hunt in that it is a seek and find game. However, a Photo Scavenger Hunt is different than a regular Scavenger Hunt in that it includes an element of photography . Rather than (1) marking the found item off a list or (2) collecting the found item; instead, the participant(s) photograph the found item.

Example: Find, and photograph, a fountain.

Often, a Photo Scavenger Hunt requires the participant(s) to be in the photograph, as well.

Example: Find a fountain and take a selfie with the fountain. All team members must be in the selfie.

20+ Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas by ScavengerHuntIdea.com

Sometimes, a Photo Scavenger Hunt requires the participant(s) to complete a specific activity in the photograph, as well.

Example: Find a fountain and pose for a photo. Team members should appear to be swimming in front of the fountain.

15 Photo Scavenger Hunt Clues

Need the inspiration to start planning a Photo Scavenger Hunt? This list of playful clues will get you started:

  • Jump on a trampoline
  • Do pushups in front of a gym
  • Walk a crosswalk like the Beatles
  • Hang from monkey bars
  • Pose with a statue
  • Play an air-guitar in front of a bar
  • Mimic the “now playing” poster image at a movie theatre
  • Pose in front of a government building as if you are giving a speech
  • Sit on bleachers and pose as if cheering
  • Build a human pyramid
  • Pose in front of a theatre as if you are performing
  • In front of a stadium/field, pretend to play a sport
  • Sit on a bench
  • Pose in the start position on a track
  • Hang from a tree limb

20+ Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Whether you are creating a Photo Scavenger Hunt for kids, teens, or adults – this list has you covered. Over 20 ideas for a Photo Scavenger Hunt that will get you moving, encourage team-building, and inspire creativity !

travel photo scavenger hunt

Neighborhood Photo Scavenger Hunt

East Coast Mommy Blog loves an activity that gets kids outside (and away from electronics)! She created a neighborhood photo scavenger hunt for families to complete together.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Selfie Scavenger Hunt

The B Keeps Us Honest created a Selfie Scavenger Hunt. Complete it with your family on a nice day as a fun, free activity!

travel photo scavenger hunt

Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt

Mortiz Fine Designs created a Summer Scavenger Hunt filled with photo activities that are perfect for long, warm-weather days!

travel photo scavenger hunt

Quarantine Scavenger Hunt!

Stuck at Home? Play a Quarantine Scavenger Hunt to keep the kids busy!

travel photo scavenger hunt

Big Kids + Teens Photo Scavenger hunt

This 72 item Photo Scavenger Hunt by Artsy Dork would be great for older kids and teens, especially those interested in Photography.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Neighborhood Fall Photo Scavenger Hunt

This Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt, by Pretty Printables for You , would be great for older kids and teens. The fall-themed clues are detailed and include a point system.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Photo Scavenger Hunt Game

Designed for individuals or groups, by Christian Camp Pro , this Scavenger Hunt encourages engagement with others. It would work well as a team-building activity for teens or adults.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Disney Photo Scavenger Hunt

Have fun and collect creative vacation photos with this Disney Photo Scavenger from Crafting in the Rain at Undercover Tourist .

travel photo scavenger hunt

Photo Scavenger Hunts for Kids

The Global Wizard has a collection of 5 Photo Scavenger Hunts for Kids, including Neighborhood, Selfie, Indoor/Outdoor, Vacation, and Group themed hunts.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Vacation Photo Scavenger Hunt

Expand your collection of tourism photos with a Vacation Photo Scavenger Hunt by Crafting in the Rain . It will challenge you to take creative vacation photos.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Night Out Scavenger Hunt Clues for Adults

Mom on the Side says that you are never too old for   scavenger hunt clues ! The printable Adults Night Out Scavenger Hunt is great for a fun weekend activity.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Magic Kingdom Photo Scavenger Hunt

With over 100 items and a point scale, the Magic Kingdom Photo Scavenger Hunt by Sand and Snow would be a fun challenge e for older kids, teens, adults, or families.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Photo Scavenger Hunt Clues

Good Prints list of 20 clues is great for groups! The "mission" clues are active, engaging, and perfect for team-building.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Mall Photo Scavenger Hunt

Head to the mall and play this creative and active photo scavenger hunt by The Game Gal .

travel photo scavenger hunt

Photo Scavenger Hunt Clues for Adults and Teens

Goose Chase's list of Scavenger Hunt Clues will challenge you to get creative with clues for adults and teens... from riding on a motorcycle to getting a wax, these aren't run-of-the-mill clues!

travel photo scavenger hunt

Photo Scavenger Hunt for Teens and Tweens

The Ultimate Scavenger Hunt from Macaroni Kids includes a combination of things to do and things to find - mixing up the traditional scavenger hunt with a photo scavenger hunt!

travel photo scavenger hunt

Rainbow Photo Scavenger Hunt

This clever Rainbow Scavenger Hunt from Tinker Lab is a great way to encourage creativity and develop photography skills. A Rainbow Scavenger Hunt would work well for younger or older children.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Creative Photography Scavenger Hunt

Blooming photographers will love the open-ended, artistic challenge of this Photo Scavenger Hunt by Creative Live .

travel photo scavenger hunt

Botanical Gardens Scavenger Hunt

While this hunt was designed for Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens , it would work for any botanical garden, arboretum, etc. Encourage the kids to soak up the floral surrounding with this Gardens Photo Scavenger Hunt.

travel photo scavenger hunt

Outdoor Alphabet Photo Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are always fun, but this outdoor alphabet photo scavenger hunt will be a huge winner! From The Mormon Home and shared at One She Two She , an Alphabet Photo Scavenger Hunt will keep the kids busy outside while they find 26 items to photograph.

Like these Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas? Pin it to save it!

20+ Photo Scavenger Hunt Ideas by ScavengerHuntIdea.com

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Photo Books

Wedding invitations, 10 photo scavenger hunts to keep kids entertained.

Written by  Shutterfly Community Last Updated: Dec 10, 2019

How good are you at finding things? Whether you’re on a road trip, strolling through the neighborhood, or having a fun beach day with the kids, a photo scavenger hunt is a great activity for kids and adults to further explore their surroundings! Take it a step further and document the day for a family photo book , next year’s Christmas cards , or a framed print .

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What you’ll need for a photo scavenger hunt

  • Camera or smartphone
  • Writing instrument
  • Scavenger hunt list or print outs
  • A prize for the winner

Photo scavenger hunt rules

Scavenger hunt rules are pretty easy. You can set your own rules depending on how many players will be participating. You can choose to play as a team, as competing teams, or as individuals.

Each player will have a list of items they are able to find in the area they are in. Whoever finds the items and photographs within the time allocated first, wins.

  • Choose a location and theme.
  • Assign someone to be the moderator or judge.
  • Decide how you want to separate your players into teams. Always pair kids with adults in every team.
  • Make sure you set boundaries within the location—assign parameters and let each player know.
  • Set a timer. An hour should be plenty of time.
  • Give a prize to the winner.

1. Zoo Scavenger Hunt

Visiting the animals is so peaceful and fun. As you say hi to the tigers, monkeys, and zebras…make sure to also snap a photo of the friendly zookeeper!

Zoo Scavenger Hunt

2. Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

What can be more fun than a road trip? A road trip scavenger hunt! Adventure through gas stations, lookout points, bridges, and trains. Make sure you pay attention to your surroundings—you may zoom through one of the challenges!

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

3. Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

You don’t have to travel far for adventure. You can do it right in your neighborhood. Round up the kids and their friends and have fun discovering all the ins and outs of your community.

Neighborhood scavenger hunt

4. Nature Scavenger Hunt

There’s nothing more relaxing than being in nature. Nature watching is always exciting especially when surrounded by beautiful trees, leaves, and sunshine—a perfect weekend activity for the whole family.

Nature Scavenger Hunt

5. Home Scavenger Hunt

No need to leave your house to have fun. If you have markers, puzzles and spare change, then you’ve got the perfect scavenger hunt setup! Make sure to put everything back in its place or you’ll have a messy home.

Home Scavenger Hunt

6. Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt

Keeping the kids entertained at the grocery store can be a bit tricky. But if you incorporate a scavenger hunt into the mix, you’ll have a happy crew and get your shopping done as well. The challenging part will be to not purchase those cookies.

Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt

7. Farmer’s Market Scavenger Hunt

Farmer’s markets are a great place to get your seasonal goods and mingle with your neighbors. The kids will have a great time finding sweet strawberries, beautiful flowers, and freshly baked bread.

Farmer's market scavenger hunt

8. City Scavenger Hunt

Going into the city is always an adventure. The hustle and bustle, loud noises and groups of tourists keep things exciting. Navigate your way through the streets while snapping fun pictures of taxis and bikes.

City scavenger hunt

9. Beach Scavenger Hunt

A beach scavenger hunt is fun for any age. There are many common items that can be found in just about any beach and the best part of all is everyone gets to splish-splash around. Make sure not to drop your phone in the water!

Beach scavenger hunt

10. Airport Scavenger Hunt

Traveling can be a little stressful and hectic. But once you’ve made your way through the security line, you’ll have to kill some time before your flight. Have fun snapping someone sleeping, suitcases, and laptops.

