Fall Scavenger Hunt

Hi, everyone! Last Monday, my district was off for Columbus  Day (the joys of being on a school schedule!). I was so excited to be able to spend a bonus day with C, especially since the rest of our month is pretty busy!

C is 20 months old, and he is REALLY into Halloween. The older kids at his daycare talk about it, so it dominates our conversation. Since it is a topic of interest for him, I’m really trying to sneak in as much learning as I can. I know he will soak it right up! I’m here today with an easy little idea to embed vocabulary and syntax skills into something you probably already do-- going for a walk.

C and I started walking and I told him that we were on a hunt for fall and Halloween items. C is mostly speaking in single words, but is emerging into those 2 word phrases. In order to encourage that, I like to use carrier phrases (a rote phrase paired with a novel word) with him. Since the carrier phrase is predictable, he is better able to process the new vocabulary, but I’m still modeling speaking in complete sentences with him. The carrier phrase I used was “I see…”

During our walk, we would stop and I would say “Look, Camden! I see pumpkins!” I would point and wait for him to look and point. Sometimes he was able to point, repeat the word, or once say “see pumpkin.” We also saw ghosts, spiders, acorns and scarecrows (I believe that was a new word he picked up on the walk). Our neighborhood is clearly full of Halloween spirit! We practiced counting them, too.

If your child is older and is already speaking in phrases and sentences, try using one more word when you’re introducing new vocabulary. For instance, if your child says “I see a ghost” you would respond by saying “Yes, I see a white ghost.” Halloween is also a great time to introduce some more specialized adjectives, such as spooky or creepy, that we may not use as much throughout the year.

If your child is in speech therapy and working on a specific sound, you can also hunt for things using that specific sound. I have many students at my school that work on the “s” sound, so we might look for squirrels or scarecrows or ghosts and practice producing the sound correctly.

As a follow up to reinforce what you learned, I have a freebie download! This worksheet could be used several ways. For younger children, you can simply color in the things you saw on your hunt. For older preschool aged children, you could start with the question “What did we see?” and have them answer in a sentence (something like “I saw a pumpkin” or even “I saw an orange pumpkin”). If they are using the incorrect verb tense, repeat the sentence back to them correctly. You could also write out the number of things you saw inside or next to each object. Follow up worksheets like this are great aids for parents or even for daddy when he gets home. When parents get a page like this, it can really guide conversation with their kids and help generalize the vocabulary to use with a different person. You can grab the freebie here!

The options and skills you could target are really endless with this activity! I hope this is a fun way you can help your child enjoy the fall season while stimulating language. What kinds of things did you see or find on your scavenger hunt?