Capital City Scavenger Hunt: Whitehorse, Yukon

Welcome to the CBC Parents Capital City Scavenger Hunt series!

Every week until June, we'll be bringing you a brand new printable for one of Canada's capital cities. They'll feature landmarks to explore, flowers, birds, local food and so much more. Your objective: try to find all nine!

Our goal for this project was simple: we wanted an accessible, free and fun scavenger hunt that will make summer holidays even more exciting. Canada has so many great places to explore that once you start looking for things in each city, it's hard to choose which to include (but we had some help from our friends at CBC in Whitehorse)!

While this would be a great companion for summer travel, you don't need to be taking a summer trip to enjoy these printables! They are a handy companion for local discovery (be a tourist in your own city!) and summer camps and classes can make a day of seeking and finding every last item on the list. 

To kick off this series, we're starting west: in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Among the nine items to find, there are four landmarks to explore (a map is available at the end of this post). Most of them are very centrally located, like the Prospector Statue, the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway Depot, and the Healing Totem. The Whitehorse Horse is away from that action, but it's worth going to see it in all its glory.

The sculpture, by artist Daphne Mennell and welder Roger Poole, was a community project. Mennell spent a lot of time collecting donations from locals to be incorporated into the final, majestic horse you'll see on full display. 

Not in Whitehorse?

I know not everyone is flying out to places these days, but I don't want that to stop you from having a great time with this scavenger hunt (and the 13 more to come!). Here are some thoughts to make Whitehorse come to you: 

• Print out the printable below and cut out each item. If you don't have a printer, check out your local library.
• Once you've cut out each item, hide the items around your home, some in trickier places than others. If you have access to some outdoor space (backyard, public park, etc.), choose a nice day and hide them outside. 
• When your little ones are done collecting the items (either print out a second sheet for them to keep track, or have the printable up on a device), it's a great opportunity to research some of the landmarks on Google Maps. What do the items look like in real life?
• After that, if any of the items inspire questions from your kids, do a bit of further research with them. Each scavenger hunt is an invitation to honour and celebrate places across Canada! 

Ready to start searching? Check out the printables below!

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO PRINT THE COLOUR VERSION

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO PRINT THE BLACK AND WHITE VERSION

For a map of the four landmarks featured in this scavenger hunt, click the map below!

We hope you enjoy looking for all of these iconic Whitehorse items! If your family gets out and hunts for these local treasures, tag @cbckidsca and @cbcyukon on Instagram!