Archive for the ‘Nature Study’ Category

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Guest Blog Post by Rebecca, Scavenger Hunt Guru

Monday, September 28th, 2009

We are lucky this morning to have this guest blog post by Rebecca of  http://www.scavenger-hunt-guru.com.

Are you brainstorming up fun ideas for your next camping trip? Why not consider a scavenger hunt? They are easy to organize and tons of fun for all ages.

Scavenger hunts are experiential by nature. Kids learn in a hands on fashion as they explore the world around them, and we all know that the more hands-on the learning, the more the kids learn and remember. Hunts can be done on the trail, on the beach, and even as cool car games for the road trip to your campground.

To set up your hunt, simply print out a list of clues and let them go! It’s fun to add a fun quote or graphics to the scavenger hunt list, but not entirely necessary. It just depends on how creative you are feeling.

Here are a few outdoor scavenger hunts for you to try:

Camping Games: a fun camping scavenger hunt.
Hiking Activities: things to hung for on the trail.
Beach Scavenger Hunt: fun in the sand.
Beach Activity: a beach scavenger hunt with a twist.
Nature Scavenger Hunt: to build awareness.
Photography Game: check out the world from behind the camera lens.

The important thing is to be prepared, have fun with it and end while the kids are still wanting more. Try doing one scavenger hunt a week with your kids. They’ll love it!!! Scavenger Hunt Guru has a comprehensive collection of hunts to get you started.

If you are feeling the urge to create your own scavenger hunt adventure, be sure to check out the list of scavenger hunt ideas already brainstormed and broken down by location: indoor, outdoor, classroom and crazy! Simply pick and choose what you want to put on your list.

Happy camping and happy hunting!!!

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A Cool Nature Study Idea from Green Hour

Monday, July 27th, 2009

The National Wildlife Federation’s Green Hour has come up with yet another easy, enjoyable idea that could be adapted to a family tent camping trip with no problem. Called “The Bugliest Scavenger Hunt Ever!”, this is what it sounds like– a scavenger hunt to find the biggest bug, the prettiest bug, etc., etc. No one has to be an entomologist to participate; even the youngest campers could enjoy this, while older children with more knowledge could distinguish between arachnids and insects, for example.

This would also be a great time to teach about the dangers of everybody’s favorite arachnid, the ubiquitous tick, and for that reason, I would suggest going on this hunt in long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and shoes and socks, if possible. Certainly follow the activity up with a fun game of mutual “Tick Inspection,” especially if stifling heat keeps everyone in shorts and flip-flops.

Don’t forget the bug viewing jars! You could bring specimens back to the picnic table for some quiet drawing time. These inexpensive examples feature a grid on the bottom, so if you’re drawing on graph paper you can easily make your drawing life-sized, and a magnifying top (and air holes, of course). We have gotten years of enjoyment out of ours; kids and adults alike appreciate the ability to really examine a bug without any chance of it examining you right back! Check them out at Amazon.Com:

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Green Hour Idea: “Camping and Scavenger Hunt”

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

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Green Hour’s Sun Prints

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

Do you remember making sun prints with dark-colored construction paper as a child? I do. This week’s Green Hour has instructions on how to do it here, but it’s really simple: if you want a print of a leaf, for example, place it face down on dark-colored construction paper and weight it with rocks or something so it won’t blow away and will come into close contact with the paper, then place in direct sunlight all day. By night time, the surrounding paper should have faded enough that the leaf shape will be obviously darker. (Of course, you don’t want any part of the rocks to overlap the leaf and ruin its outline’s shape.)

You can also use photo-sensitive paper, which comes in kits or in refill packs of just the paper. You use it the same way you use the construction paper, minus the rocks, but the prints come out white on a medium blue background paper, and can be quite detailed. My students never failed to be delighted with their results when we did this.

With either construction paper or the photo-sensitive stuff, this is an easy activity that could enrich any sunny camping experience. Half the fun is collecting things to make the prints of!

Yours,

Jean B. in SC

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Gentler Nature Study Aids by Jim Arnosky

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

Jim Arnosky is a naturalist and author whose gentle prose and fine artwork will inspire you and your children to explore the natural environment you’re camping in. He’s a prolific writer; these are only a few of his books to whet your appetite. I invite you to click on any of the links above to get to him through Amazon.Com and take a look at all of his titles, many of which are sure to fit the particular environment(s) you deal with.

