Scavenger hunts are not only fun, they’re educational, too. It’s easy to get creative to make up your own, or modify any of these to make it fit for your area and the age of your child. For older ones you will want to make it harder and for younger children make it easy enough to keep them interested while still teaching them important skills.

Thing have changed since I was little, because now you can go out and do a geocaching scavenger hunt. How cool is that? Getting kids outside to explore is a great way for them to learn about nature and get exercise at the same time. You can create a nature scavenger hunt for whatever types of items are in your backyard, the park or wherever you choose to hold your scavenger hunt. Here are a few items to think about to get you started with coming up with your own ideas as you are moving from cache to cache:

• Four leaf clover
• Dandelion
• Large leaf
• Small leaf
• Sticks
• Large flower
• Small flower
• Worm
• Bug
• Smooth rock

An easy way to create your game is to gather the items from the area you’ll be playing and take a picture of each. This way you know the items will be there and you can print off a picture of each for your child to gather. Next all you need is a basket or bag for your little one to be off and running.

We've also been on a few Pokemon Go hunts in the last year. It may be fun for kids, but you can make it more educational for the younger kids by helping preschoolers learn their numbers is easy and fun with a numbered scavenger hunt. All you need is some colored paper and a pen to get started.

Cut colored paper into pieces and write numbers on them from 1-10. Hide them around your yard or your neighborhood trail – kind of like an Easter egg hunt. Once the children find all of the numbers you can have them match them up to a sheet of paper that you’ve written all of the numbers on.

Of course the geocaching is the most fun for all ages and you can scale the hunt to fit the ages of your children. Really think about the distance you want to cover to find the treasure as it should include what your child is capable of. Also teach your kids that they should never go off hunting on their own. At the end of the hunt they'll be so excited to talk about what they found on your afternoon adventure!

Scavenger hunts can provide hours of fun for kids of all ages. In fact, if you have a wide range of ages, you might even enlist the help of the older children to create the hunt for the younger ones to do at home. Each child will learn some valuable skills, and you’ll be helping to alleviate their summer boredom.