Mini Houses

Age: 4-6 yrs
Group: pairs or individually
Materials: any natural materials, string (optional), clay (optional)

Kids make a shelter/home for a small creature. It could be for a fairy, troll, mini beast or any other creature of their imagination. Materials could include only natural items found on the forest floor or the leader could bring out some clay, wire or string in addition.

Extensions:

Kids could make their own mini creatures out of clay. 

Write or tell a story about the creature that lives in their house and what it’s like to live as a small creature in a big world.  

The Scavenger Hunt

Age: 4 yrs+
Group: whole class or small groups
Materials: writing materials, camera, art materials, paint sample squares, bingo cards, plastic shapes

Scavenger hunts are a fun new way to explore your surroundings. They can be set up in so many different ways to meet various educational goals. Here are some ideas:

• Colour Hunt: Collect paint sample squares from a hardware store and pass them out to the kids, encouraging them to find something in nature that matches that colour. Discuss the “colours of the season” and their effect on animals.
• Search for the Rainbow: Using a camera, embark on a scavenger hunt to find things in nature of all colours of the rainbow. Take pictures, print them out and then paste onto a poster of rainbow.
• Bingo: Design a bingo card with different natural items that might be found in the area you’re visiting. Items could be gathered and then returned after the game. First person to get 5 in a row wins
• Alphabet Hunt: go on a scavenger hunt in your local area looking for things which start with all letters of the alphabet. Your search could include signs in the town. Take pictures to record the finds and display in class
• Shapes: A shapes scavenger hunt could be done in different ways.

o   For a younger audience, hide plastic shapes around the area.

o   For an older audience, encourage children to look around for shapes in their environment. Take pictures of those shapes and then create a poster organizing photos

Seasonal Wreaths

Age: 3 yrs+
Group: any size
Materials: forest with recently fallen branches (bendable), wire or string (optional)

Make wreaths characteristic of different seasons to hang up inside or outside of class. Each child could make their own wreath or make one together as a class and decorate with natural items. Emphasize sustainable gathering of branches, leaves etc. and the option to put the wreath contents back where you found them after you've enjoyed it for some time. 

Animal Adoption

Age: all

Group: any size

Season: any

Consider adopting some farm animals as a project with your class (any age). You don’t have to have a full working farm to expose children to animals and teach them the care required to keep them. A few chickens show children where eggs and chicken meat come from. Rabbits offer something to carefully cuddle resulting in some calm time for your group. Small brooms mimic the adults’ large ones and give the children responsibility in caring for the animals. Having animals for a full year also gives an opportunity to notice the changes they go through during the seasons. Finally, if it's your choice to use the animals as a resource, this may be an opportunity to explain to children where meat, wool or fur comes from.

If having animals on your property is not an option, consider visiting a farm multiple times through the year and allow children time to help the farmer feed and water the animals.

Finally, a totally different way to adopt an animal is through a local conservation authority. Some conservation groups have set up adoption or sponsorship programs for endangered or injured wildlife. Participants pay a fee to support conservation efforts and receive an “adoption certificate”.  For example, in Ontario, Canada you can adopt an owl: http://www.theowlfoundation.ca/