Day 3 of the Outdoors Family Challenge in my house almost ended as soon as it started. When I came in the door, Sprout was playing with his Duplos. I asked him, “Do you want to go outside?” To which he promptly answered, “No.” Fortunately, I wasn’t deterred and he wasn’t being terribly stubborn, so we headed outside five minutes later. The scavenger hunt (PDF) didn’t exactly go as planned, but plans never quite do with three-year-olds.
Welcome to Day 3 of the Outdoors Family Challenge! This is a seven day challenge to help get you and your kids outside, living more sustainably, and connecting more with nature and each other. You can read about our experience yesterday or check out the archived prompts on the Outdoors Family Challenge page. If you would like updates each morning with the activities, sign up for the email list or like our Facebook page.
Have a nature scavenger hunt
Children approach nature with an inherent sense of play. They love searching out objects that look ordinary to adults and imbuing them with great meaning.
One way to spark and encourage that curiosity is to have a scavenger hunt. Download the scavenger hunt worksheet as a PDF or print out the graphic or text below. Unlike a regular scavenger hunt, where there are specific “right” answers, there may be many ways to fulfill each category here. In addition, there are a number of blank spaces where you can make your own categories!