Down in the Woods - Scavenger Hunt

Source:

Widely adapted, originally from the book 'Sharing Nature with Children' by JB Cornell (1979). Suggestions to hunt for - from the Craigellachie NNR Education Pack (SNH)

Time

30 minutes

You will need

• ‘Down in the woods -  'Scavenger Hunt’ worksheet (see downloads below)
• pencils

Did you know?

This is an ideal introductory activity to a new, diverse and interesting place, such as the woodland at Craigellachie National Nature Reserve. It encourages children to use all their senses as well as their thoughts and emotions to explore and share somewhere new.

Before the activity

Download the activity sheet and edit it to fit your group. 

The activity

Identify the search area and explain to the children where the boundaries are. Use the ‘Scavenger hunt’ sheet to get the children to explore the woodland with a sense of purpose. For younger children, take them on a walk with you, through the woodland. Stop at intervals (at likely looking spots) and read out the scavenger hunt prompts, and look for an answer or answers together.

For older children get them to draw and describe their findings on the worksheet.

At the end of the search gather the group together and ask general questions about what they found. What was the best thing they found?  What was the nastiest? Is everything in nature important? (yes).  An energy giver could be anything that gives energy to another organism, i.e any living organism (even top predators give energy to the decomposers, when they die) and the sun (which gives energy via photosynthesis).  .

Suggested Follow up

Visit a very different habitat such as a bog or the sea shore. Carry out another scavenger hunt to experience how very different these places are. Compare and contrast different places and ask the children to write about their favourite one. Why was it the best for them? (There are also scavenger hunt suggestions in the peatlands and in the sea, shore and sand sections.)

Downloads

Down in the Woods – Scavenger Hunt worksheet

Curriculum Links

Science

Age Range

1, 2, 3