Airport scavenger hunt

There are endless possibilities to scavenger hunts, from birthday parties and holidays to vacation adventures. If a friend hosts one for a kid’s birthday party, be sure to send a thank you note so they know how much fun you and your little ones had.

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travel photo scavenger hunt

20 Fun photo scavenger hunt concepts to fortify team ties

travel photo scavenger hunt

Looking for new ways to bring your team together and also have some fun? Look no further than a classic group game: the photo scavenger hunt. A picture scavenger hunt offers entertainment, exploration, and the opportunity to come together and unwind. 

There’s one simple rule: find everything on the list, and do it before everyone else! Begin by giving everyone a list of things to find or see, and have them capture a picture as proof. Divide people up into small groups or pairs, and make sure everyone is comfortable capturing the pictures with their device. Give everyone instructions and make sure everyone is clear, and then let the games begin! The winning team will have checked off all of the suggested photo opps on the list, as well as pictures for proof. It’s the perfect activity for team building without any additional materials . 

Ready to kick the fun into high gear with some creative once or twice picture scavenger hunts? Explore our favorite ideas here. 

20 Photo scavenger hunt ideas

1. team building challenge.

Strengthen group trust and collaboration with this fun option. This is an inexpensive and easy way to bring people together. This can take place within one central building, or across a campus or even metro area. The point is that it helps people to learn more about the business they work for. For more team building activities for work or large group games , make sure to follow our blog. 

Inspiration: 

✅ Original office building

✅ CEO parking spot

✅ Most popular water cooler

✅ Company letterhead

✅ Company swag like a water bottle

✅ Item from the lunch room

✅ Unique office chair

✅ Newest colleague

✅ Most senior colleague

✅ Entire department

2. College campus hunt

College campuses are often beautiful with a lot to explore. If you are lucky enough to be located near one (or planning an event nearby), then plan a scavenger hunt for everyone. College campuses are bustling with activity, so they can be the perfect place to see lots of different things and get good sports who are happy to engage with your group and have some fun. You’re sure to find tons of fun photo opportunities to share, including historic buildings, mascot appearances, athletic souvenirs, and much more. 

✅ Oldest building on campus

✅ Unique art installation

✅ School mascot

✅ Professor 

✅ Department classroom

✅ Oldest book in the library

✅ Student organization

✅ Something from the food court

✅ Students enjoying a campus tradition

✅ Students playing frisbee

3. New hire/employee refresher

A scavenger hunt can be a great way to get new people acclimated with important areas or facts, and for the same reasons, they can be helpful in reminding current staff of the great things about your company. Make the photo hunt a part of new hire orientation or celebratory events that current employees attend. Consider coming up with prompts that show everyone the wonderful things that set your business apart, as well as the unique locations or mementos that are special to your team. Follow up with a work happy hour where people can continue to socialize. 

Inspiration:  

✅ Team member from each department

✅ Break room

✅ Specific conference room

✅ Essential technology hardware

✅ Company culture (wellness program, clubs, etc.)

✅ Members of the leadership team

✅ Cross-functional group photo

✅ Fun fact about a teammate

✅ Timeline of company events

✅ Relevant training materials

4. Selfie challenge

The majority of people have gotten pretty good at taking selfies. Indulge this practice by coming up with an entire photo scavenger hunt based around pictures that people can take of themselves. This game is super straightforward and doesn’t require much prep or any kind of investment. You can put the list together quickly and whip up a fun last-minute event using this exercise. This hunt works no matter the size of the team, so it’s a good option for team building in large groups . 

✅ Next to a statue

✅ Next to a pet

✅ Next to a grandparent

✅ In a yoga pose

✅ On their head

✅ Next to water

✅ By something that is their favorite color

✅ In front of their favorite restaurant (or in the cafeteria)

✅ Making a silly face

✅ In a sunglass reflection

5. Your city scavenger

Sometimes it's fun to be a tourist in your own town, and many people don’t get the chance to do so. Help everyone by putting together a comprehensive scavenger hunt list that highlights landmarks, attractions, etc. This is particularly fun if your office is headquartered in a certain city, while employees work in other offices or remotely. Keep in mind the larger geographic area means everyone will need more time. You’ll probably want to ensure that you have a whole afternoon reserved and also that people are set up with Ubers or walking maps to get around. 

✅ Historical landmark

✅ Locals-only restaurant or bar

✅ Most delicious dessert

✅ Vibrant street art

✅ Scenic overlook

✅ Famous statue

✅ Local legend 

✅ Most popular exhibit in the museum

✅ Natural park or green space

✅ Oldest building

6. Twelve days of Christmas

For this game, everyone will recreate the various 12 days of Christmas for photos. For instance, things like two turtle doves, five golden rings, etc. The pictures don’t need to be completely literal and people should be encouraged to get creative with their iterations. Participants could act out the behavior in the song or dress up or improvise with props. This is the perfect game for bringing out everyone’s seasonal spirit around the holidays. 

✅ Partridge in a pear tree

✅ Two turtle doves

✅ 3 French hens

✅ 4 calling birds

✅ 5 golden rings

✅ 6 geese a-laying

✅ 7 swans a swimming

✅ 8 maids a-milking

✅ 9 ladies dancing

✅ 10 lords a-leaping

✅ 11 pipers piping

✅ 12 drummers drumming

7. Special moments re-enactment

This scavenger hunt is one of the best for bringing out everyone’s creative side. This hunt requires dressing up and re-enacting important milestones throughout their life. Have people submit photos of a special moment in advance, and then use it to build the list of photo opportunities. Players can choose to recreate their own events or pick one of their teammates’. At the end of the activity, collect the “before and after” pictures. Then you can compile them into a slideshow or share the results and have everyone vote on the funniest one. You can judge on which photos are the most convincing, creative, or moving. 

✅ Baby photo

✅ Kindergarten photo

✅ Dance recital

✅ High school dance

✅ First sporting event

✅ Graduation

✅ Recreating funniest childhood photo

✅ Favorite holiday photo

✅ First home photo

8. Hometown showdown

Understanding someone’s history is an important part of knowing who they are. It’s not often that people get to learn about the pasts of their colleagues, but this photo scavenger hunt is a good start. For this exercise, people can compare their current cities and childhood homes. Participants will get a series of prompts and need to produce a photo that fits each category. This option is a smart choice for an ongoing activity. You may want to hand out the prompt list a week before everyone gets together. Give people plenty of time to collect their images and then share them at your group event. 

✅ Most delicious sandwich

✅ A local-only spot

✅ Local wildlife

✅ Sports stadium

✅ Person wearing the local sport’s team jersey

✅ Office of the largest company in town

✅ Famous statue 

✅ Park bench in a local park

✅ Building mural

✅ Cup of coffee from local cafe

9. Social media hunt

Social media scavenger hunts are a good “get to know you” exercise and kick off ongoing team bonding . To begin with, you’ll need people to opt in. Not everyone will be comfortable sharing social media or other online information, so this exercise needs to be completely voluntary. The hunt will involve browsing people’s profiles and looking for standout posts or photos. Allow everyone to spend time looking through socials to find the proper images and share answers. This activity lends itself nicely to virtual teams, too. 

✅ Random act of kindness

✅ Holiday celebration

✅ Specific hashtags

✅ From the office

✅ Best caption

✅ Influencer that people have in common

✅ Grand Canyon

✅ With a celebrity 

✅ DIY project

10. Past trips and travel

Lots of people share a love of travel. If that sounds like your team, you can encourage this hobby by having participants share photos from past trips. At the end of the activity, have everyone choose their favorite photo to share with the group and describe the moment. This is a fun way for everyone to share the most powerful moments from trips that are special to them. 

✅ Exotic animal 

✅ Creepy hostel

✅ 5-star hotel

✅ Meal from a different country

✅ Zip-lining

✅ Top of a mountain

✅ Championship sporting event

✅ At the airport

✅ In a limo

✅ In the ocean

11. Bucket list

It’s never a bad idea to encourage life goals! This is an exercise that can help everyone to get in a positive state of mind, while also learning more about each other. Get everyone’s wheels turning thinking about what they hope to achieve one day. Participants can choose a photo of themselves doing the particular activity, or they can take a photo of them doing it in real time. This is a great way to encourage people to try something new. For that reason, it’s good to make this an ongoing effort that spans weeks or months. If you want to boost participation, you may also want to provide a small stipend so that people have the funds to make arrangements. Additionally, since there are sure to be some cool experiences captured, you may want to allow video instead of just still photos. This is an excellent exercise for helping your coworkers to achieve their dreams, which shows that you really care about them and makes it the perfect team building activity for work . 

✅ Bake a cake

✅ Go skydiving

✅ Swim in the ocean

✅ Sing in front of a crowd

✅ Take a martial arts class

✅ Compete in chess

✅ Learn to play the piano

✅ Visit [a certain place] 

✅ Renew wedding vows

✅ Ride a motorcycle

12. Nature hike hunt

Get outside and enjoy some fresh air! Get people to exercise, bond with teammates, and hone powers of observation. Plan a nature walk and then stroll as a group looking for clues. The nice thing about an outdoor environment is that there are so many chances to capture cool pictures. Include this game as part of a company picnic or other outdoor team building activities . 

