side quest ideas

Find the oldest tree in your neighborhood and work out roughly how old it is

Collect five leaves that are all different shades of green

Lie on your back and find three animal shapes in the clouds

Follow a creek upstream as far as you can

Learn to recognise one bird by its call alone

Skip a stone and count the hops out loud

Build a tiny cairn somewhere someone else will find it

Watch a sunrise without photographing it

Watch a sunset and photograph only your own shadow

Walk with your bare feet in a stream or river

Press a wildflower in the heaviest book you own

Walk barefoot on grass for ten minutes

Hunt for a four-leaf clover

Identify three constellations from wherever you're standing

Catch a falling leaf mid-air

Find a spot where the birds are already used to people, and sit until one comes close

Find the biggest puddle available and jump in it

Watch a squirrel long enough to catch it doing something ridiculous

Collect stones that are almost perfectly round

Visit a botanical garden

Go on a garden tour

Find the moon in the daytime sky

Go outside during the first rain after a dry spell, just to smell it

Find a tree you could climb, then climb it (safely!)

Follow a butterfly until you lose it

Look for the first sign of the next season

Make a leaf boat and race it down a stream

Find an anthill and watch it for five minutes

Learn to identify one edible plant that grows near you

Find a tree too wide for your arms to reach around

Find the highest publicly accessible point within walking distance

Sit under a tree and read exactly a chapter of your book

Count how many distinct shades of green are in one glance

Find a spiderweb holding dew

Watch a storm roll in from a porch or doorway

Collect acorns and leave them somewhere for an animal to find

Find a heart-shaped rock

Walk the entire perimeter of a park

Learn the name of the hills, mountains, or rivers you can see from home

Stargaze until a satellite passes over

Find a place where you can't hear a single car

Take a walk in rainy, foggy, or cold weather

Follow one bee from flower to flower

Plant something in a container and put it where you'll see it every morning

Collect sticks or twigs and arrange them into a silly face

Watch birds bathe in a puddle

Find a feather and work out which bird it came from

Walk a familiar trail backwards from its usual direction

Safely identify a wild fruit or berry

Sit beside water for thirty minutes with no agenda

Watch the sun go down from your own street and mark exactly where it drops

Learn one cloud type and spot it in the wild

Watch ducks long enough to pick a favourite

Find a natural archway or tunnel

Notice a tree's shadow at noon, then again at dusk

Get up for dawn once

Follow the sound of running water to its source

Find the smallest flower you possibly can

Make a wish on a dandelion

Wade into a stream and turn over a rock

Find an animal track and follow it as far as it goes

Watch wind move through a field of tall grass

Go looking for mushrooms the day after rain

Find a tree with initials carved into it

Work out which way is north without your phone

Take a nap outdoors

Find a bench you've never sat on, and sit on it

Watch an entire flock land and take off again

Notice the first living thing you see today, and stop for a second

Take a completely different route home

Find the oldest building on your street

Photograph every interesting door on one block

Ride a bus to the end of the line and walk part of the way back

Find a Little Free Library and borrow a book you wouldn’t normally read

Read every historical plaque within a mile

Find the best-hidden alley near you

Spend an entire walk looking only at rooflines

Find a mural you've never seen

Learn one true piece of history about your own neighborhood

Visit the smallest park on the map

Ride an elevator to the highest floor you're allowed

Walk your neighborhood at 6am and be the first person at a cafe

Pet a friendly dog

Find a staircase you've never climbed

Visit a cemetery and find the oldest legible stone

Find the best echo near you

Count every cat visible from the sidewalk

Locate the house with an unreasonable number of garden gnomes

Find a payphone still standing

Sit in a hotel lobby and read like a paying guest

Find every public water fountain in one park

Take a walk where the only rule is: turn left at every choice

Find the strangest item for sale in a corner store (bonus: buy it!)

