Published August 11, 2025 Written by NDNA

Environmental Print Activity – Scavenger Hunt

A walk in your local community can be a fun and engaging way of identifying a range of environmental print that children see and use in their daily lives.

Learning aims

Build and extend vocabulary
Develop understanding of the uses of environmental print
Develop confidence
Support early literacy
Make connections with their local community.

Resources

Ensure you have carried out your outings planning and risk assessments.
Images of the environmental print you are going to look for
Camera
Printer
Pens.

Activity guide

Prior to the activity: Follow the route you will be taking in your community and take photographs of environmental print you see on the route (street signs, road signs, shop logos and names, billboards, lollipop person sign, etc.). Print the images on paper for the children to use as a reference in the scavenger hunt (1 per pair of children)
Look at the photos together with the children, ask them to share their experience of the ones that they know. Talk about the purpose of the signs and how they help us. Explain that you are going to take a walk into your local community to look for the signs on the paper and see if there are any others that they notice
Take a walk, following the same route you took for your photographs. Encourage the children to look out for the signs and mark off each one you find. Talk about what they can see and the purpose of the print in each of the signs that you see
Use a camera to take photos of additional environmental print signs that children find
Back at the setting, revisit the original images. Look at the additional signs that you found and discuss the purpose of the print for these.

Extension ideas

Create a project book or display, using the photos you took for your scavenger hunt and the additional images that children found during the walk

NDNA products to help you with this activity

Let’s look at writing – Online course

Back to myNDNA

Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.

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