Nature Scavenger Hunt Bingo!
Unlike humans who can go to the store to buy materials, animals have to scavenger for their food and homes. In this activity, students will use their science skills to explore the great outdoors. When you find an item on your scavenger worksheet sheet, color in the square. In order to get Bingo, fill in one full row of squares.
Scavenger Hunt List
Sticks
Grass or straw
Flowers
Feathers
Dirt
Fur
String
Bark
Paper
Recycled Materials (things left behind by humans)
Research Connection:
A recent review suggests that encouraging children to interact with nature has positive physical and mental health benefits. For educators, promoting the holistic development of students is important, including their socio-emotional development. Children who express feeling more connected to nature additionally express more prosocial traits such as empathy. This outdoor scavenger hunt activity not only strengthens science skills such as categorization and observation, but also offers an opportunity to take a break from screens, de-stress, and reconnect with nature.
Extending the Activity:
This activity is designed to promote science process skills, however, this activity also opens up the opportunity to discuss the impact of humans on the environment. This scavenger hunt asks children to look for discarded trash, such as single-use plastic bags, plastic water bottles, receipts, and trash. Hopefully, these items will be among the more difficult to find, however, it is likely that children will be able to find at least one piece of trash in their neighborhoods. To extend this activity, ask children to count the number of pieces of trash they find during their scavenger hunt. For the duration of this activity, items that are typically ignored or unnoticed will suddenly become more visible, thus promoting awareness about litter and its potential impact on wildlife and nature.