
Today is Day 3 of my 5-day series on Summertime Nature Studies. This series is a part of the iHomeschool Network Summer Hopscotch 2013.
Summer offers a perfect opportunity for Nature Scavenger Hunts. The weather is warm and there are plenty of daylight hours to make a great game of hunting items. Your scavenger hunt can be planned for only your children, the neighborhood kids or your homeschool group.
You can make a nature scavenger hunt as elaborate or simple as you'd like but the process is the same either way.
{This post contains affiliate links}
Planning a Scavenger Hunt
Participants: Decide who will be participating and build your scavenger hunt around that. You'll want to consider the ages of the children, for instance. While older children may enjoy difficult-to-find items, this may frustrate younger children. If you're working with a large group of children, perhaps they could form teams, grouping younger children with older ones.
Location: Do a little research on your location to create your list of items to be hunted. (While they may be able to hunt for a "rose petal" in your yard, they're not likely to find that if they're hunting in a sand pine scrub!)
Duration and prizes: How long will the hunt last? Will there be prizes for all participants? Will it be a contest? Be sure to think through these things while planning.
Collection Scavenger Hunt
This is a more traditional way of conducting scavenger hunt. The children go out and collect things on a list. Some ideas are:- Grasshoppers and beetles
- Leaves from trees
- Wildflowers
- Mushrooms
- Frogs, toads, and lizards
- Feathers
- Pinecones
- Rocks
- Seashells and seaweed
- Berries (no eating them unless identified as safe!)
Photography Scavenger Hunt
I like these because they don't disturb the natural eco-system. The goal here is to photograph rather than collect. In addition to taking photos the things you could collect, you can photograph larger things such as ..- Animal tracks
- Squirrels (or other small animals)
- Birds at a bird bath or birdfeeder
- Sunsets and sunrises
- Mountains
- Waterfalls
- The ocean
Bucket List Scavenger Hunt
This is a rather neat concept. The idea isn't to gather but to do, much like a bucket list. Some ideas might be...
- Swim in a lake
- Climb a tree
- Go hiking
- Use a compass to find your way around an area.
- Look at pond water under a microscope
- Draw a flower
- Make a leaf rubbing
- Watch a sunrise and describe it in writing
Be sure you keep a nature journal and use your notebooking pages for writing descriptions of activities and drawing pictures.
You can find a variety of Charlotte Mason style nature unit studies at Shining Dawn Books. The summer bundles (3 unit study ebooks) are only $21.00!
![]() |
Summer Nature Study Bundle from Shining Dawn Books |
You can find a variety of Charlotte Mason style nature unit studies at Shining Dawn Books. The summer bundles (3 unit study ebooks) are only $21.00!
Birdbath photo credit: Joanie49
Happy Homeschooling!
Post a Comment
Join the conversation!