Nonfiction Text Features Scavenger Hunt Ideas

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Going on a text features scavenger hunt is an engaging and low prep way to have 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students practice looking for and analyzing nonfiction text features. There are several ways to set up a scavenger hunt, depending on your classroom's needs. Find 3 ideas for a text feature scavenger hunt below - as well as a free text feature scavenger hunt pdf printable!

Interactive Bulletin Board / Anchor Chart

After teaching students about the different nonfiction text features (possibly using this free text feature slideshow or these free text feature charts), have 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade students cut out the different text features they find in old newspapers or magazines and glue/tape them to an interactive bulletin board.
This low prep idea is a great way to reinforce nonfiction text features while using up old magazines or newspapers!

This low prep idea not only reinforces student understanding of text features, but it also gives you a student created poster / anchor chart that students can refer to all year long.  (See more nonfiction text feature anchor chart ideas here.)

You can do this text features scavenger hunt as a one time whole group activity or set it up as a recurring center activity.

Students will easily find common text features, such as headings, photographs, captions, bold text, etc. Encourage them to look for less common but very important text features, such as diagrams, tables, and labels.

Nonfiction Book Text Features Scavenger Hunt

For an engaging partner or independent text feature activity for 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade students, use this Free Text Feature Scavenger Hunt.

Give students a nonfiction book and have them search for various text features using the scavenger hunt printable. Make sure that the book they are searching contains plenty of text features - like these nonfiction books. 

This Free Text Feature Scavenger Hunt can also be used as a literacy connection for other subjects like social studies or science. If students will be reading a passage from a book or textbook, have them complete the scavenger hunt beforehand as a fun, meaningful pre-reading activity.

This nonfiction text feature free pdf for upper elementary can be used over and over again with any nonfiction book
Text Feature Activities for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade - posters, charts, no prep activities, task cards, scavenger hunts, and more

Want to make your lesson planning even easier?  Find everything you need to teach nonfiction text features in this Text Features Bundle.  

There are posters, task cards, no prep activities, reading passages, and more to help your students have a deep and thorough understanding of text features and their purposes.

Small Group Poster Project

For a fun small group activity, have upper elementary students go on a scavenger hunt and create their own text feature poster. Give each group a page from a magazine and have them create a poster that shows all of the text features found on the page, and how the text features help the reader. (Make sure the magazine page has plenty of text features for them to write about.)

Groups can present their poster to the class. After all groups have presented, compare the posters, looking for similarities and differences in text features!

These posters can also be posted around the room as student created anchor charts.

Have students create a poster using an old magazine page. Students identify the text features and the purpose of the text features found on the magazine page.

After students are easily able to identify nonfiction text features, make sure you encourage them to think more about the purposes behind the text features, and how text features can help readers better understand text. These text feature questions that promote higher level thinking should help!

Want more ideas for your text feature lessons?  Find anchor charts, activities, freebies, and more!

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