✅ Interesting shape tree

✅ Wooden bridge

✅ Animal footprint

✅ Painted rock

✅ Frog on a lily pad

✅ The state bird

✅ Deer tracks

✅ 4-leaf clover

13. Conference or seminar scavenger

Up the ante on your event investment by creating a game out of common things at trade shows or corporate events. This gives people a chance to step out of their comfort zone and also be more observant during the sessions. There will probably be a lot of opportunities for photos with strangers, so make sure to remind everyone to ask permission before snapping away. This adds another fun layer to a training or conference that might be mandatory. 

✅ A person you used to work with

✅ A person you always wanted to meet

✅ Guest speaker

✅ Misspelled name tag

✅ PowerPoint presentation

✅ Company swag of a certain color

✅ Tie with a national flag

✅ Lapel pin

✅ Microphone that doesn’t work

✅ Event hashtag

14. Photo filter pictures

Today’s photo apps are innovative and intuitive. Many people use filters to touch up their images, and you can make a scavenger hunt out of them. These images will focus on style over content, using special effects to create photos with filters. 

✅ Mirrored image

✅ Black and white

✅ Artistic blur

✅ Before and after

✅ “Supermodel” filter

✅ Panoramic

✅ SnapChat filter

✅ Sepia filter

✅ HDR filter

15. Beach photo hunt

Who would turn down a day at the beach? Turns out, very few people. You can be a hero by planning this hunt and making the beach part of your team’s gathering. If time (and weather) allows, try snapping photos of everyone soaking up the sun. Think about things you only typically see at the beach, and put a list together that encourages everyone to work together and have some fun. 

✅ Seashell bigger than your fist

✅ Sand castle

✅ Sand mermaid tail 

✅ Beach bucket

✅ Dog footprints

✅ Beach ball

✅ Someone applying sunscreen

✅ People playing volleyball

16. Museum moments

If you are planning an event at or near a museum or historic site, try incorporating the surroundings into the games you arrange. You can make the game educational by providing riddles or cryptic clues instead of straightforward prompts. For example, “The artist painted this picture as a gift for his mother” or “This sculpture was created in 1850 in the heart of London”. Have everyone figure out the clues and then take pictures of the appropriate exhibits or art pieces. Or, you can keep things straightforward and supply simple clues like those below. 

✅ Historical document

✅ Famous painting

✅ Sculpture bigger than you

✅ Interactive exhibit

✅ A piece displaying an animal

✅ A piece displaying a musical instrument

✅ The curator’s favorite piece

✅ The oldest piece 

✅ The newest piece

✅ Rare book

17. Phone photo album

This scavenger hunt is one of the most humorous, and also one of the fastest and easiest to run through. For this one, people use photos that are already on their phone. Players are not allowed to take new photos, but instead should browse the photos they already have in their library. This can be an independent scavenger hunt, or teams can work together to gather from their collective group. This is also a good option for virtual teams. 

✅ Homemade meal

✅ Famous landmark

✅ Their reflection in sunglasses

✅ At a concert

✅ Last Saturday

✅ With a grandparent

✅ Kid’s toy

✅ Wearing a winter hat

18. Day at the Zoo

If you are planning an event at or near your local zoo, try including the venue in your planning. Set everyone free in the park with a list of photos to take. They can be focused on animals, or other people or scenarios. For example “Eating a corn dog on a stick” or “a child with a balloon”. For more outdoor team building activities or company picnic ideas, make sure to follow our blog. 

✅ An animal eating

✅ Two animals playing

✅ A toy in a habitat

✅ A conservation message

✅ Zookeeper interacting with an animal

✅ A toy from the gift shop

✅ Animal mask

✅ Zoo brochure

19. Furry loved ones

This one is a great group option for virtual teams. Simply have everyone share their favorite picture of their pet (if they have one). No pets? Share an image of your ideal “someday” pet for all to see. 

20. Gratitude focus

Feeling thankful is incredibly productive and good for cultivating a positive attitude. Have people take pictures of five or ten things they are thankful for. This is another good option for a virtual event where people don’t need to be in the same place to participate. It’s also a simple way to start a larger event - either in person or virtual - and helps to set the best mental and emotional tone for the group. It will be personal to everyone, and everyone’s will be different. 

Top tips for an effective scavenger hunt

  • Focus on interaction - Engagement and interaction are key for a successful photo scavenger hunt. Everything should be set up in a way where participants can focus on each other as well as the photos being taken. 
  • Make people an important element - The more that people interact, the better! Make a point to set up some photo opportunities for entire groups, or pairs. Try to make the event a team effort or at least small groups to make things more fun. 
  • See some landmarks and enjoy your surroundings - A scavenger hunt is a great opportunity for enjoying your hometown or current location. Scope out some landmarks and see what makes the area unique. This also gives people a chance to stretch their legs and learn new things. In short, make the location a key part of the photo hunt!
  • Make rules clear - Everyone needs to know how photos will be used and judged, what’s allowed, time limits, etc. Make sure to cover all of this information before everyone heads out on their hunt, to keep things fair. You don’t want any disputes after the fact about who the real winner is. 
  • Give everyone the right equipment - Players don’t need professional cameras, but they do need to be able to properly take the photos. You don’t want to assume that everyone has a smartphone with a good camera, so once you have people in teams, check to make sure that someone on the team can capture the photos. It's unlikely, but a photo taking tutorial might be necessary to level the playing field before beginning. 
  • Use an app - There are a variety of apps that can streamline this process and make it simple for everyone. Try to find a mobile app ahead of time to plan and deploy your hunt, and make sure everyone has downloaded the app. Check before the scavenger hunt begins that everyone has the chosen app installed properly and that they all feel comfortable using it. 
  • Ask permission from strangers - Some prompts may encourage players to take pictures of or with other people, including strangers. You can imagine this won’t go over well with some people. Make sure that people know to ask permission before they start snapping pics. Simply letting strangers know they are part of a scavenger hunt is a respectful gesture. 
  • Include a scavenger hunt in team-building activities - Photo scavenger hunts are a great way to close out a team event or add a more interactive element to meetings. If you’re looking for a way to get people moving, socializing, and learning new things, then look no further. Carve out some space in your next event agenda for a photo scavenger hunt or other team-building exercise . 
  • Share photos as a group for extra laughs - Don’t let these great photo opps go to waste! Part of the fun is to share the pictures as a group. Make sure to allow some time for groups to share their images, maybe even choosing their favorite to share with the larger team. Some companies create a contest where each team can share their best photo and then a judge or panel can announce a winner for most creative photo. 
  • Use the best photos in a final memento project - Up the impact of your team building activity by turning the photos into a project. Consider making things like t-shirts for the group, backgrounds for Zoom or Slack, physical photo books to hand out, etc. At a minimum, create an online photo album where everyone can share their images and revisit them easily from a central location. 

Photo scavenger hunts are a great addition to team-building events

As we mentioned, scavenger hunts are perfect for adding some lightness to the team events you put together. Rather than planning them as a standalone event, try incorporating them into the agenda of your next team-building retreat or all-company meeting. Since these exercises are a great way to get to know each other, as well as explore a new location, they are perfect for bringing together various groups that may not work together often.

We suggest planning such a team-building retreat at least once and preferably twice a year, and include time for training, leadership updates, socializing, and peer recognition. If you need some assistance pulling together a great agenda, let Surf Office help. Reach out to us to get some innovative ideas on executing the perfect team-building retreat for your group.

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Road Trip Scavenger Hunt (+ Free Printables)

Home » Roadside Attractions Blog » Road Trip Games » Road Trip Scavenger Hunt (+ Free Printables)

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt (+ Free Printables)

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A road trip scavenger hunt is a fun game that keeps everyone in the car engaged! Print off a list of things to see on a road trip and keep your eyes peeled, and then award points for who sees the most and who sees what first. Play this fun road trip game on your next long car trip! #RoadTripGames #RoadTripGamesForAdults #RoadTripGamesForTeens #RoadTripGamesForKids #FamilyRoadTripGames #RoadTripGamesF0rCouples #PrintableRoadTripGames #CarRides #RoadTripGamesWithFriends #DIYRoadTripGames

Road trip games are always a fun way for passengers of any age to pass time in the car. Fun car games include Road Sign Bingo , the License Plate Game , Questions and Answers , and, of course, a road trip scavenger hunt!

Road trip scavenger hunts are a fun way to keep everyone in the car engaged! Just print off a list of things to see on a road trip , have everyone keep a copy and keep their eyes peeled, and then award points for who sees the most and who sees what first.

Ready to play?

Briarpatch Travel Scavenger Hunt Card Game for Kids, Activities for Family Vacations, Road Trips and Car Rides, Ages 6 and Up

How to Play a Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

Bonus scavenger hunt ideas, free road trip scavenger hunt printables, buy a road trip scavenger hunt set, road trip scavenger hunt list ideas, pin this road trip game to save for your next car trip.

The Road Trip Journal & Activity Book - Everything You Need to Have and Record an Epic Road Trip! By Valerie Bromann

Want more fun road trip games?

The road trip journal & activity book.

Enjoy fun games and challenges to pass the time on your next road trip and have a keepsake to look back on for years to come with this entertaining must-have for your next vacation.

  • Make a list. Make a list of things you think you’ll see on your car trip. It can be as easy (a stop sign, a hotel bed , a VW Bug ), as hard (a pressed penny machine, a Sinclair dinosaur ), or as specific (the Wall Drug Dinosaur , a billboard for 75cent ice cream ) as you’d like! Tailor your items to your own trip (including details of destinations that are on your road trip itinerary) or use the free printable PDFs below!
  • Set up a point system. Set points for each item. It can be the same 10 point award for every item or you can mix it up giving different totals to different items, depending on how hard they might be to find. You can even use a scaled-point system where the first person to see something gets 10 points, the next 9, and so on.
  • Play! Whenever a passenger sees something on the list they have to announce it and then can cross it off the list. Some items everyone can get credit for (there’s only one world’s largest cow after all) but other more common items (like a yield sign, a red car, a bridge ) go to the first person to see it.
  • Add it up. At the end of the road trip add up everyone’s points. Whoever has the most points wins! What they win is up to you. It can be anything from a physical prize, the biggest hotel bed on the last night, or choice of where to stop for lunch.
  • Use cell phone cameras and a vacation hashtag (#SmithFamilyRoadTripScavengerHunt) to keep track of everyone’s finds.
  • Use instant cameras to document your items and keep them in a photo album or a road trip scrapbook.
  • Miix it up and coming up with riddles and clues that will lead you to something new!
  • Want to continue the fun at the end of the day? Try a hotel scavenger hunt and look for all the things you can find in a hotel!

Download these free printables to play this fun find and seek game. Look for all the items you’ll see from your car and see who can get them all first!

Free Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Free Printable Game Sheet

Free Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Printable Game Sheet

Print a copy of this sheet for everyone in the car to play a Road Trip Scavenger Hunt. Which of these commonly found items can you find?

Free Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Printable Game Sheet Photo Scrap Book

Photo Scrap Book Sheet

Create a photo scrap book of your finds by printing out photo sheets to use with an instant camera . Tape or glue your instant photos to these pages and mark them with the finder’s name, the item, and the day and time the spotted the item!

Blank Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Printable

Blank Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Printable

Download this blank road trip game sheet to customize your own car scavenger hunt. What do you think you’ll see on your road trip?

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt for Adults

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt for Adults

If you need road trip scavenger hunt ideas for adults, think of some harder to find things or things that wouldn’t be as fun for kids. Treat the game more like a selfie challenge and see who can get the best photos in all the best places on the list.

Don’t have a printer or want something reusable and sturdy that will last for many road trips to come? Buy a pre-made set online and keep it in your car for road trip fun!

Scavenger Hunt Road Trip – Traveling Card Game for Long Road Trips

This family-friendly road trip game is designed to engage, educate, and entertain everyone in the car. With 110 cards, the game provides hours of entertainment in the car.

Briarpatch Travel Scavenger Hunt Card Game for Kids

54 playing cards let kids have fun searching for objects like a red car, a license plate with the letter ”Z,” or a stop sign.

merka Roadtrip Activites for Kids Road Trip Essentials Kids Roadtrip Games License Plate Game Road Trip Travel Scavenger Hunt Set Objects to Find On Road License Plates 96 Flashcards

Travel Scavenger Hunt Game for Kids

This travel scavenger hunt game is both fun and educational. It features 96 cards with license plates from all 50 states and teaches about US geography, object recognition, and early reading.

Highway Hunt Card Game

With 54 scavenger hunt cards Highway Hunt is a classic search and find card game that has been re-designed for the road.

Whether you’re road tripping through Wyoming or visiting Disneyland, road trip games will entertain everyone in the car while you go. Make your own game by taking inspiration from any of the road trip scavenger hunt list ideas below, or anything else you think you might see on the way to your destination!

  • A Hotel (Hyatt, Holiday Inn, Best Western, Marriott, Hilton, Days Inn, Travelodge)
  • A Fast Food Restaurant (McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Popeyes, Dunkin’ Donuts)
  • A Car (Red, Blue, Pink, Jeep, SUV, Honda Accord, Volkswagen)
  • A Gas Station (BP, Sinclair, Love’s, Buc-ee’s)
  • A Natural Landform (a volcano, a canyon, a cave, a mountain, a lake, an ocean)
  • A Landmark (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore , the Golden Gate Bridge)
  • A National Park (Yellowstone, Acadia, Zion, Yosemite)
  • An Animal in a Car
  • Roadside Attraction
  • Scenic Overlook
  • Vanity License Plate
  • A Personalized Souvenir
  • Neon Motel Sign
  • Giant Mural
  • Weird Museum
  • “Welcome to” State Sign
  • Local Diner
  • Road Work Sign
  • Convertible with its Top Down

Add any of these road signs to your road trip scavenger hunt game card!

  • Crossbuck Sign
  • Dead End Sign
  • Deer Crossing Sign
  • Divided Highway Sign
  • Do Not Enter Sign
  • Do Not Pass Sign
  • Interstate Sign
  • Keep Right Sign
  • Men at Work Sign
  • Narrow Bridge Sign
  • No Left Turn Sign
  • No Passing Zone Sign
  • No U-Turn Sign
  • One Way Sign
  • Pedestrian Crossing Sign
  • Railroad Crossing Sign
  • Road Narrows Sign
  • School Crossing Sign
  • Side Road Sign
  • Slippery Road Sign
  • Slow Moving Vehicle Sign
  • Speed Limit Sign
  • Two Way Traffic Sign
  • Winding Road Sign

A road trip scavenger hunt is a fun game that keeps everyone in the car engaged! Print off a list of things to see on a road trip and keep your eyes peeled, and then award points for who sees the most and who sees what first. Play this fun road trip game on your next long car trip!  #RoadTripGames #RoadTripGamesForAdults #RoadTripGamesForTeens #RoadTripGamesForKids #FamilyRoadTripGames #RoadTripGamesF0rCouples #PrintableRoadTripGames #CarRides #RoadTripGamesWithFriends #DIYRoadTripGames

Photo by Reinhart Julian on Unsplash

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Valerie Bromann

Founder & road trip expert.

Valerie Bromann is a a website manager, content creator, and writer from Chicago, Illinois (currently living in Dallas, Texas). As an avid road tripper who has visited hundreds of roadside attractions, Val always pull over for a world’s largest thing. Founder of Silly America and author of The Road Trip Journal & Activity Book , she visits, photographs, and writes about all the weird tourist destinations she visits and offers road trip planning advice and inspiration based on her own travels so you can hit the road for yourself.

World's Largest Mailbox in Casey, Illinois roadside attraction

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Last modified: December 6, 2023 Category: Road Trip Games , Road Trip Planning

What to Wear on a Road Trip

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The Road Trip Journal & Activity Book - Everything You Need to Have and Record an Epic Road Trip! By Valerie Bromann

Everything You Need to Have and Record an Epic Road Trip!

By valerie bromann.

The road trip you’ve been dreaming of starts here! Journal about your stops and get to know your fellow passengers with activities and exercises designed to pass the time and bring you closer together. Instead of “Are we there yet?” you’ll find yourself asking, “We’re there already?”. Complete with prompts you can turn to while driving between locations, this journal will one day be a memento of your life-changing trip.

Silly America

Silly America - The best roadside attractions in America and road trip inspiration and road trip planning and advice.

Silly America is a roadside attractions blog designed to help travelers find unique stops for their next road trip. The website is a tribute to the great American road trip, devoted to all that is odd in America: roadside attractions, tourist traps, peculiar destinations, bizarre events, road food, fun festivals, and more! It’s a travel website and trip planner for those seeking an offbeat road trip.

Explore Roadside Attractions by State

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© 2007-2024 Silly America

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travel photo scavenger hunt

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt For Kids And Adults {Free Printable}

When we go for a long car trip, I always need a way to keep my kids entertained. This road trip scavenger hunt is exactly what we need!

Some links in this article are affiliate links that may earn me a commission if you purchase through them.

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt { Free Printable }

Growing up, I always had music in the car and car bingo . We had no movies, and Mean Mom (me) uses that same mantra for my own children.

We always took a ton of road trips, whether driving from wherever we lived at the time to Chicago to visit family or driving to Florida for vacation (and let me tell you, that drive from Minnesota is loooooong), and we did all sorts of car games.

The wee ones don’t like bingo, however. It doesn’t last long enough for them, and they inevitably find that their bingo doesn’t fit for where we happen to be at the time.

Whether it’s a trip in the car to the city where we’ll never find that elusive cow they need to be able to shout bingo or we’re on the long rural road trip where it’s semi after car with just fields on the side, they never hit bingo. They get frustrated, and so I came up with a new idea.

Road trip scavenger hunt

How to Play with the Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

Now that they’re older, we can do something more complex that will take a little more time – and be more fun for all of us. I created versions of tween and up road trip scavenger hunts.

Depending on our moods, we have various rules as to how you win, but a few things always hold constant. Your “find” has to be verified by someone else in the car, and only the first person to spot a specific item on the scavenger hunt list gets credit for that specific find.

In other words, if I see a billboard for a gas station, no one else can count that billboard. Instead, they have to wait until the next gas station billboard to earn any points.

Surprisingly, this doesn’t lead to many arguments. The wee ones are smart enough to know that if they refuse to acknowledge that the other child saw something, that denied child won’t acknowledge that they saw something – suddenly everyone plays fair, especially when I’m playing with them!

