Hobbies And Interests
Snails
Look outside for silvery dried slime trails made by snails. Follow the trails in and around the garden to find who made them. If you can't find any trails, look for snails in their usual hiding places, such as under logs and in damp leaf piles. Race your found snail by drawing a circle on your patio with sidewalk chalk. Place the snail in the center and time how long it takes for the snail to reach the outline. Try to find as many snails as you can and measure the sizes of their shells.
Animal Moves
Take your children outside to pretend to be animals. Research various animals, such as seals and bears. Visit a local park or just your backyard and move like the animals. Jump and hop around like an Australian red kangaroo or waddle like an emperor penguin in Antarctica. Measure how much your child can jump in comparison to a kangaroo, which can jump about 30 feet in one leap.
Biologists
Pack nature handbooks, a magnifying glass and a notebook inside your child's backpack. Journey around the outside of your home looking for new species of animals like a real biologist. Children can draw birds in trees or insects under rocks. Look up the animals in local field guides. Once your child learns how to study animals, take a field trip to a local nature preserve, tide pool or nature trail. Instead of taking home animal specimens, instruct children to draw or take photographs of the animals.
Stories
While outside observing local wildlife, help your child write a fictional story about the animals they see. If they are watching a squirrel collect acorns in the autumn, ask your child to make up a story about it. Bring along a clipboard, lined paper and pencils to write the story. Sit on a large rock or a park bench. Think of names for the animals and a narrative. Younger children can draw out a story with colored pencils or crayons. Look at classic children's books for inspiration, such as Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and A. A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh."