Halloween Scavenger Hunt Ideas

Here are 10 Halloween scavenger hunt ideas to add a little spice to your Halloween. There are also some safety tips and prize ideas. I hope these help you plan a fun Halloween.

Scavenger hunt ideas:

1.Find different types of candy
This is probably the easiest scavenger hunt idea on this list. It would work well for a group of younger kids, but can be made more specific to make it more challenging. Make a scavenger hunt list of different types/brands of candy. (Ex: Skittles, M&Ms, Milky Way, etc.) If you have older children and wish to make it more challenging, you can change the list to say something similar to this: Tropical Skittles, Peanut Butter M&Ms, Midnight Milky Way,
etc. This scavenger hunt list is easy because it doesn't require any materials other than candy bags, lists, and a pen/pencil. The groups will try to find each candy on the list. The group that finds the most wins.

2.Take pictures of people in certain costumes
For this scavenger hunt, you would need to make a list of costumes you wanted the children to find during the hunt. Some examples of costumes you could put on the list are: Superman, a Ninja Turtle, Snow White, etc. You will need to provide the children with disposable cameras or have an adult with a camera phone present. The kids will take a picture of each costumed person they find that is on the list. Although there should be an adult chaperone anytime kids go trick-or-treating, it is especially important for this scavenger hunt. The adult will need to make sure it is okay for the kids to take a picture of whoever is wearing the costume. As with the previous idea, you can modify this hunt for different ages by making the lists more or less specific.

3.Canned food
This scavenger hunt idea is good for a school group or church group. The list for this hunt will consist of different types of canned foods. After the scavenger hunt you can donate the food to a local food pantry. You will probably not want to make this list very specific because if you do it will make the items harder find and you will have less food to donate. You could also encourage the kids to get as many of each item as they can. This doesn't have to be done on Halloween but it might add a fun twist to trick-or-treating. You might want to have the chaperone drive the kids to the houses or bring a wagon to store the canned foods in so the kids don't have to carry them the entire time.

4.School supplies
This scavenger hunt is also a good one for a school or church group. In this hunt you will collect school supplies and donate them to an underprivileged school in your area. It works the same way at the canned food scavenger hunt, except that you probably won't need to bring a car or a wagon since the supplies are lighter.

5.Halloween items
In this scavenger hunt, you will make a list that contains a variety of "Halloween items." Some examples are fake spiders, pumpkins, a black cat (fake or a picture of one), etc. The good thing about this list is that you can make it as easy or as hard as you want. Since most Halloween items can easily be bought instead of found, you will want to make sure each group has a chaperone to keep them honest. Depending on the list, groups might need a wagon to hold their items and a camera to take pictures of items they can't take with them.

6.Halloween books
This is probably one of the most challenging scavenger hunt ideas in this article. In this hunt, you will have the groups search for Halloween themed books. If you have a group of younger kids, you can use books such as Clifford's Halloween or Arthur's Halloween Costume. For older kids you could use Goosebumps books or books
like Mummies Don't Coach Softball. The kids will trick-or-treat and see if people have these books. The downside to this scavenger hunt is that most people aren't willing to give up their books, so there are a few ways you can modify this. You can have the kids take a picture of the book. You can also go to a library and see if they will let you have a scavenger hunt there (as long as you remain quiet of course). A plus to having a library scavenger hunt is that the children will become more familiar with how to find books in the library. If you do an internet search for Halloween books for children, you should be able to find a decent amount of books to make your list.

7.Animals dressed up in costumes
This scavenger hunt has potential to be one of the funniest ones in this article. For this hunt, you follow the same instructions as the scavenger hunt where you try to find people in certain costumes except this time you are looking for animals dressed up in the costumes. Some examples are a hot dog, a princess, a ghost, etc. For this hunt you will need a disposable camera or a camera phone. It is also important to have a chaperone for this hunt since there will be animals involved. You might want to have a discussion with the kids before the hunt explaining to them the importance of always asking the owner if you can pet the animal before you pet it.

8.Haunted places
For this scavenger hunt you will want to make sure the kids are old enough not to get too scared when they travel to "haunted" places. You will need to compile a list of haunted places in and around your town. For this scavenger hunt you will need a chaperone to drive each group around as well as a camera or camera phone. The groups will travel to each haunted place and take a picture of it. You can make the list a few different ways. One way is to simply list the site that is haunted (Ex: Goat Man's Bridge) and have the groups find their own directions without using the internet. You could also make the location a clever rhyme (Ex: There was a man who owned a goat. He had to travel from bank to bank in a boat. He got tired and built a bridge. As for hints, I've only given you a smidge). If you are worried that someone in a group might get too scared, you could have one person stay behind and they could be responsible for meeting any groups that have a child that is too
scared and taking them back to the house.

9.Halloween movies
This scavenger hunt is similar to the Halloween book hunt. In this one, you won't want to ask people to give up their movies so you will just take pictures of the children holding the movie. You will need a camera or a camera phone. If you search the internet for Halloween movies you find a variety, and you can choose the ones for your list based on the age of the children that will be participating.

10.Items to make a certain Halloween costume
This is one of my favorite scavenger hunt ideas. For this one, you pick a Halloween costume or multiple costumes and have the kids hunt for the parts that make up the costume. You can easily make this as hard or as simple as you want. An example of a fairly easy one is a baseball player. The list would include items such as a baseball jersey, a bat, a ball, etc. A harder costume might be Austin Powers. This list could include a blue suit, a wig, glasses, etc. You could have one person from the group put on the costume as you gather the pieces. If the clothing is in adult sizes, the chaperone could wear it as well.

Now for some safety tips:
1.Always have an adult trick-or-treat with kids
2.Adults should inspect kids' candy for opened or damages pieces before the kids eat them
3.Wear bright or reflective clothing when trick-or-treating (avoid black or dark colors)
4.Carry a flashlight
5.Never go into a stranger's house (this is especially important for during a scavenger hunt!)

I hope you enjoy these Halloween scavenger hunt ideas. If you plan on giving out prizes for the winners you should probably avoid giving candy since the kids will be getting plenty of that during their trick-or-treating. A better prize would be small Halloween themed items such as vampire teeth or eyeball bouncy balls. Good luck, have fun, and be safe!