Typically, we’ll give the first person to spot an item on the list 2 points and everyone after that only gets one point. If it’s a short trip, we’ll say that only the first person gets any points for spotting an item on the list.

That holds true if we do a timed version of the game, as sometimes we just need a short distraction and will play for 15 minutes. Little Miss loves setting the timer on her watch so we know exactly when to count up points.

Most of the time, however, we play an open game for the entire trip, which is why there’s such a wide and varied list of items on the scavenger hunt. We want it to be a bit of a challenge, and it’s best when not every item can be checked off easily.

How boring if you find everything in the first fifteen minutes!

Make Your Own Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

To create these at home, print them off and then laminate them, which means you can use the tween road trip scavenger hunts over and over. It also makes them more durable and easier to write on than they would be if it was simply a sheet of printed paper.

If you don’t have a home laminator , pick one up! They aren’t super expensive, and I use mine all the time to save everything from special kid artwork to kid to do lists (which keep me from nagging and get them focused on what they need to do) to packing lists for camping or travel and so much more.

I find that gluing them to cardstock or printing them directly on cardstock and then laminating them works even better if you have kids who are hard on their belongings, but the wee ones like them this way.

I print them double sided, so it’s easy to flip over from our in town road trip scavenger hunt to a highway road trip scavenger hunt.

Laminating road trip scavenger hunt

Once they’re laminated, punch a hole in the top corner, and screw a quick link into the hole.

The quick links are great because they don’t unclip like a regular carabiner. Make sure you pick up ones in different colors for each on you print or paint them with nail polish so people know which one belongs to who!

Punch hole for road trip scavenger hunt

Tie string to your quick link and tape or glue it so that it doesn’t come undone. Ensure the string is not quite as long as the road trip scavenger hunt paper, and attach the top of a dry erase marker to the string with tape.

This way, no one can lose the top (something we have an issue with in our house!) and you have all the tools you need to play in one convenient place.

Playing road trip scavenger hunt

Get the  free printable  for this road trip scavenger hunt!

Save this road trip scavenger hunt to print again.

Free printable of road trip scavenger hunt

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Was looking around the web to find scavenger hunt ideas for younger kids in my Escape Room. It’s kind of an outdoor thing but want them to find things in the “room” without moving them. Eg the colour of the jewels on the Princess’ tiara, but was running out of question ideas.

Am sure I can use some of your ideas, so thanks for the inspiration.

I’m also the queen of laminating. Great idea about the pen lids but I’m inclined to find a way to attach it that’s more secure than tape.

Thanks muchly

I’m glad you find this helpful. We were using it in a fairly secure place – just sitting in the car – so tape worked for us, but if you have kids out doing a scavenger hunt, I can see where you would want a more secure way to attach them. Maybe a hot glue gun?

I love you. Thank you so much for coming up with these lists. I was in the process of making my own, when I found your site. You’ve saved me tons of time. 🙂

You’re welcome. I’m so glad you are enjoying this. We use this every road trip, and my kids are 17 and 19 now!

I love the convenience of getting my oil changed at Walmart! We don’t have kids yet but we try to look for license plates in alphabetical order, play Slug Bug, etc- this Scavenger Hunt is a great idea for when my niece and I drive to Oregon this Summer!

Oooo alphabetical order license plates is hard! I used to play slug bug all the time, but we had to stop that with kids who don’t get the ummm gentle portion of it! Definitely print this off and have fun with it when you head to Oregon. That’ll be a gorgeous road trip!

What a way to entertain on a road trip!!! No tell me what that magazine is please. I want to read those pages!!! Hazelnut spread and cucumbers…so me.

I think it’s fun 🙂 The magazine is Cooks Illustrated. It’s my all.time. favorite. All the reasons why, the testing, the science behind things. I love love love it. But I no longer have a subscription, so I check it out when I can!

That road trip scavenger hunt is an awesome idea! Forget the kids, I think I’m going to keep one of these in the car for when my wife and I go on roadtrips! Thanks for sharing. #client

I love that you would have fun with this, too! I know I’d enjoy it, too – that’s always a goal where I enjoy what they’re doing since I get to participate and play, too 😉 Just… not while I’m driving, right?

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt: Free Printable Lists for Toddlers to Teens

By: Chrissy

Posted on Last updated: March 24, 2024

Print out a road trip scavenger hunt list the next time you get ready to hit the open road with the kids. There are three printable scavenger hunt and a road trip I-spy to print out, so whether you have a little one or big kids, there’s a game here that’s just for them!

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

We took our first road trip with our fourteen year old daughter when she was just a tiny baby only a few weeks old. We were living far from family and it was the only way to bring her to meet everyone while being able to bring the dogs.

And it was a loooong trip: from Missouri to Florida. With a 4 week old baby. Two dogs. Over two long days of travel. It turns out it was just the beginning of our experiences traveling with the kids.

Since then we’ve driven thousands of miles with the kids and dogs, all over the country (literally from coast to coast) and we’ve got amazing memories to show for it.

One of the things that makes long car trips easier, and more fun, is having a few road trip games up your sleeve.

Now that the kids are getting older, I’ll admit the road trips are easier. But I still love playing some games every now and then with them, just for fun.

Road Trip Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts are one of my all time favorite games to play in the car with the kids because it gets everyone to pay attention to what’s going on outside.

It’s so fun to play together as a family, but you can also print out copies for everyone and make the games a competition. Basically whoever spots the item on the list first gets the credit for that one, but at least one other person has to also see it to confirm the item was actually there!

If you have a road trip planned for the summer or over a break you can use one of these free road trip scavenger hunt printables for your kids. I made sure to make a few since different kids have different needs.

Go ahead and take a look at the different road trip scavenger hunt ideas for different ages, then at the bottom of the post you’ll find the download link to print them out at home.

For Toddlers through Kindergarten

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt printable

This visual road trip scavenger hunt is perfect for younger kids who aren’t reading yet. The colorful pictures make it easy for little ones to play, and it’s a fun and simple language learning activity you can add to your arsenal of road trip boredom busters.

Just think of all the new words your little one will learn on this adventure to someplace new!

I recommend laminating this sheet to protect it, so that you can feel free to let your toddler or preschooler hold on to it and look closely at the pictures.

For Big Kids

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt for bigger kids

Once kids are reading on their own they’re ready for a bigger list with fewer pictures. This road trip scavenger hunt for big kids is probably a good choice for kids ages 6-10.

With a total of 26 objects to find, it fits right in the middle between the simpler picture version for younger kids and the long list below for tweens and teens. However, I would recommend having both on hand for this age in case your kids are ready for a bigger challenge when they finish this list.

For Tweens and Teens

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt for teens

Tweens and teens will be up for a bigger challenge, so this scavenger hunt list has 50 items for them to find. There are a few easy ones and some that they’ll really have to keep their eyes open for.

If your kids are reluctant to put down their phones for a few minutes to participate, don’t give up. I have a solution.

You can incorporate their phones into this game by turning it into a road trip photo scavenger hunt. Instead of calling out the items, participants must get a photo! Then, at the end everyone can look at their photo feed and see how many items everyone found.

Road Trip I Spy (A-Z Scavenger Hunt)

road trip I-spy

The last printable scavenger hunt for your road trip is really fun and simple, and honestly you can do it without a printout.

Having this printable I Spy scavenger hunt on your long car ride will give you the option of having a friendly competition among family members since everyone can record the things they find on their own lists.

To play, you say “I spy with my little eye something that begins with A”. Then everyone looks outside the car to see who can spot something that starts with the letter A. We play pretty loosely, so if you see a bird, you could say “animal”. Then write it down and go on to B, and so on.

Play however works best for your family, but I recommend taking a couple minutes before you start playing to lay out the ground rules about what on and off limits. Like, inside vs outside the car. Words on signs or vehicles. And so on.

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Printables

I hope you have so much fun on your road trip and find these scavenger hunt printables and ideas helpful for making the time pass.

  • Create a make-a-monster travel game for kids using an Altoid tin box
  • Get over 50 ideas for fun things to do on a rainy day with the kids

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Tuesday 26th of April 2022

Love this! So great how you gave examples for all ages.

Debbie Kagan

Monday 28th of June 2021

thank you! just what my 10 year old needs for our trip!

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Scavenger Hunt » Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

The ULTIMATE Road Trip Scavenger Hunt (Printable)

Road trips can be long and boring, especially for kids.

While they might have brought some things along to do, they can easily get bored enough to start asking when you are going to arrive and what else they can do with their time. Stopping at places of interest can make the days or hours more fun, but you cannot stop every hour just to keep your passengers from getting bored.

The answer to your long road trip may be to plan a road trip scavenger hunt!

This is a great way to get everyone involved in the adventurous nature of a road trip and to help pass the time. Kids and adults alike can have a great time participating in a road trip scavenger hunt, and you won't struggle planning this event when you use this printable to help you get organized.

What is a Road Trip Scavenger Hunt?

A road trip scavenger hunt consists of a list of items, riddles, and/or clues, typically designed around the points of interest or objects typically found on the road, for passengers to track down, solve, or answer.

There are many ways that you can plan your scavenger hunt that takes place during a road trip .

