Booking Across America in IOWA – Countryside Scavenger Hunts #BookingUSA

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I’m SO excited that another year brings us to yet another FUN “BOOKING ACROSS AMERICA” tour! What exactly does that mean? That means there are at least 50 bloggers in all 50 USA states covering fun adventures and activities in each states!

Of course our post is about Iowa! And this year we teamed up with Blue Apple Books to incorporate “Travels with Charlie” into our fun! The book we received was for the MIDWEST since we live in the Midwest and what was really awesome for us is that it coincided with our big RV Cross-Country Road Trip that the boys and I took!

We took our Travels with Charlie book with us on our road trip and were able to follow Charlie all the way across the Midwest as we drove through each state! Each page in the book is filled with fun illustrations about various oddities and landmarks as well as a “search and find Charlie” game!

kid reading book

Because my kids love finding things so much, and perhaps at first glance Iowa seems full of only cornfields and cows we decided to come up with a countryside scavenger hunt just like our Travels with Charlie book!

While on our RV road trip (photo above!) my son studied each and every state and was so excited when we were able to stop at some of the things featured on each state page! I KNEW he’d love our Countryside Scavenger Hunt game when we got back home again! So I started to put together a list of things to hunt for – but not that could be completed in one day!

This was a week long scavenger hunt (you could even turn it into a month long expedition!) of things that you would have to visit several different types of locations to find the items! Some could be found in our backyard……

an acorn, a dandelion, a cicada shell, a red leaf, two different colored feathers….

iowa scavenger hunt

And some had to be found on our excursions to our local lake and nature trails such as:

animal bones, algae, a seashell, a geode, an empty snail shell……

And of course since we’re in Iowa we had a farm day too!

….an old piece of wood, a piece of brick, a corn husk, a metal object, an egg……

ANYONE can create their own “Countryside Scavenger Hunt” no matter where you live! Just make sure that you plan several outings and give plenty of time to complete the hunt! It can be completely tailored to your area!

If your kids are older you can certainly expand your options by creating a Photo Scavenger hunt where the kids have to find things they can’t physically collect such as specific numbers, words, landmarks and locations, specific items like a typewriter, wagon wheel, animals, etc. 

Here are a few more suggestions to add to your Scavenger Hunt:

berries, mushrooms, bark, something fuzzy, something shiny, something smelly, a stick that looks like a Y, pinecone, pine needle, seeds, trash, a coin, a railroad tie, something rusty, a brochure, a map, a piece of rubber, a tulip, etc.

There are SO many awesome places to visit in Iowa that are so much more than just cows and cornfields! Here are a few that I’ve blogged about:

Lost Towns of Red Rock

Covered Bridges of Madison County

Knoxville Raceway

Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center

Iowa State Fair

Dutch visions of Pella 

Science Center of Iowa 

Blank Park Zoo

Dairy Farms (statewide!)

Lake Red Rock

Scarecrow Farm – Sioux City

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One Comment

  1. Jodie @ Growing Book by Book says:

    Scavenger hunts are so fun and perfect for learning about states. Thanks so much for being part of Booking Across the USA!

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