Learn how to set up a color scavenger hunt for your kids, where they match items found in nature to paint chip colors. This fun and open-ended activity helps kids explore the colorful world around them.
Updated July 2024
Get ready for a colorful adventure with this color scavenger hunt! Your kids will explore the backyard and find all the colors of the rainbow represented in nature, then match those nature items with paint chip colors.
It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors and learn about the variety of colors in nature, plus who doesn’t love a little competition?
The brains behind this new iteration of a classic color matching activity came from my mom (my kids’ Nana). She created sturdy boards with color chips that can be used over and over again for countless scavenger hunts.
If you’d rather not visit the paint store today, you can also use the color scavenger hunt boards made by our founder, Jean. For a printable version of them, just scroll down to the bottom of this post and enter your email to get a handy PDF!
A Color Scavenger Hunt for Kids
MATERIALS
- Square piece of cardboard
- Paint chips in a variety of colors
- Hot glue gun
- Clothespins
- Nature items
- Baggies or containers to collect items
INSTRUCTIONS
- Make your board
Making a color board for this activity is quick and easy. The next time you’re at Home Depot or the paint store, gather a bunch of paint chips in a variety of colors. Or let your kids pick out the colors they’d like to use!
Then, arrange them on the piece of cardboard and hot glue them in place. Then attach a clothespin on each color sample, either by clipping it there or hot gluing it in place. We also attached a baggie to the center of the board, in case some items were too big to clip.
- Go on a color hunt!
Once your boards are made, head outside and explore the colors of nature. When you find something matching one of your paint chips, clip it on with the clothespin!
If you want to make it a race, see who can fill their board up first! Then compare and see which items everyone got for the different colors. My two kids had the same color chips but ended up with totally different boards!
- Repeat!
The best thing about this scavenger hunt is that you can do it again and again. When you’re finished, simply unclip the items from your board and save it for next time.
See how different your colors are in the Spring versus the Fall. Or if you have a rainy day, use it inside and see how many colors you can find in your toy bin!
We had such a fun time finding and matching colors with our boards that we’ve done it several times, each time coming up with new and different nature items!
And remember, if you don’t have the paint chips on hand, feel free to print out our premade boards that feature Spring and Fall colors!
Would you like a printable version of the Spring and Fall Colors Scavenger Hunt boards to keep? If you missed it, clear your cookies & refresh this page!
More Scavenger Hunt Ideas for Kids
- 13 Nature Walk Ideas (+ FREE Nature Scavenger Hunt)
- A Make-and-Do Scavenger Hunt for Kids (+ Printable!)
- How to Go on a Sound Hunt with Kids
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