Scavenger Hunt

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A lot of therapists really leaned into this activity early on when we started doing telehealth with kids. Scavenger hunts basically consist of having the child find specific items in their homes that respond to prompts. This is a super simple activity that can be done in groups with a show-and-tell component or with an individual, and it lets you learn more about the child’s home environment.

If you do a search for scavenger hunts that can be done indoors or telehealth scavenger hunt activities, so many great ideas come up! I’ve used one from the Central New York Behavioral Health Care Collaborative with prompts to find items that stimulate each of the five senses, or this one from Whole Child Counseling that has prompts related to different feelings and memories.

Of course, you can always create your own list of prompts. Other prompts I’ve used include:

  1. What’s something from the last time you traveled?
  2. What’s something that was a gift from someone you care about?
  3. What’s something that you would like to collect?
  4. What’s something that you would want to share with someone who is having a hard time?
  5. What’s something that makes you want to laugh?
  6. What’s something that reminds you of your best friend?

The possibilities are endless, and every item the child brings into the session creates opportunities for conversation and building skills.

Published by Dr Marschall

Dr. Amy Marschall received her Psy.D. from the University of Hartford in September 2015. She completed her internship at the National Psychology Training Consortium with specializations in assessment and rural mental health. Currently, she specializes in trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming care, and she is certified in telemental health. Dr. Marschall runs a private practice, RMH Therapy, where she provides individual and family therapy as well as psychological assessments across the lifespan. Dr. Amy Marschall is an author and professional speaker.

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