Enter a library section you have never seen

Ride a carousel and pick the best animal

Find a rooftop that's open to the public

Go to the highest point in your city

Find a fire escape worth admiring

Visit a museum and enjoy one room fully

Find a shop older than you are and buy something small

Find the oldest car parked on your street

Find a stained-glass window and watch the light move across the floor

Take a walk guided only by smells

Find a neighborhood cat and let it decide whether to say hello

Go to a farmers market and compliment vendors

Find the most interesting mailbox in your area

Cross a bridge you haven’t seen before

Visit a garden centre and read the scientific names

Find a building with a weathervane

Find the seam where two eras of architecture touch

Visit a hardware store and admire the tiny drawers

Buy a book with the best cover, no matter the topic

Find a public piano and play at least one note

Read aloud the name on a memorial bench

Read in a laundromat while your clothes spin

Find a view you didn't know existed

Walk to the actual edge of your neighborhood

Order a pastry you've never had, from a bakery you've never entered

Find the weirdest object under $3 in a thrift store

Find a house number written in a genuinely unusual way

Visit a community garden and ask what's growing

Find a bridge over a railway and watch a train pass underneath you

Find a hidden courtyard

Sit in a church, temple, or quiet hall for ten minutes

Find the oldest sign still in daily use nearby

Visit the shop you've walked past a hundred times

Find a door painted a colour you'd never choose

Map your neighborhood's best benches, ranked

Compliment a stranger on their smile

Host a dinner with a phone basket at the door

Write a letter to someone you haven't spoken to in a year

Invite someone on a walk instead of for a coffee

Start a group chat that exists solely to plan one real meetup

Teach someone a skill of yours in under twenty minutes

Ask an older relative one question about their twenties

Bring a deck of cards to a bar and see what happens

Host a bring-your-worst film night

Throw a picnic where everyone brings one inexplicable item

Give someone flowers for no reason at all

Ask a neighbor for something you actually need

Learn the name of someone you see constantly and have never asked

Put a box of free books outside your door for the afternoon

Play a board game with a stranger in a café

Sit at the bar instead of at a table

Ask the bartender or barista what they'd actually order

Host a puzzle night with a mandatory phone bowl

Send someone a postcard from your own town

Write down a friend's story before they forget it

Ask three people for a book recommendation and read all three

Tell a shop owner you like their shop

Turn up to a run club

Ask a stranger to take your photo on film

Organize a group thrift trip with a $10 ceiling

Have a stone skipping contest

Take a friend to your favourite place and explain why

Cook a meal from a friend's family recipe

Host show-and-tell for adults

Say yes to the next invitation you'd normally decline

Start a chain letter that is genuinely nice

Learn a card trick and show it to someone

Decorate baked goods with friends

Ask an artist about their work, in person

Have a whole conversation asking only questions

Organize a sunrise group walk

Leave a note in a library book for whoever's next

Reconnect with someone by sending a photo instead of a text

Compliment someone's handwriting

Host a listening party for one album, start to finish, no talking

Ask someone to teach you their hobby

Play chess in a park

Buy the coffee for whoever's behind you

Learn ten words of a neighbor's language

Host a clothes swap

Announce a no-plans evening and see who shows up

Ask a friend for their top five of anything

Have dinner with someone you've only ever texted

Go to an open mic where you know nobody and stay for the whole set

Take a class you'd be bad at

Volunteer somewhere with animals

Ask a librarian for a personal recommendation

Propose a monthly tradition to one person and do the first one today

Take a friend on a mystery walk where only you know the destination

Interview an older relative on a voice recorder

Give away something you love to someone who'd love it more

Tell a musician you liked their set

Organize a scavenger hunt for adults

Choose the communal table on purpose

Ask someone about the best day of their life

Bring a thermos of tea to share on a walk

Learn a group dance badly, together

Introduce two friends who've never met

Talk to the oldest person you meet this week

Host a karaoke night

Host a slideshow party

Host a game night where the prize is ridiculous

Paint a card with water colors and send it

Arrange flowers from the grocery store

Start a junk journal

Make a collage from a single magazine

Draw the view from your window, badly

Write a haiku about your commute

Make a zine about an extremely small topic

Learn to fold one origami shape from memory

Paint a rock and leave it somewhere

Make a physical mixtape. CD, cassette, or whatever you can find

Write a poem on the back of a receipt

