HT Games
Species See
In "Species See," children learn to identify various plants and animals in their environment. Give your children a notepad and a pencil, and have them take a walk within a short distance of a starting point. This can be outside around a school, home, park or any outdoor location. They will need to make two lists on the notepad---one entitled "Animals" and the other, "Plants." As they walk around their trail, they will write down the different kinds of species of plants and animals they see. If they don't know the name of a type of plant or animal, have them create one. Let children name their pretend trail. By letting children take ownership of the area, they may want to visit and play "Species See" on their own.
Hug-a-Tree
Play this game near several trees with a group of children. Divide children into pairs. One child is the tree-hugger, and the other is the leader. Blindfold the tree-hugger, and have the leader walk the child toward a tree. The tree-hugger then hugs and touches the tree, trying to memorize the tree's, shape, size, smell and other attributes. The leader then takes the tree-hugger back to the starting point, and the tree-hugger must try to find his tree without the blindfold. Players then switch roles and repeat.
Nature Scavenger Hunt
A natural scavenger hunt follows the same rules as a traditional scavenger hunt using items found in nature. Peruse the area ahead of time to determine what types of items are available at that site. Write a list of the items for children to find. You may want to include some very common items with some that are harder to find to make the list more challenging. You can easily adjust the scavenger hunt to match the children's age and skill level by changing the number and type of items and size of the groups. For instance, you may instruct younger children to find objects like pinecones or acorns, while older children can find certain specific types of leaves or flowers.