Nature Scavenger Hunt
Short description of activity: A nature-related scavenger hunt. Adaptations include: finding items related to science class, finding items for each letter of the alphabet, or finding items that match parts of speech.
Type of activity: Content Connection, Team Building, Mindfulness, Nature and Outdoors
Minimum Time Needed for Activity: 30 min, Can be done mid-unit, can be the basis of a unit (see Variations)
Grade Level: K – 12
Subject Area: ELA, Science, Math
Materials:
- Scavenger hunt worksheets (See Variations on how to potentially broaden use of each)
- Clipboard
- Small bucket, pencil, tags or grid for categories
Set up:
- Explain to students that they will be going outside to find and collect objects listed on the worksheet(s).
- Students must pay attention to following the rules of being respectful to nature and follow class rules.
- If choosing “Draw your own,” students should identify 6 things they think they will find, or hope to find (bird, bug, animal, puddle, leaf, etc) and draw it before going outside.
- Decide how much time you will spend on the activity and what the focus of the activity is:
- spelling accuracy,
- identifying beginning sounds,
- linking to topic,
Play:
- Decide if you are gathering items or simply looking for them. If collecting, only pick up objects that fit in a pail.
- Do not uproot or kill any plant when removing a branch/leaf.
- Do not harm an animal or insect.
- Students must remain with an adult, with their team or in defined areas.
- When collection/hunting time is done, have students return to the central area to show what was collected
- Items can be sorted by category for counting and identifying percentages.
- Items can be sorted by category of Noun, Adjective and Verb, or letter.
- Students can discuss interesting attributes or qualities that they noticed, or items discovered that they have a question about. Students may use a K-W-L Chart to further and document that learning and inquiry.
- Turn in forms and evaluate cooperation, conversation and ideas that are generated.
Variations:
- With Alphabet Scavenger Hunt, divide the alphabet amongst groups of students instead of having each do an entire alphabet.
- Group students in pairs: choose one to carry the items and one to be the scribe.
- Not collecting actual objects and/or gathering, instead have students calculating using marks on a sheet, or take pictures.
- When back as a class:
- ELA:
- Create a story (as a class or as individuals) that incorporate as many items as possible.
- Which objects fit into a spelling category? (short vowel, long vowel, consonant blends, diphthongs, irregular plurals)
- What would Pete the Cat, or Piggy and Gerald say about these items?
- Find items that appear in a story ie: Wind in the Willows; The Mitten, etc.
- Using the Parts of Speech worksheet:
- Noun: pick a letter row-
- have students do a jumping jack, hop or clap for every syllable in the Noun,
- have students get into alphabetical order,
- get in order, most to least letters.
- Verb: Pick another letter row.
- Have students act out their verb.
- Adjectives: pick another letter row.
- Group synonyms. Have antonyms try to tag.
- Noun: pick a letter row-
- Have a smaller subset of students try to create a sentence or story with their words. Have students create a poem, haiku or Wordle.
- Find a passage from a text and convert it to be a “madlib.” Have students insert their words into it.
- ART:
- If items are brought into the room, create a diorama or piece of art with them.
- Imagine you are a Beatrix Potter field mouse- how might you use these items in your daily life?
- MATH:
- Calculate and create bar graphs representing what was gathered.
- Answer math questions like “how many more ___ were found than ___?”
- Place items in arrays. Use mathematical expressions to represent .
- Calculate fractions or percentages (ex: there were 14 pebbles gathered out of a total 120 items. What is a fraction that represents this? What is the fraction in its simplest form? What is the percentage?)
- How can a category be further broken down? (ex: type of pebble, color, size, weight)
- Calculate fractions/percentages of new subset and compare.
- Re-sort all of the items by location found (parking lot, playground, garden, etc.).
- Calculate fractions/percentages of new subset and compare.
- Can a Venn Diagram of items be created by any of these categories? How might it change as the categories change?
- SCIENCE:
- Identify type of rock or plant found using field guides.
- Categorize objects by naturally-occurring (grew there), fell there, brought there.
- Ask students to think about how the object made its way there, or where it came from.
- Align items where they belong in a food web, or in the process of growing/decomposition.
- Identify how many different species of bug/spider found.
- What makes them different? What makes them the same?
- Identify any attributes/adaptations that help it live where it was found.
- What is its natural predator? Prey?
Standards:
Math > Measurement & Data > Represent and Interpret Data
ELA Standards > Language> Conventions of Standard English; Knowledge of Language; Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
ELA Standards > Speaking and Listening > Comprehension and Collaboration; Presentation of Knowledge and ideas
ELA Standards > Standard 10: Range, Quality, & Complexity > Staying on Topic Within a Grade & Across Grades
NGSS Standards > Science and Engineering Practices > Analyzing and Interpreting Data; Asking Questions and Defining Problems; Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking; Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information
NGSS Standards > Crosscutting Concepts > Cause and Effect; Systems and System Models; Structure and Function
NGSS Standards > Disciplinary Core Ideas > Earth and Space Science; Engineering, Technology and the Application of Science; Earth’s Systems; Earth and Human Activity
NGSS > Life Sciences > From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes; Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics