The spooky season has arrived, which brings lots of opportunities for some scary Halloween fun! We have lots of Halloween scavenger hunt ideas for kids to entertain them as the weather turns colder and the leaves start falling. Download our free, printable Halloween themed scavenger hunts and enjoy searching for objects or clues indoors or out!
What’s included in our Halloween hunt pack?
Happy Halloween Scavenger Hunt
Perfect for both toddlers and reading age children, our Halloween scavenger hunt printable can be accessed and loved by everyone. We use pictures for the youngest hunters and keywords for the big kids, so they can have fun practicing their reading. Our pack will have them searching for a bat, zombie, pumpkin, witch and more!
Ways to Play
- Picture Scavenger Hunt – Print an extra copy of our Happy Halloween Scavenger Hunt sheet and cut out the pictures. These can then be hidden around your home or garden for your little hunters to find. Make sure they have their own sheet to tick off their discoveries.
- Word Scavenger Hunt – Print an extra copy and cut out the words, or write the words on blank pieces of paper. Hide them around your hunt area and equip your child with their own sheet and pen. They will develop their word recognition as they find the spooky vocabulary and tick them off.
- Object Scavenger Hunt – During October, lots of these frightful objects might be appearing around your home as decorations. If so, let your child have a Halloween hunt for those instead, of the printed images. It will provide more challenge as your decorations won’t look exactly like our pictures.
- Out and About – Do your neighbours go all out decorating their homes for Halloween? If so, our scary scavenger hunt is the perfect way to add excitement to a familiar walk. Take a sheet and pen with you and have your child cross off any of the characters or objects they see. Count up how many they found when you get home. This is their score. Can they beat you? Score higher on a different route? Or, will their score increase as we get closer to Halloween night and more decorations come out?
Top Tip – Every child loves dressing up and this is the season for it! Help them get into the Halloween mood by having them dress up in their scariest outfit! A perfect way to get more use out of this year’s costume! Consider playing some monster music to create a really creepy atmosphere.
DOWNLOAD HERE
Halloween Scavenger Hunt Clues
Halloween is the perfect time for spooky rhymes and riddles. We have created a fun set of scary scavenger hunt clues to hide around your house. One clue leads to the next, taking your child to eight locations in your home. Toddlers and pre-readers will need help from an older child or adult to read their clues. They will love working as a team to solve them. Older children will be challenged, trying to figure out the riddle to locate the next clue.
Top Tip – Make it even more exciting by hiding a spooky prize in the last location!
Blank Halloween Treasure Hunt
Using our Halloween Scavenger hunt riddles for inspiration, come up with your own clues for a fun hunt! Our blank scavenger hunt template will allow you to personalise the hunt for your own home or garden or make an even longer hunt for really keen seekers! These blanks could also be used to extend our clue scavenger hunt or swap out any clues that can’t be found in your home.
Top Tip – Let your child use the blank clue sheet to write their own Halloween hunt clues for you, siblings or friends to solve.
Clue ideas for every age;
- A picture of the next location.
- The name of the next hiding spot e.g. sink.
- An anagram of the next location e.g. ksni.
- A simple clue e.g. somewhere to wash your hands.
- A spooky Halloween riddle – just like ours!
Fun New Scavenger Hunt Rules
Make these activities even more fun with some exciting new rules;
Hunt in the Dark – Turn off the lights and equip your child with a torch. This will make finding hidden pictures or objects much more challenging and spooky!
Wicked Werewolves – Pretend to be werewolves and have your child do their best wolf howl when they find a picture, word or clue.
Trick or Treat – Hide a sweet treat or frightful trick, like a toy spider, with each picture or clue. This makes a great alternative to trick or treating if you don’t fancy going door to door.
Time Challenge – Set a timer for 5, 10 or even 20 minutes, depending on how well hidden your pictures or clues are. Can your child find everything before the time runs out? Can they beat your score? Repeat the challenge by hiding your pictures in different locations. Can they top their previous score?
DOWNLOAD SCAVENGER HUNT CARDS HERE
DOWNLOAD BLANK CARDS HERE
Keep the Fun Going…
After the hunt is over, use our sheets for inspiration for more fun activities. Your child might enjoy writing a creepy poem, taking ideas from our fantastic riddles. Another great challenge is to try to write a poem or story that includes all of the objects and characters on our Happy Halloween Scavenger Hunt Sheet.
Did you and your child love our free printable Halloween scavenger hunts?
Then we have more spooky fun for you! Why not choose some creepy scenes to colour, in our Free Printable Halloween Colouring Pages Pack. Pick a scary skull or cute scarecrow. A wicked witch or adorable mummy. There is something for all tastes. We also have a pack of Free Printable Halloween Activity Sheets. Practice puzzle-solving, scissor control and number and letter recognition, the fun way! Finally, if you can’t get enough of scavenger hunts we have lots more to choose from. Check out our Free Printable Farm Scavenger Hunt, Free Pirate Scavenger Hunt and our Free Printable Indoor and Outdoor Scavenger Hunt.
By Laura Davies