party · scavenger hunt · free printable
Free Printable Beach Scavenger Hunt
The first hour on the sand, while the adults are still putting the windbreak up.
Made by the PaperCarnival team · Updated
24 things to find · a fresh sheet for every child · US Letter & A4
- Seaweed
- Something exactly the color of the sea
- A crab or a crab shell
- The line where the wet sand starts
- Somebody flying a kite
- A piece of driftwood
- A boat on the horizon
- Something rough and something smooth
- A shell with a spiral
- Something buried in the sand
- A shadow on the sand
- A bird track in wet sand
A beach is the easiest place in the world to run a scavenger hunt and the hardest place to keep children occupied while the adults are still putting the windbreak up. This hunt covers exactly that first hour. Each child gets twelve things to find, drawn from a list of twenty four, so the sheets differ and everyone spreads out instead of walking in a line behind the fastest one.
The list is written for looking rather than collecting: a stone with a hole in it, a bird track in wet sand, the line where the wet sand starts, something the tide left behind. Several of them point at the rock pools, which is where the genuinely interesting things are. Print a stack before you leave the house and take a pencil.
If your beach has a pier, a lighthouse, or a particular rock everyone climbs, open the hunt in the generator and write them in before you go.
The things to find
Every item on the list, or edit the list in the generator
- A seashell
- A piece of driftwood
- A smooth pebble
- A seagull
- A footprint that is not yours
- Seaweed
- A boat on the horizon
- Something that floats
- A crab or a crab shell
- A stone with a hole in it
- A wave breaking
- Something buried in the sand
- A flag or a windsock
- A shell with a spiral
- Something the tide left behind
- A rock pool
- A bird track in wet sand
- Something rough and something smooth
- A cloud over the water
- A piece of sea glass
- Somebody flying a kite
- The line where the wet sand starts
- A shadow on the sand
- Something exactly the color of the sea
Ways to run it
Look, do not collect
Point and tick rather than pocket. Shells with something living in them stay where they are.
The first hour
The stretch while the windbreak goes up and the towels come out is exactly what this covers.
Rock pool version
Several items point at the rock pools rather than the sand, which is where the interesting things are anyway.
Questions
Does every child get a different list?
Yes, a different twelve of the twenty four items on each sheet, which spreads children out along the beach rather than bunching them up.
Should they collect what they find?
The list is written for pointing rather than pocketing. Shells with something living inside them and anything from a rock pool should stay put.
Will it work on a stony beach?
Yes. The items are written to suit sand or shingle, and the rock pool ones work better on a stony coast than a sandy one.
Can I add local landmarks?
Yes. Open it in the generator and write in the pier or the lighthouse you can see from where you sit.