Sit in a cafe and sketch whatever's on the table in front of you

Make a bookmark out of something you found outside

Blind contour draw your own hand

Press flowers and turn them into a card

Write a letter to yourself in five years

Write a menu for your ideal day

Learn to whistle one whole song

Make a paper boat and sail it

Design a flag for your household

Write one page about a stranger you saw

Write one line about today, and leave the notebook open for tomorrow

Build a mandala from found objects

Learn one magic trick properly

Paint a portrait of someone you love

Collage your month from ticket stubs and receipts

Draw a map of your neighborhood entirely from memory

Write a museum label for an ordinary object in your home

Carve a stamp out of a potato

Learn to draw one animal really well

Write a song about your morning

Weave something from grass or reeds

Build a wind chime out of junk

Illustrate a recipe instead of writing it

Try knitting or crochet for one evening

Scrapbook a single day in detail

Write a letter as though it's 1890

Build something from cardboard that serves no purpose

Learn calligraphy for your own name

Make a tiny book, under ten pages

Draw the same object three times. Fast, slow, then from memory

Marble paper with oil and water

Make a friendship bracelet

Record your street and build a soundscape

Make a pinecone bird feeder

Embroider something you already own

Write three sonnets in one sitting

Build a mobile from sticks and string

Paint using coffee or tea

Write your autobiography in six words

Make a terrarium in a jar

Make a candle

Draw a comic strip about your week

Make a shadow puppet and plan a short play

Write a letter to a fictional character

Write a thank you letter to a local business

Build an indoor fort as a fully grown adult

Make a wreath from foraged material

Blackout-poem a page of newspaper

Photograph a personal alphabet, A to Z

Decorate a plain notebook until it's unrecognisable

Learn to sketch hands

Make a dream catcher to hang

Invent a game and write down the rules

Try pottery once, anywhere, any way

Make your own play dough

Sit outside and draw what you hear

Turn one of your photos into a painting

Write a menu for a restaurant that doesn't exist

Fold a paper crane and leave it somewhere for a stranger to find

Sew a patch onto something

Design a postage stamp for your town

Build a time capsule for one year from now

Fix something that is broken

Buy a disposable camera and finish the roll in a single outing

Get film developed and print a photo

Buy a record and listen to both sides

Put a real alarm clock beside your bed

Navigate somewhere using a paper map

Write your grocery list on paper

Buy a print newspaper and read all of it

Make a physical photo album

Print ten photos and tape them to a wall

Read a physical book in public

Fill in a paper planner for the week ahead

Send an actual birthday card

Buy a used book with someone else's notes in it

Listen to a full album with nothing else open

Get a library card

Keep a paper address book

Buy postcards and actually send them

Wear a watch and use it instead of your phone

Write with a fountain pen

Play a board game solo

Start a paper recipe box

Buy a magazine you'd never normally read

Bring a film camera to a party

Write a to-do list on paper and cross things off with a pen

Get photos printed at a drugstore kiosk

Buy a CD or cassette player from a thrift store

Frame something you made yourself

Annotate a book you've already finished and lend it to a friend

Write a shopping list in cursive

Keep a jar of good things that happened, written on paper

Buy a stamp and mail something

Use a paper ticket instead of a digital one

Play the instrument you own and ignore

Handwrite one full page of diary

Leave your phone at home for one errand

Learn to use a compass

Bring a book, not a phone, to a waiting room

Buy a wall calendar and write on it

Do a jigsaw puzzle

Handwrite a recipe for someone else

Have a picnic for one

Eat breakfast outside

Try a fruit you've never eaten

Make tea properly, in a pot

Bake soda bread

Safely forage something edible

Have dessert first

Cook a dish from a country you've never visited

Eat lunch in a park with no phone at all

Make a meal from one shop's ingredients only

Buy the strangest thing at the farmers market

Have a picnic breakfast on a weekday

Learn to make one drink genuinely well

Buy a potted herb and cook with it the same day

Make jam

Make pancakes in a fun shape

Eat outside in the cold with something hot

Order the ice cream flavour you would never normally pick

Cook something over an open fire

Light candles for dinner on an entirely ordinary night

Cook from a handwritten family recipe

Ask a friend their favorite meal and cook it for them

Buy the ugliest vegetable and cook it well

Try the bakery you always walk past

Make lemonade from scratch

Eat one meal in silence, tasting everything

Learn one soup by heart

Bring dessert to a friend unannounced

Invent your own tea ceremony

Cook a full meal with the radio on and no screens

Make a sandwich worth photographing on film

