I can’t get enough of fall. So many people I know see summer as the season to spend every day outdoors, but for me it’s always been fall. I love every stage of the leaves changing colors. It feels magical to sit outside on a porch sipping coffee and watching the rain (I grew up in Oregon, so loving the rain is kind of a birthright). I adore the way the air changes, and you can feel warm and cold at the same time.
Fall always feels like a fresh start to me.
And what’s a fresh start without some exploration?
Nature Scavenger Hunt
This free printable has 3 activity pages to use on your next nature walk this fall! Use these worksheets to turn a simple walk into a fun nature scavenger hunt.
Engage your child’s critical thinking skills and early science skills by asking them to identify items they find as they walk and mark them off on the printable checklist. This will help them to be more actively aware of their surroundings and notice more of the changes associated with the seasons!
Pages 2 and 3 can be used with preschoolers and kindergartners with help from a parent or independently with an older child. These pages let children think of additional interesting things they saw outside and include them on the printable worksheet. For both pages, children can color what they saw. The final page includes a place where children can try to describe what they saw!
Reusing This Printable Seasonally
If you use this printable multiple times per year (several times per season!), this gives you a great opportunity to point out or ask your child about the differences between scavenger hunts. Ask questions like these:
- What color was this tree on our last scavenger hunt? What color is it now?
- The leaves you checked off your list are on the ground. Were they on the ground last time? Why do you think that they are now?
- We’re having such a hard time finding any flowers today. Last time we found so many. What do you think is going on?
- There are so many butterflies! Last winter when we did our walk we didn’t see any butterflies or bees… where do you think they went?
- There’s another squirrel holding an acorn! What do you think it’s doing?
There’s so much going on with the seasons beyond just the weather. Everything is connected, and walking through nature is such a simple way to see how all the pieces fit together. Rather than learning about all these aspects of science as disconnected parts, kids can see it all as one big mosaic!