Most people use a basic list and just let everyone involved in the trip work hard to spot the things on the list first. This can lead to a prize that is given at the end of the hunt or the end of the trip, whichever comes first. There is no wrong way to plan a road trip scavenger hunt and you can add as many layers of fun to your road trip hunting as you want.

You can also choose to link scavenger hunting to adventures that you are planning to engage in as you travel. This will take a little more investment of time before you leave home, but it can make the entire trip more meaningful for everyone involved. If you haven’t ever planned this kind of adventure before, you will love having this free printable on your side.

How to Make a Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

First, you'll want to come up with a list of items for passengers to find or solve which will be the crux of your adventure. These can be objects, riddles, clues, and/or trivia. Assign different point values based on difficulty figure out the right mix based on your group.

Typically, most items on this type of scavenger hunt will be object-based or location-based. For objects, consider items you might see on the highway, rest stop, restaurants, gas stations, other cars, etc.

The other option is to make check-in locations the source for clues or other forms of games, which can be done at the end of the trip when all the check-ins have been completed. If you know the route that you are taking with some reliability or you have some specific hotels or other stops that you are planning to make, you can tailor your scavenger hunt around these stops and have everyone participate in games and other adventures as you travel.

Next, assemble the materials. Print your list so that passengers can track their progress.

Lastly, provide some incentives! Keep everyone engaged by offering a small prize to the winner or top finishers. 

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Ideas, Clues, and Riddles

1. the simple list.

Giving everyone in your group a list of things to find is easiest, and it allows for the game to be played the entire time that you are driving. This is one of the most straightforward ways to plan this kind of hunt, and kids of all ages can participate in this kind of hunt. Just make sure that very young children have a pictures-only version of the sheet, so they don’t have to read.

This is by far the most common way to organize this kind of hunting adventure, and it offers the most continuous hunting experience if you have lots of hours of open highway to cover.

Road trip scavenger hunt ideas

2. Hunt At Stops Along the Way

If you have been planning a road trip that is based around specific stops that you want to make, these stops can be the places where clues are handed out, and things like puzzle pieces or words are given to the team to be used for a puzzle completion task at the end of the trip. This will not fill the hours in between stops as much as the list idea, but it can keep hunters busy at each stop and enrich the experience of visiting the places you are stopping at along the route.

This is the same as the list scavenger hunt in some ways, but it can be even easier to set up. Just give everyone a list of all the letters in the alphabet and have them find something along the way that starts with that letter. I Spy is a really classic road trip game that everyone knows, so you will not have to explain the rules to anyone to get started hunting. Make sure that everyone states these findings out loud, or they don’t count!

  • Feeling cold? Don’t Forget me! I can keep you warm and toasty! – coat
  • Take a gulp and cool yourself down. When it comes to beverages, I am the one that wears the hydration crown! – water
  • It’s been a long day and now you need to rest. Be sure to pull back the covers and enjoy me nice and fresh! – bed
  • Here I am, and there I go. I can move really fast and take you where you want to go! – Car
  • Camping out? Keep me near! I can scare away things like bears and deer! – flashlight
  • Don’t frown at me because I help make things clear. Lean close to me and you can tell what you look like without fear! – mirror
  • I am always running, but I never walk. I might sing, but I never talk. I have hands and I have a face. You can use me to tell your pace. – clock
  • Fill me up, and I will get fat. You will like me best like that. – wallet
  • Without me, your morning routine is never complete. I give you fresh breath and pretty teeth!- toothbrush
  • Jump inside me on a hot summer’s day. I will keep the heat at bay! – pool
  • Woof is what I say all day. I will love you in every possible way. – dog
  • Some people say I look like cotton candy. I am fluffy, light, and dandy. I like in the sky by the sun, I can also bring the rain, which makes me fun!- cloud
  • I am green and brown and really tall. I also change colors in the fall. – tree
  • You might see me when the weather turns cold. If you are driving in the mountains, the sight of me never gets old! – snow

Adult Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

Adults can enjoy the ideas in this guide just as much as kids can.

You can up the stakes by making sure that people get prizes for being willing to do extra-difficult tasks at each stop. Make each place that you visit a chance for your teams to fill out a small list of tasks. The team that gets the most tasks done at each stop by the end of the trip wins!

The stops that you are making during an adult road trip might be different than those that would apply when traveling with kids. Make sure that you do not neglect opportunities to have a great time at these stops with adult-focused games and adventures! You can add these stops to your scavenger hunt planning with ease if you plan ahead a little bit.

There are various ways to make these scavenger-hunting ideas more adult-focused with just a little creativity!

You can make the riddles and clues harder, make the list of things to find longer, or add some items like visits to pubs or other adult-only places in order to check in or complete an activity. Don’t overthink your planning of an adult road trip scavenger hunt, either. All of us are just big kids at heart, after all!

Scavenger hunt on road trips

Printable Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

Using this printable will help you to get your scavenger hunt planned and ready to use as soon as you hit the road . You can change the details of your hunt with ease when you use this scavenger hunt printable. There is no reason to struggle to make a scavenger hunt all on your own when you have such great tools at hand!

If you're hosting a team building event and need something more professional and interactive, check out the Scavify app which uses, photos, videos, QR codes, GPS for check-ins, and trivia to create the best possible hunting experience. This is a great way to track the activities of your road trip scavenger hunt and share memories about the adventure later on!

Building a Scavenger Hunt?

Scavify is the world's most interactive and trusted scavenger hunt app. Contact us today for a demo, free trial, and pricing.

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21 Best Scavenger Hunt Ideas For Adults (Updated)

By: Grace He | Updated: November 15, 2023

Here is our list of the best scavenger hunt ideas for adults .

Scavenger hunts ideas are games that challenge participants to perform activities or find listed items. Examples of scavenger hunt ideas for adults include office scavenger hunts, travel scavenger hunts, beach scavenger hunts, and art scavenger hunts. These activities help adults build critical thinking skills, bond with other team members, and teach social interaction skills. Certain types of hunts can also double as a fun form of exercise.

These challenges are examples of team building games . For more tips, check out our guide to virtual scavenger hunts , list of DIY scavenger hunt clues and these treasure hunt ideas .

scavenger-hunt-ideas

This list includes:

  • funny scavenger hunt ideas
  • outdoor scavenger hunt ideas
  • crazy scavenger hunt ideas
  • cool scavenger hunt ideas
  • city scavenger hunt ideas

Let’s go!

List of scavenger hunt ideas for adults

From GPS scavenger hunts to nature scavenger hunts to virtual scavenger hunts, here is our list of best scavenger hunts for adults.

1. Museum Hack Scavenger Hunt (Team Favorite)

travel photo scavenger hunt

Your team can go on the museum adventure of a lifetime with the Museum Hack Scavenger Hunt! Our knowledgeable hosts will guide you through the museum, where you will solve puzzles and take incredible photos.

Museum Hack Scavenger Hunt includes the following:

  • a 90-minute experience led by a knowledgeable host
  • engaging stories that introduce you to the fascinating world of art
  • interactive photo and trivia games that connect you to the artwork
  • activities designed to help you appreciate art and artifacts

The cost of the experience includes entry to the museum, making the planning process simple. With this captivating hunt, you will learn a whole new way to appreciate culture!

Learn more about the Museum Hack Scavenger Hunt .

2. Midtown Manhattan Photo Scavenger Hunt (Popular)

travel photo scavenger hunt

The Midtown Manhattan Photo Scavenger Hunt is a fantastic way to explore vibrant cities from a new perspective. We offer various in-person photo scavenger hunts, including three in New York City and several in cities nationwide.

Here is what this experience includes:

  • sightseeing from Madison Square Park to Bryant Park
  • a knowledgeable host revealing Midtown’s best-kept secrets
  • a spirited photo scavenger hunt capturing unforgettable moments
  • location-based trivia and captivating photo challenges
  • a group photo on the steps of the New York Public Library

Through this experience, teams can see cities like never before. So consider including one of our scavenger hunts in your itinerary!

Learn more about the Midtown Manhattan Photo Scavenger Hunt .

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3. Storage room hunt

Most storage rooms contain relics of the past. This hunt is a great idea that will take your team way back in memory lane. Younger generations will also learn about items that they never knew existed!

Here are some storage room hunt ideas:

  • Ask participants to find old computers running on outdated operating systems. If the machines are functional, participants can take a picture of the start menu or a video of a team member using the computer.
  • Ask participants to find video or tape cassettes
  • Ask participants to find old cell phones and take a picture. A player can try to use the cell phone if it is functional
  • Ask participants to find old magazines and share exciting insights that they learn

Participants can also search for items stored in their homes and share the pictures with the team. Then, to make the game more interesting, ask participants to explain the function of the found item and name the modern-day replacement.

4. Office scavenger hunt

Office scavenger hunts are excellent team building activities for groups. Employees will have fun, bond, and get time away from their desks. For office scavenger hunts, divide participants into various teams. Employees will find the listed items within a specified time. You can give the winning team an incentive such as a prize or a paid day off.

Here are office scavenger hunt ideas:

  • Spot all the exit signs in the building and tell other participants these locations. If a team misses even one exit point, they lose points.
  • Take a photo or a video of the newest employees and recite the company motto together. The hunt is one of the best ways to introduce new employees to a team and help them learn about the company’s history.
  • Take a photo of workers who are born in different decades. You can give bonus points to teams that share photos of participants born beyond two decades ago.
  • Take a selfie with the boss. You can request a goofy photo or an official one. Ensure that the manager is aware of the activity beforehand.
  • Find four coworkers sending emails and three coworkers drinking water
  • Take a selfie in the meeting room, office kitchen, or outside the accounts department
  • Take a picture of a bird flying outside the office or an animal outside the office
  • Find ten employees who have worked in the company for more than five years
  • Find an employee who is two years older and take a selfie
  • Find six employees wearing both glasses and a watch

Office scavenger hunts are an excellent way to break the monotony of work and help officemates get to know each other. If you are dealing with an unproductive team, then you can try to incorporate some of these ideas into the work schedule.

Here is a list of office scavenger hunt templates to try.

5. Virtual office scavenger hunt

Virtual work arrangements can cause a disconnect between employees. The distance can be a cause of friction or unproductivity in your company. A virtual office scavenger hunt involves searching for items in the home or nearby venues. Once the participants find these items, ask them to share the objects via an online collaborative tool like Zoom.

Examples of virtual office scavenger hunt prompts:

  • Share a picture of your favorite coffee mug
  • Share your home office view
  • Find an object that you no longer need, yet you cannot let go
  • Share your favorite item or spot in your home
  • Recreate an old family photo. Participants will share both the old and recreated photo.
  • Take a funny pet selfie
  • Share a snapshot of your home office setup

Virtual hunts are among cool scavenger hunt ideas to motivate teams during online meetings or afternoon slumps. These scavenger hunts will boost workers’ creativity and help coworkers feel connected even when they are miles apart.

6. Photo scavenger hunts

Photo hunts are one of the most accessible scavenger hunt ideas. These hunts utilize a camera or smartphone. The activity requires teams to find listed items, recreate acts, and take pictures to share with the team. You can have the team compete for the most creative, clear, or promptly picture taken. Participants can share the items by screen sharing or file dropping during a Zoom call, uploading to a shared photo album, adding to an office bulletin board, or posting to a Slack thread.

Examples of photo scavenger hunt ideas:

  • Local landmarks
  • A popular eatery. Participants can order a meal that they have never tried and share the pictures along with comments
  • The last drink or meal
  • Silly dares like goofy faces
  • Statue imitations
  • Items in the home that start with certain letters of the alphabet
  • Players doing their favorite home activities like cooking, playing video games, baking, cleaning, sleeping
  • The funniest object players can find
  • The most relaxing space in their homes
  • A cloud that looks like an animal
  • An item that costs 99 cents

You can frame the pictures or create a scrapbook. Teams can also present the photos and explain the challenges they experienced in the activity. For instance, you may find that statue imitations will be challenging for most participants. Photo scavenger hunts can help participants sharpen their photography skills which are vital in marketing and social media purposes.

Find more fun photo scavenger hunt ideas .

7. Nature scavenger hunts

Nature scavenger hunts are one of the most fun activities for adults. You can plan the hunt in a nature preserve, during a team hike, or in participants’ backyards. Participants will find items listed by following clues. You can make the exercise even more interesting by engaging the participant’s different senses. For instance, players can find things that they can smell or things that they can hear.

Examples of nature scavenger hunts:

  • Name three types of trees that grow in the area
  • Take pictures of ten different kinds of leaves
  • Pluck five flowers that have a strong scent
  • Find a stick longer than your arm
  • Take a picture of a heavy object
  • Find something light enough to float on water
  • Retrieve an item smaller than your thumb
  • Capture a video of a flying bird
  • Make a simple craft using collected leaves or sticks
  • List five animals that you can hear
  • Collect items that ruin nature and discard them appropriately

Nature hunts are one of the best outdoor scavenger hunt ideas. These activities can help to emphasize the importance of conservation. You can also teach the participants fascinating details about various animals or trees. Your team will play a huge role in environmental conservation by collecting trash from nature and safely discarding it while also having fun. Ensure to observe safety measures when engaging in any nature scavenger hunts.

8. Neighborhood scavenger hunts

If you want to create a sense of communal belonging, then this scavenger hunt is one of the best ideas. For this hunt, ask participants to randomly knock on their neighbors’ houses or chit-chat with the neighbors they meet along the way. The participants will inform neighbors that they are on a scavenger hunt and can ask for help finding items on the list. Players can also take selfies with the neighbors who do not mind.

Participants can also look for items in the neighborhood and share them with team members. This activity is a great scavenger hunt idea for adults working from home as it will get them moving.

Here are some suggested prompts:

  • A unique building in the neighborhood
  • Landmarks in the neighborhood
  • The number of houses in the neighborhood
  • Visit a veteran who lives in the neighborhood

Neighborhood scavenger hunts may seem like one of the most outgoing and crazy scavenger hunt ideas. While the game may seem awkward at first, your team will get out of their comfort zone, welcome new neighbors, and make new friends. However, advise players to be careful not to irritate the neighbors. For example, if they need to knock on their neighbors’ doors, only one knock is enough. Also, some neighbors will not like it if participants take pictures of their property, so advise participants to be careful and observe the communal regulations.

9. Zoo scavenger hunts

A visit to the zoo is a great way to break the work monotony for adults. In this game, players get to see and learn fun facts about different animals. For this hunt, prepare a list of activities that participants will do or pictures to take.

Examples of zoo scavenger hunt ideas:

  • Find a monkey and take a video of a participant imitating it
  • Take a video of a participant feeding a giraffe
  • Identify animals that are at risk of being extinct
  • List all animals that are present in the zoo. Participants who omit any animal lose points
  • Try out different snacks and food offered by food vendors at the zoo
  • Take a picture of a sleeping animal

The activity may require participants to visit zoos that have strict rules. Encourage the teams to get clarification of the rules and observe these guidelines. For instance, most zoos have a no-feed animal policy. Therefore, it is advisable not to urge participants to feed the animals unless it is allowed in the zoo.

10. Stream scavenger hunt

I love watching a good show with a group of friends. We often look forward to discussing the characters and sharing activities. For the activity, look for a show that most participants have not watched. You can also select an educational documentary. Then, provide a link where all participants can watch the show simultaneously.

  • Screenshot a scene that has a red mug
  • Accurately recite one actor’s line
  • Recreate a part of the show with family and share it with other participants
  • Dress up as a character and snap pictures
  • Explain what you learn in the show or documentary

The hunt idea is perfect for a Friday night. You can make the activity fair by giving the team three options of shows to stream and choosing the option that gets the most votes.

Here is a list of team building movies you can stream together.

11. Video scavenger hunts

If you want to have a good laugh with your team, then this hunt is a must-try. This hunt is similar to a photo scavenger hunt. However, employees record one-minute videos and share the results with the team. You can start by grouping the participants into different teams. The teams will find a short video and perform it for all participants.

Suggested prompts:

  • Recreate a popular TikTok dance and share it with the team. You can also select a specific dance that all participants recreate
  • Take a video of the most exciting event of the day. Bonus points for participants joined by family members
  • Record your reaction to a viral trend or activity
  • Record the busiest stress in your city
  • Take a video of a rare animal
  • Compose a video mimicking a renowned journalist. You can read the news or host a guest in your show
  • Record a video of your family or friend singing a popular song
  • Share a video of something funny that your children did

For a virtual scavenger hunt, the participants will record the videos and share them via an online collaborative tool. My team recently had this activity where every team performed their short videos via Zoom. This event is among my favorite funny scavenger hunt ideas.

12. Beach scavenger hunt

Beach hunts are among the best scavenger hunt ideas for adults in the summer . Participants can enjoy the nice weather as they bond with other team members. For this activity, plan a day trip to the beach as a team. You can also ask the participants to visit the beach, find the listed items and take pictures to share with the team.

Examples of beach scavenger hunt ideas:

  • Water animals
  • Items buried in the sand. This prompt is an excellent idea for a collective visit to the beach. The team leaders will bury objects in the sand and ask the participants to find the items
  • Give one fun fact about the first water animal you find
  • A person wearing the same beachwear
  • Something slimy
  • A beach sign – and explain its meaning
  • A picture of a boat out in the water
  • An unbroken seashell
  • Partake in a water sport and take a picture/ video
  • A heart-shaped rock
  • Animal tracks
  • Something made of wood

While beach scavenger hunts are fun and easy, stress the importance of safety. Do not ask the participants to partake in activities that may be risky. This exercise can also be an educational activity where participants can learn about different beach-dwelling animals.

13. Travel scavenger hunt

Travel scavenger hunts are a great idea to keep participants attentive while on the road. For this activity, you will prepare a list of items that participants can spot while on the random travels. Travel hunts are an excellent idea for remote work teams or teams with work assignments that necessitate travel.

Here are some prompts:

  • An animal crossing the road
  • The oldest building in the city
  • An airplane
  • An ambulance
  • Fire station
  • Post office
  • A red wagon
  • A grocery store
  • A fast-food restaurant
  • A car pulling a trailer
  • A vegetable garden
  • A yellow car
  • A flashing red light
  • A person riding a bike
  • A person singing in the car

The hunt is a fun activity that will keep participants connected. Travel hunts also teach players to be present while traveling. Be sure to advise participants to maintain safety when taking pictures, especially while driving or exploring an unfamiliar area.

