When the kids were younger, the lazy days of August always became the “Mom, I’m bored!” days. It was usually about this time of year, the neighbor and I would pack up a picnic lunch and take the kids on a nature scavenger hunt. They got to experience the great outdoors—for free, and I got to walk and chat away the afternoon with another adult. It was win-win.
If you are experiencing the “I’m bored!” days of summer, here is an easy nature scavenger hunt you can have the kids do to keep the idleness at bay:
- Something that has wings
- A stick shaped like a letter
- Animal footprints
- Two different kinds of leaves
- Something fuzzy
- An animal’s home
- A flower {take this one home, dry and press it, then glue it to a mat in a picture frame. Put a picture of the kiddos doing the scavenger hunt in the frame.}
- A pinecone
- A spider
- A feather
- Water {other than a water bottle}
- Spider web
- A weed
- A clover leaf
- A squirrel
Give the kids a plastic grocery bag to collect what they can, and a camera to capture the rest.
Headed to the beach yet this summer? Try out my Beach Scavenger Hunt.
Happy Hunting,
Mavis
SHARE:
Bee Girl (AKA Melissa) says
Love this! I am new here, but am completely inspired by everything I’ve seen so far! I am especially happy to see you tying in children with the environment in fun, easy ways as that’s what I do for my day job and I have a series I’m working on about getting kids reunited with nature on my blog as well 🙂 Anyhow, I’m enjoying looking around…I look forward to spending some good time getting caught up on all you’ve done!
Katie C. says
My five year-old just told me today (during a fit, of course) that, “Everything is boring.” Even though we’ve had plenty of fun this summer, we’re in the process of buying our first home, and she has a teeny bit of a point. With all of the extensions, paperwork, house hunting, etc., etc., our home life feels a little tense right now.
About an hour later, I checked your site, and I’m so happy that I did! We’ll be doing your Nature Walk hunt tomorrow at our nearby lake. Thank you for saving my poor little stinker girl from being bored. 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
Yay! 🙂
Kathryn says
Love it. It is also fun to check out whatever the Master Naturalists have going in areas where there is an active chapter.
Barbara Newman says
Sunflower sounds great to me!! Have a great day!!
Emily says
Love this! I use to carry this set in my purse to keep my boys busy.
http://www.saltwater-kids.com/2010/02/scavenger-hunt-cards_5151.html?m=1