Order the special without asking what it is

Bake something and give all of it away

Pick your own fruit somewhere

Make dinner entirely from what's already in the cupboard

Eat at a counter and talk to whoever's beside you

Make hot chocolate from real chocolate

Have a midnight snack outdoors

Try the food cart you've been curious about

Make the same dish three different ways

Host a potluck where every dish is a childhood favourite

Make your coffee extra fancy

Craft a custom cocktail

Make fresh orange juice

Leave a poem somewhere public

Chalk something kind on a sidewalk

Leave a painted rock on a trail

Hide a small gift inside a library book

Tape a joke to a lamppost

Leave coins in a vending machine

Return a stray shopping cart

Tell a small business owner they're doing well, in person

Pay for a stranger's parking

Leave flowers on a doorstep

Post a "you're doing great" note in a public bathroom

Give away a plant cutting

Leave a note in a jacket pocket at a thrift store

Sweep a public step

Water a neglected plant that isn't yours

Buy a book specifically to leave in a Little Free Library

Leave a cash tip with a written note

Feed a parking meter about to expire

Leave wildflowers somewhere public

Write an anonymous thank-you

Pick up ten pieces of litter

Leave a bookmark with a message inside a secondhand book

Give directions before you're asked

Chalk a hopscotch course for kids

Donate a book you loved

Leave a kind note under a windshield wiper

Set up a hummingbird feeder

Tie a ribbon to a fence somewhere it'll be noticed

Fix something small and public

Compliment a dog in unnecessary detail

Give up your seat before anyone asks

Send an anonymous flower delivery

Tape a free bag of something to a fence

Leave a drawing on a café napkin

Guerrilla-garden a neglected patch

Leave a rock painted with a bad pun

Give away your umbrella

Return a lost item to where its owner would look

Leave a handwritten recommendation on a library shelf

Buy a stranger's coffee and leave before they notice

Find the first blossom of the year

Find a tree that's just budded and look closely at a single branch

Walk in spring rain without an umbrella

Find frogspawn or tadpoles

Plant sunflower seeds

Listen for the first proper dawn chorus

Fly a kite

Find the first bee of the year

Make a bouquet entirely out of weeds

Sit outside for the first warm evening

Watch birds building a nest

Clear out one box of things and give it away

Find a bluebell wood, or your local equivalent

Open every window at once

Sleep with the window open the first night it's warm enough

Swim outdoors

Go looking for fireflies

Eat dinner outside tonight, wherever you can manage it

Stay out until the stars come out

Go to a free outdoor show

Find a public fountain or splash pad and get properly wet

Read in a hammock

Start a water fight

Watch a thunderstorm from shelter

Sleep outside for one night

Get somewhere with no light pollution

Make ice pops from real fruit

Take the long way home because the evening is nice

Watch a sunset from the water

Build a bonfire

Find the loudest possible pile of leaves and walk through it

Collect conkers or acorns

Watch fog sit in a valley

Pick apples

Make a leaf rubbing

Find the reddest leaf of the season

Light a fire and just watch it

Buy a pumpkin and carve it badly

Go out at 4pm and notice how different the light is from summer

Take a foggy morning walk

Forage blackberries

Wear a coat for the first time and enjoy it

Watch birds migrating

Make a wreath from fallen things

Travel somewhere purely for the colours

Catch a snowflake on your sleeve and actually look at it

Walk in fresh snow before anyone else does

Make a snow angel as an adult

Watch your own breath in the cold

Find ice patterns on a window or puddle

Drink something hot outdoors in freezing weather

Go out in the dark specifically to look up

Hang lights for no occasion

Mark the shortest day of the year somehow

Put food out for birds and watch from the window until something comes

Walk somewhere made completely silent by snow

Watch ice crack on a puddle

Wrap up and go out anyway

Catch a winter sunrise

Find the most dramatically bare tree near you and go stand under it

Go on a color walk, pick a color and notice everything

Spend five minutes noticing only sounds

Find five distinct smells on one walk

Catch the exact moment the streetlights come on

Count the colours in a single puddle

Listen to rain with your eyes closed

Count how many different birdsongs you hear at dawn

Find the warmest patch of sunlight in your home

Mark the edge of a shadow, come back in two hours, mark it again

Work out which way the wind is coming from

Find the quietest spot within walking distance

Feel the texture of five different surfaces

Let rain hit your face without flinching

Find one thing on your street you have never once noticed

Watch light move across a wall for ten minutes

Go into a bookshop just to smell it

Listen to the sound of your own footsteps

Find the coldest and warmest outdoor spots near you

Taste something with your eyes closed

Notice a smell that takes you somewhere else entirely

Listen to a city at 5am

Find the best-smelling flower within a mile

Count every clock you pass on one walk

Watch water move for five minutes

Spot the first star

Touch the bark of five different trees

Notice a colour you've been ignoring

Sit in the dark for ten minutes

Hear your neighborhood without headphones

Find the softest thing outdoors

Watch a candle burn all the way down

Go back to a place you haven't been in months and find what's changed

Follow a scent to its source

Count how many people smile back if you smile first

Find an echo and use it

Watch a sunset closely enough to feel the earth turning

Take the train one stop further than usual and walk back

Say yes to the next thing you'd normally refuse

Pick a compass direction and walk that way for an hour

Visit the place on the map with the funniest name

Go somewhere new before work

Spend an afternoon photographing one colour wherever it turns up

Spend an afternoon without checking the time once

Follow the first interesting sound you hear

Take a bus at random and get off when something looks good

Choose a destination by dropping a coin on a map

Walk a thousand steps, then look up and go wherever seems best

Visit somewhere that's only open one day a week

Wander with one rule: go in anywhere that's free

Be a tourist in your own town for one afternoon

Take yourself on a date

Go somewhere familiar at an unfamiliar hour

Follow a river to wherever it goes

Do something you loved at age eight

Visit the place you can see from your window but have never been to

Spend an afternoon with no plans and no phone, and see what happens

Go on a bike ride until you find a sweet treat

Get off the bus three stops early and walk the rest

Set a timer for forty-five minutes, walk away from home, then turn around

Pick a street name you like the sound of and go find it

Go to wherever something ends near you: the pier, the road, the line

Choose a destination by pointing at a map with your eyes shut

Walk to the nearest place you've never been inside

Take the first turning you've never taken

Ride a bike somewhere you'd normally drive

Go to the second-nearest park instead of the nearest one

Go out with exactly $10 and come back with a story

Walk in one direction until you find water, then stop

Take the longest possible route to somewhere you go all the time

Get to a viewpoint at exactly golden hour

Visit three cafes and have one small thing at each

Ride public transport in a direction you've never gone

Get mildly, deliberately lost and find your way back without a map

Go to the oldest pub, cafe, or diner in town

Walk one mile in as straight a line as the streets allow

Follow a bus route on foot

Visit somewhere that's always closed when you happen to pass it

Go out with a friend and let them choose everything

Explore one square mile you've never walked

Pick a color and follow it across town

Get to a market an hour before it closes

Ride to the last stop on the line and look around

Walk to the highest street nearby and look back down

Take a walk with a coin. Heads left, tails right

Go to a bookshop and buy whatever a stranger recommends

Find the silliest name on the map within an hour of you, and go

Go to a station, port, or airport and watch people arrive

Walk to where two neighborhoods meet and find the exact moment it changes

Go inside a building you've only ever seen from outside

Follow a wall as far as it goes

Take a ferry, tram, funicular, or cable car

Turn up somewhere before it opens and be first through the door

Visit a place at night that you only know in daylight

Take a walk with your headphones off for exactly one album's worth of time

Go looking for the best view within an hour's travel

Visit a town you've only ever driven through

Take yourself out to the movies

Leave the house and walk until something surprises you

Attend a local workshop

Attend a lecture about a topic you know nothing about

Read a Wikipedia page from start to finish

Open an encyclopedia at random and read the whole page

Go down a rabbit hole to learn something new

Spend a weekend becoming an expert in a random topic

Read every page of your local paper

Visit a local museum

Do a crossword puzzle, phone a friend if you need help

Sit down and do a sudoku puzzle with a pencil and eraser

Read an essay from someone you don’t agree with

Learn the alphabet in sign language

Learn a card game you've never played

Learn to introduce yourself in a different language

Watch your favorite movie from when you were a kid

Watch an episode of a show that you loved when you were young

Put some clips, ribbons, or flowers in your hair

Have a dance party to a playlist from the year you were born

Play a video game on a vintage console

Bake an after school treat you loved in elementary school

Go to a playground and swing

Dig out an old photo album and go through the whole thing

Go to a library and find the book you loved when you were eight

Watch cartoons on a Saturday morning at the proper hour

Blow bubbles

Build something out of blocks or Legos

Build something with toothpicks and marshmallows