As the summer holidays are upon us, we want to share some activities each week to keep you and your children entertained and encourage you to go outside and experience the beautiful nature we have around us! Whether you live in the city, countryside or somewhere in between, they can all be done with things you'll likely have at home or that can be found easily nearby.
Nature Hunt
This is perfect for a quick grab-and-go activity to encourage your children to get outside or give you something to do during a walk that they might otherwise find 'boring'! By finding items outside, you'll be encouraging your children to develop observation skills and spark their curiosity while having fun, as well as learning more about the natural world around us and different habitats for plants and animals.
Things you'll need:
- Printed nature hunt checklist - see here
- Pen or pencil
- Magnifying glass (optional)
- Some excitement and an adventurous mindset!
What to do:
Head outside and get exploring!
When you find one of the items on the list, tick it off. You might need to be adventurous to find everything on the list - look under logs to find bugs or explore different environments to find wild flowers with butterflies - you can then tick off two at once! You can use a magnifying glass to get a closer look too.
You might want to take pictures of each item so you can collate them afterwards, remember not to hurt any animals or damage any plant life during your nature scavenger hunt.
Top tips:
- Remember the following quote to make sure you are protecting wildlife and nature: "Take only photos, leave only footprints."
- For younger children, focus on the colour of the items to help develop their colour identification and memory.
- For a more challenging hunt, take a matchbox or small box and see what items from the list you can fit into the box - just leave the insects and animals out!
- Extend the activity further before or after your walk by using page 2; kids can colour in the nature items as realistic as possible, or perhaps go wild and create some new colours in nature; pink logs or blue ladybirds anyone?
We'd love to see your images from your nature hunt, share them with us on social media with the tag #OurFDSummer!