And, Dear Reader, I’m not trying to gross anyone out with the study of bug guts or scat, for example– just trying to use many children’s fascination with general ickiness as a hook to get them into nature study. But rest assured, Jim Arnosky’s work will have the same effect without the “Ick” factor, if you know your child wouldn’t respond to that.

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More Cool Gross Stuff for Nature Study

Saturday, June 6th, 2009


As you know from my post, Two Cool Books for Road Trip Nature Study, I like off-beat ways to study nature, so it may not surprise you to learn that it’s fun and interesting to me to examine scat, or animal droppings. Actually, I learned when I was teaching science for gifted and talented students that any reference to poop was a sure-fire way to get, and keep, preteen attention. (Go figure!) Here are some products (no affiliation) that will help you and your children engage in this interestingly gross study:

Animal Scat Keychain Identification Guide

a great variety of animal scat replicas (rubber poop!): Go here and search “scat.” Keep scrolling down til you start to see the replicas. Then you’ll scroll past more books and find lots more scat replicas. I wouldn’t suggest buying tons of the stuff; maybe just two or three from animals you’re confident frequent your hiking area. By the way, the picture above is of a rubber replica– see how realistic they are?

Both of these links will take you to the Acorn Naturalists online store, a really neat resource for nature study in general. If you’re going to be hiking anyway, look down occasionally and see what you can discover about the ecosystem you’re in by the droppings you run across. Kids learn a lot through those “Eeeew!” moments.

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Wild Days: Creating Discovery Journals

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

This book, by Karen Skidmore Rackliffe, is a classic in homeschooling circles, and I discovered it when I was homeschooling my son some years ago. That’s when we began working in our nature journals, and this book was a great inspiration for me.

I hear somebody out there starting to hyperventilate– take a good, deep breath! You don’t have to homeschool your children to benefit from nature journaling or from the inspiration that Wild Days provides. As you know from several of my previous posts, especially Nature Activity for Camping Trips, I am a big proponent of sketching from and writing about nature, and camping is a perfect time to engage in some of that. Now that my son is in public school, most of our journaling opportunities occur during family camping trips.

No, I am not suggesting that all your camping time be spent working on your journals, just some of it– and I definitely DO support your journaling WITH your kiddos! This book will truly inspire you to do so, I promise.

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The Salamander Room

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

The Salamander Room, by Anne Mazer and illustrated by Steve Johnson, is a delightful story about a little boy who wants to keep a salamander and imagines turning his bedroom into the perfect environment for it; by the end, he realizes he can’t meet the amphibian’s needs and should leave it in the wild. This is an excellent model for your children to follow with some critter from the ecosystem you’re camping in. I’ve used it with third- through sixth-graders, and they’ve never failed to come up with beautifully illustrated and written stories based upon this book. The process really fosters deep thought about what an animal’s needs are, and the resultant stories are always something the kids are really proud of having done. This would be a great follow-up project for a camp out.

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Project Learning Tree Activity: “Touchy-Feely Box”

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

All you need to bring from home for this activity is an empty tissue box, so that you have a nice-sized hole in the top. When you get to your campsite, choose three to four objects to conceal in the box (for example, a pebble, a pine cone, a leaf, a shell– whatever is handy) and have your child close his or her eyes, reach in, and explore only through touch. Then, with eyes open, have the child find a corresponding item nearby for each of the items felt. You can let the kids take turns finding and hiding items in the Touchy-Feely Box for more fun.

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Two Books for Exploring the Forest

Saturday, June 6th, 2009


These are two good books for exploration of forests. The first, Once There Was a Tree, is really most valuable for the exquisite illustration by Gennady Spirin. It is not a story book, but discusses the various animals that make use of a tree’s stump (in this case, the tree was chopped down by man, but the same animals would use a fallen tree), and is appropriate even for the youngest children, especially if you follow reading it up with actually poking around a fallen tree.

The second book, entitled How the Forest Grew, helps the reader identify new-growth forests, middle-stage forests, and old-growth forests. This is good information for intermediate students through adults, but too detailed for primary students.

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