Scavenger Hunts for Verbs and Prepositions in Kindergarten

Teaching grammar concepts like verbs and prepositions to five-year-olds can feel like chasing a moving target, especially when their attention spans are roughly the length of a single episode of Bluey. Speech-language pathologists working in Australian kindy classrooms often need creative, movement-rich activities that match the playful nature of early childhood education while still building real language skills. Scavenger hunts tick both boxes beautifully, weaving vocabulary, comprehension, and spatial concepts into one energetic session.

The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) emphasises play-based learning as the foundation for communication development, which aligns naturally with the kind of hands-on exploration a hunt provides. In Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney alike, kindergarten teachers welcome activities that fold speech targets into routines already happening in the classroom. Speechies collaborating with educators through push-in services frequently share resources that support both the EYLF outcomes and individual child goals.

This piece walks through practical ways to design scavenger hunts that target verbs and prepositions, with adaptable ideas for indoor and outdoor settings, small groups, and whole-class rotations. The aim is to leave you with a flexible toolkit that can be tweaked across Term 1 orientation weeks, mid-year review periods, or end-of-term celebrations.

Hunt Type	Best Setting	Primary Targets	Materials Needed
Picture card hunt	Indoor literacy corner	verbs (run, jump, hide)	printed cards, crayon caddy
Outdoor nature hunt	School grounds or oval	prepositions (behind, beside, under)	clipboard, simple list
Mystery bag hunt	Indoor dramatic play area	verbs + prepositions combined	opaque bags, small objects
Movement scavenger hunt	Hall or covered verandah	action verbs + spatial prepositions	music player, action prompts

Why Verbs and Prepositions Matter in Early Language

Verbs carry the action of a sentence, and prepositions give that action a location, direction, or relationship to the world. Without both, a child's utterances often sound telegraphic: "Mummy shop" instead of "Mummy is going to the shop." Kindy-aged children are rapidly expanding their grammar, and research in child language development suggests that verb knowledge predicts later sentence complexity. Targeting these word classes directly can accelerate gains in expressive syntax.

Prepositions are particularly tricky because they are abstract spatial concepts that don't always map neatly onto objects a child can hold. Words like between, through, and around require mental imagery and perspective-taking. Verbs, by contrast, are usually easier because they often connect to movement. Scavenger hunts harness movement naturally, which means both word classes can be taught together without forcing children to sit through drills.

In Australian classrooms, the Australian Curriculum: English references grammar from Foundation year onward, including recognising that sentences contain key grammatical elements. SLPs working alongside classroom teachers through push-in services often align goals with these curriculum documents, which helps justify time spent on seemingly abstract parts of speech. When a child hunts for something under the reading mat or beside the dinosaur puzzle, the preposition stops being abstract and becomes concrete, memorable, and fun.

Setting Up a Scavenger Hunt That Targets Grammar

A well-designed hunt begins with a clear linguistic target. Decide whether the session will focus on action verbs, spatial prepositions, or both, and choose items that allow children to demonstrate understanding through pointing, placing, or moving. If you are working on verbs, include objects that invite actions: a ball to bounce, a book to flip, a hat to put on. If prepositions are the focus, hide items in locations that naturally prompt the words in, on, under, behind, next to, and between.

Visual supports are essential. A simple checklist with pictures works brilliantly for emerging readers, and you can add a written word alongside each image for children who are beginning to recognise print. Colour-coding the list by word class helps children who are learning to sort verbs versus location words. Many Australian SLPs use the templates available at Let's Talk Speech Therapy, where Rachel shares practical materials designed for clinicians and educators alike.

Timing matters too. Keep hunts short, around 8 to 12 minutes, so children stay engaged without becoming overstimulated. Rotating small groups through different stations keeps the energy high and lets the SLP target specific children while peers practise independently. If you are working within a tight school timetable, even a five-minute hunt embedded into a transition can yield meaningful language samples.

Verbs to Target During Movement-Based Hunts

Action verbs thrive when children are physically moving, which is exactly what a scavenger hunt encourages. Core verbs for this age group include run, jump, hop, skip, walk, crawl, climb, push, pull, carry, find, give, open, close, pick up, put down, throw, catch, and bounce. Pair each verb with a real action during the hunt: children hop to find the next clue, crawl under the obstacle course, or carry a treasure item back to a central point.

For children working on irregular past tense, the hunt creates natural opportunities for cloze prompts. "You ___ the ball!" gives them a chance to produce caught in context rather than in isolation. Similarly, present progressive verbs (running, jumping, climbing) emerge spontaneously as children describe what they or their peers are doing during the activity.

Including a few "doing" cards alongside "finding" cards helps expand the verb range. A card might say spin, wave, or stomp, and children complete the action before moving on. SLPs collaborating with classroom teachers often find that push-in hunts double as brain breaks, supporting both regulation and language. If you need ideas for collaborating effectively with teachers during push-in, this push-in collaboration guide offers a helpful framework.

Prepositions Come Alive With Spatial Searching

Spatial prepositions click best when tied to real locations, which is why scavenger hunts are so effective for this word class. Children hunt for items under the beanbag, beside the fish tank, behind the reading chair, on top of the block tower, between two cushions, and inside the cardboard box. Each find invites a short phrase or response that practises the preposition in a meaningful sentence: "I found it under the beanbag" or "It is between the cushions."

Three-dimensional locations add depth. Items hidden inside a hollow block, on top of a shelf, or underneath a table prompt children to use the precise preposition that matches the location. Avoid hiding things in ambiguous spots, as children may generalise or guess rather than demonstrate true understanding. A small mat or cushion placed in an unusual spot, like the top of a low bookshelf, invites on in a context that is novel enough to require real thought.

For children who need extra scaffolding, a visual scene board with a movable token can reinforce the spatial relationship. The child places the token behind, in front of, or next to a picture of the hiding spot, building both comprehension and production. Many Australian SLPs pair these boards with hunts outdoors on the school oval, using chalk to mark locations for groups of children to explore together.

Adapting Scavenger Hunts for Australian Kindy Classrooms

Australian kindy settings vary widely, from large urban schools in Sydney and Melbourne to smaller regional centres in rural Queensland or Western Australia. Scavenger hunts are adaptable to nearly any environment. Indoor hunts work well in air-conditioned learning spaces during the hotter summer months, while outdoor hunts suit the milder arvos of autumn and spring, when the weather is comfortable enough for extended movement activities.

Cultural responsiveness matters. Include items, pictures, and locations that reflect the diversity of Australian kindy classrooms, from Indigenous perspectives on Country to multicultural family backgrounds represented in the local community. Some SLPs collaborate with Aboriginal Education Assistants to weave in culturally appropriate nature-based hunts that honour local flora and language. The Pink Elephant offers thoughtful inclusive therapy resources that can complement a hunt's visual materials and support diverse learners.

Harness familiar Australian settings. A "Bunnings-inspired" hunt where children find items reminiscent of a hardware aisle (a real one for the workshop, a fake one for dramatic play) builds vocabulary, taps cultural knowledge, and makes the activity feel familiar. Parents and educators can replicate simple hunts at home using everyday objects, extending the carryover beyond the clinic and classroom. Speech Pathology Australia's practice standards encourage family involvement, and home practice hunts align well with those recommendations.

For therapists seeking efficient session planning, practical therapy tips offer additional strategies for maximising session impact across busy school schedules. Pair these ideas with the printable scavenger hunt cards and visual checklists available in the Let's Talk Speech Therapy shop, designed with Australian clinicians in mind. Choose a hunt format that matches your current term focus, adapt the verbs and prepositions to individual goals, and share the printable checklists with families so the fun continues at home over the arvo.