14. GPS scavenger hunt

If you are looking for fun city scavenger hunt ideas, then a GPS scavenger hunt is your best bet! The GPS scavenger hunt is an interactive activity for adults that helps participants get to know new cities. For this activity, you will incorporate GPS locations on the clues, and players will use their smartphones to find the answers.

Examples of GPS scavenger hunts:

  • Provide participants with a GPS address. Players will walk ten steps to the right and take a picture of the building or monument that they see. Each participant must share their results.
  • Participants will share the name of the fast-food joint opposite the GPS location.
  • Participants will travel two miles from the starting place and recreate the most famous monument
  • Participants will find a list of attractions at the provided GPS location and share interesting facts

Incorporating the GPS scavenger hunts is a great way to learn about a new location and to master GPS skills. This activity will also get the team out of their comfort zone and help them to explore a new city. Ensure to provide safe GPS locations for your groups and avoid dangerous areas.

Here is a list of scavenger hunt apps that can help with this hunt.

15. Meme scavenger hunts

Memes are images, videos, or texts that internet users share on digital platforms. Meme scavenger hunts are fun for team leaders who want to include digital tools in the hunt. For this activity, participants will send memes that best describe various situations.

Here are scavenger meme ideas;

  • Memes that describe your current feeling
  • Memes that describe what you are doing
  • Memes that show what your pet is doing
  • Memes that describe the weather

You can make this activity enjoyable by asking the participants to share memes exclusively from their phone libraries. To ensure the hunt remains fair to everyone, you can ask the players to download some memes before the game begins.

16. Digital scavenger hunts

Digital scavenger hunts are challenges that involve devices like smartphones, apps, and computers. Participants will perform tasks or find listed things in their digital devices for these activities.

Examples of digital scavenger hunts:

  • Change the smartphone setting to a dark theme and share the screenshot
  • Share the first ad that you see from YouTube and explain whether you find it captivating. This challenge is a great hunt idea for the digital marketing department
  • Share the app that you use most on your phone. You can use this hunt to teach participants how to reduce over-dependence on digital devices
  • Find an online restaurant and share the virtual menu with the team. Participants can also list their favorite items from the menu
  • List all the apps that you have installed
  • Share one trick to keep digital devices organized
  • Share the last picture or video you took with your phone
  • Share an app that you cannot do without
  • List one app that you think is a must-have for every participant
  • Share the oldest video on your phone

Participants will take screenshots of the items via a collaborative platform for a virtual digital hunt. You can use this activity to introduce tech items to older participants who are not tech-savvy.

17. Art scavenger hunt ideas

Art scavenger hunts are one of the best activities for art lovers. These games are also a great idea if you want to teach art. For this activity, the team will visit an art gallery or a museum. You can prepare fun and educational prompts.

Here are examples:

  • Find art that you want to take to your house and explain why
  • Find art that strongly speaks to you
  • Find art made by an artist you have personally met or heard of
  • State the amount of money that a piece of art is worth

You can plan a virtual art visit with the entire team and discuss different artworks. If you are physically visiting an art gallery, then ensure that the establishment allows visitors to snap pictures.

18. Smartphone scavenger hunts

Smartphone scavenger hunts are one of the quickest and easiest scavenger hunt ideas for adults. In this game, players answer with photos from their phones.

For example:

  • An exotic animal
  • A fancy meal
  • A cooking fail
  • A funny meme
  • A funny sign

For best results, tell participants to turn off WiFi — photos must come from their albums, not the internet! Also, we recommend playing in teams for the best chance at players being able to find the whole list of photos.

19. Inbox scavenger hunts

Inbox scavenger hunts have players searching their emails for answers. To play, have teams scour their inboxes for answers.

Here is an example list:

  • Unnecessary reply-all
  • Interesting quote in signature
  • Out of office response
  • Marketing email with entertaining copy
  • Happy birthday message
  • An email sale you succumbed to
  • Email chain with 20+ replies

Bonus: After the hunt, take time to get to inbox zero as a team!

20. Bag scavenger hunts

Bag scavenger hunts are similar to smartphone scavenger hunts. In this game, any objects players submit must come from their purses, backpacks, or laptop bags.

  • Picture of a pet
  • Picture of a kid
  • Recent receipt
  • Receipt from a special occasion
  • Breath mints
  • Foreign coins
  • Random charging cord

If you choose common objects, then you can award points to teams based on who has the most interesting find.

21. Twin Scavenger Hunts

Twin scavenger hunts do not have set lists. Instead, players try to find as many matching objects as possible with other players. For example, wallets, pens, jewelry. Participants can snap photos of these matching objects, and will come away from the game with lots of smiling selfies with coworkers as a sweet bonus!

The prompts do not have to apply only to physical objects that players have on hand. Players can also write down shared traits. For example, perhaps both folks own huskies, love to sing opera in the shower, or eat breakfast for dinner once a week.

You can give suggestions for questions players might ask to find these matches, but part of the fun is figuring out the similarities!

This game is great because it encourages players to find common ground.

Scavenger hunts can reinforce problem-solving skills, teach social interaction and boost observation in your team. These games are interactive activities that help participants develop good communication skills and strengthen a sense of belonging. Teams that participate in scavenger hunts also learn the value of teamwork.

Next, check out these lists of indoor team activities and team building activities for outdoors for more inspiration.

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FAQ: Scavenger hunts for adults

Here are answers to questions about scavenger hunts for adults.

What are examples of adult scavenger hunts?

Examples of scavenger hunt ideas include beach scavenger hunts, photo scavenger hunts, travel scavenger hunts, and digital scavenger hunts.

What are some good adult scavenger hunt ideas for work?

Some good adult scavenger hunt ideas for work include office storage room hunt, photo scavenger hunts, digital scavenger hunts, virtual scavenger hunts, and GPS scavenger hunts.

How do you hold a scavenger hunt for adults?

To hold a scavenger hunt for adults, start by studying the adult group. Different adult groups will enjoy varying hunts. If you have a diverse group, then select a hunt all participants will enjoy. Allocate the amount of time depending on the type of hunt and how long you think it will hold the team’s attention. Ensure all participants understand the hunt rules. Also, select the ideal time for all players to partake in the hunt. Happy hunting!

Author avatar

Author: Grace He

People & Culture Director at teambuilding.com. Grace is the Director of People & Culture at TeamBuilding. She studied Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, Information Science at East China Normal University and earned an MBA at Washington State University.

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Going to the zoo? An area resident has created a way to help families enjoy their visit

For many families, a trip to the zoo is a classic summer activity. An area resident has come up with an app, free through early June, for another way for families to enjoy their trip.

Ron Borkowicz of Appleton, who has worked in health and wellness for most of his career, has a penchant for coming up with new inventions. He's created exercise and physical therapy equipment as well as wellness training courses for businesses and schools.

The Photo Fun Safaris app, a scavenger hunt app for zoos, is his retirement project, Borkowicz said. He came up with the idea of making the app partly to get kids and their families "outside doing something physical" and partly because apps for zoos was a gap he saw in the market.

To make the app, Borkowicz said he spent several years interviewing zoo directors and marketers and app developers. He then designed the app and hired a developer to help bring the app to life.

With this developer, he's made several versions of the app: one for any medium to large U.S. zoo and others for major zoos in El Paso, Staten Island and Milwaukee. One version, however, is tailored to the NEW Zoo, 4378 Reforestation Road, Suamico.

Borkowicz said he has a special love for northeastern Wisconsin, which partially inspired him to make an app just for the NEW Zoo. Many of his family members live in the area, he said, and he tested a prototype of the app at the NEW Zoo. For its part, the NEW Zoo features his app on its website .

How does the Photo Fun Safari app work?

The NEW Zoo scavenger hunt has eight levels suited for young children all the way up to older teens and adults. The easiest levels ask players to find animals in any position, while higher levels ask players to find animals in specific positions or doing specific activities. For example, while the Level 1 safari asks players to take a photo of an alligator, the Level 6 safari asks players to take a photo of an alligator with its mouth open.

Scoring is based on the honor system; the app automatically awards points for any photos taken or uploaded to the gallery. The app also features "animal fun facts" that come from the zoo itself.

The idea, Borkowicz said, is to help keep kids of all ages interested in their trip to a zoo.

"We've gone to the zoos with kids and grandkids," he said. When younger children get to the zoo, he said, they are "really excited, but they lose interest quickly." Older kids, on the other hand, might think they've seen everything before — but Borkowicz said encouraging them to look more closely, plus a little friendly competition, is more likely to hold their interest.

All levels in the NEW Zoo app are free until June 10. Afterward, Borkowicz plans to take a look at the app's data, see "if it's a good product and people like it," and possibly fine-tune its features before making the levels paid. Still, he hopes to keep the app free during springtime to benefit schools.

You can download the NEW Zoo Photo Fun Safari app through Google Play or the iPhone App Store . To find out more about the apps and resources for schools, go to photofunsafaris.com .

Rebecca Loroff is a K-12 education reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. Contact her at 920-907-7801 or [email protected]. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @RebeccaLoroff.

COMMENTS

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