Nature Walk
You never need a reason to have a nature
walk, but if you are looking for a specific idea, here are a few suggestions.
Think of a few more yourself-use a unit study topic, such as cooking and see
if you can identify some wild foods. Use a child's interest, like turtles
to create a themed hike. Maybe you are studying life cycles and want to look
for seeds, egg sacks, baby insects or decaying matter. Of you could make it
a holiday hike and listen for owls at Halloween, hunt for turkey signs in
November, try to find mistletoe in December.
Just remember, the best finds are often stumbled upon when you are out on
a walk.
Gimme
Shelter:
Take a walk specifically to look for animal homes. Take a moment to discuss
what an animal needs to make a home:
saftey and protection, yet easy to reach
weather protection and ventelation
near food and water
All animals need: food, water, shelter, space
Some types of animal homes are: nest, burrow, web, dead trees, logs, under
rocks, lodges, hives, den.
Look for and sketch or photograph different animal homes. See if you can figure
out if the animal lives there all year, hibernates or migrates.
Crayon Hike
This is good for any time of the year, but is particularly memorable
in the winter.
You need:
A box of crayons, the bigger the better.
Take a walk through the woods and try to match the crayons with the colors
you see.
Are tree trunks really brown?
What was that?
Go out to a place of your choosing and close your eyes for 3 minutes
and just listen.
List all the sounds you heard, natural and manmade.
Shapes
Take a walk and look to see how many shapes you can find in natural objects.