Why not use your daily walk to further your children’s interest in nature? In this weeks edition of fun with nature, we look at ways to make your daily exercise walk more fun and interesting.
Photo Credit: Total Shape https://totalshape.com
- Digital Scavenger Hunt
In addition to learning how to take a picture, kids stand to learn a lot from this simple techie twist on I Spy. By matching objects to categories, even our three-year-olds are working towards the ability to make connections, a skill that will prove essential as kids attempt to understand complicated subjects and navigate the world.
You can make your scavenger list as age-appropriate as you want, with more challenging items for older s=children such as specific trees or birds. Below is an example of what you might use with a three-year-old.
- Something Yellow
- Bluebell
- Tree
- Dandelion
- Leaf
2. Net Dipping
This one is only if you have access to a river or pond and for those Westport locals, you can use the lovely riverside walk to access the river on Westport House Estate for this one.
Local ponds, swamps, and dams are teeming with microorganisms and bugs. Why not take some dip nets and magnifying glasses with you on your nature walk? Stop at these ponds and allow children to do some dip netting to see what sort of critters live in the ponds. Children could also pick different environments during their nature walks and make observations on sunlight, soil moisture, temperature, wind, water flow, plants, and animals in each.
3. Seed Collecting
Get the kids to gather a collection of seeds from a wooded area. They can drag an old blanket or fuzzy cloth behind them on the ground. They can place a large, old, wool sock over hands or shoes to see what they can pick up. Or they can wear bracelets made of masking tape (sticky side out), to hold the seeds they find. You could use the seeds to plant into the biodegradable seeding pots we made in last weeks edition.
