NATURE AND WILDLIFE ACTIVITIES

Nature and wildlife activities you can enjoy with children of all ages, using natural found materials or everyday items you can find at home.

Exploring trees and woods 30+ activity ideas

33 bird activity ideas + fun facts

22 Butterfly and caterpillar activities + fun facts

16 Beetle activity ideas + fun facts

14 Bee activities + fun facts

20 ways to make a home for wildlife

12 Seaweed activity ideas + fun facts

Exploring the shore 20 activity ideas

16 Freshwater and aquatic wildlife activities

15 Nature therapy and mindfulness activity ideas

8 Rain Science experiments and activity ideas

30 Rose activity ideas and recipes

11 Bat activity ideas + fun facts

11 Daisy activity ideas

22 Moth activity ideas + fun facts

14 Hedgehog activity ideas + fun facts

Mammal tracking activity ideas

12 ideas for finding insects and minibeasts

14 Frog activities

10 Land snail science and craft activities

Woodlice activity ideas + fun facts

14 spider activity ideas + fun facts

20 Gardening activity ideas + STEM

8 Slime mould activity ideas

14 Hoverfly activity ideas +fun facts

12 Ant activity ideas + fun facts

10 Crab activity ideas

10 slug activity ideas + fun facts

Earwig activities and fun facts

Plant life – STEM growing activities and experiments

Worm and soil activity ideas

10 Pollution activity ideas and experiments

14 dandelion activities and recipes + facts

12 Fossil activity ideas

Colourful capillary action experiment

How to make a wildlife pond

The Great British Wildflower Hunt 2021

Citizen Science activities with the Wildlife Trust

Insect houses and bug hotels

Spider web catchers

Crabbing guide and fun facts

Horse Chestnut/Conker facts and activity ideas.

Wildlife and nature themed potato print ideas

The Great British Wildflower hunt

Wildlife at night fun facts and activities

Colourful capillary action experiment

Making spore prints from mushrooms and DIY insect tumble traps

Arctic and Antarctic animals

New Year Plant Hunt

Big Garden Bird Watch

The Big Butterfly Count

30 Days Wild and 200+ nature activity ideas

The Great Nurdle Hunt

The Big Seaweed Search

OFF-SITE RESOURCES THAT I LOVE

Resources

Discover The Forest has assembled a collection of resources for you to pair with our activities, or use by themselves

• Staying Safe & Connected While spending time outdoors as a family, be sure to continue practicing social distancing alongside the following tips to keep our families and green spaces safe.

• Take Action Get involved and help conserve our forests and grasslands!

• Book Of Stuff To Do! Download and print this book full of games and adventures to take with you, and discover the forest!

• Walking in the Forest - Project Learning Tree Family Guide Play detective on your next walk in the woods and discover how plants grow, age, decay, and more with these Project Learning Tree resources.

• Project Learning Tree Family Guide Be inspired to take personal responsibility for improving the environment. The goal is for children to "learn by doing."

• Thank You, Trees! Trees are an important part of our world. Pick a tree in your yard or neighborhood and write a thank you note to your tree for everything it does.

• Habitat Sweet Habitat What do animals do when they are hungry, thirsty, or tired? Find out in this PBS KIDS Plum Landing activity!

• Sound Safari What kinds of sounds do you hear around your neighborhood? Try this PBS KIDS Plum Landing Sound Safari activity to find out!

• NatureWatch Get outside and enjoy nature with apps, links, and other resources from the NatureWatch site!

• Hands on the Land Be part of a national network of field classrooms outdoors.

• Jr. Ranger Programs The Jr. Ranger Programs use Forest Service science and practices to encourage children 7 through 13 to enjoy and appreciate nature.

• How is the forest like a city? Find out as these kids from PBS KIDS Plum Landing explore the roots and canopies of a local forest.

• Forest in the City Can there be a forest hiding inside the city? Watch this PBS KIDS Plum Landing video with Ranger Jesse and find out!

• Biodiversity Bingo How many different kinds of plants and animals live in your neighborhood? Find out by trying this PBS KIDS Plum Landing scavenger hunt!

• Benefits Read about the many ways you can benefit from nature!

• Ecosystem Find out about the different elements that make a forest, a forest.

• FSNatureLIVE No matter where you are in the world, visit the USFS’s LIVE programs for exciting, on-site learning about bats, butterflies, climate change, wetlands, and more!

• Educator Resources Find out more about grants available for students and classrooms.

• Leave No Trace Escape to the forest and enjoy yourself, but leave it as you found it.

• Rules of the Forest Here’s a list of do's and don'ts for the forest.

• Agents of Discovery Agents of Discovery is a gamified way to get kids active and engaged in the world around them. The app uses geo-triggered, augmented reality to encourage real-world exploration of the forest and its natural features.

Nature Lover’s Should Always:

Leave wild animals in the wild.

• If you spot an animal at the park, on the trail or near a water source, let it be. These animals need to stay in their home environment to survive. Take a picture instead.

•  Be respectful of the environment.
  Pick up litter (food scraps and more), which attracts wildlife onto roadways, putting them in harm’s way. Recycling paper (and using less) protects trees, which provide food and shelter to many wild animals. And turning off lights reduces electricity, which comes from power plants that pollute the environment that wild animals depend on for survival.

• Know how to care for injured 

• wildlife in your area.
  Unless an animal appears injured or in distress, there may be no need to rescue it. Signs that an animal needs your help include bleeding, a broken limb, shivering or a dead parent nearby. If you find abandoned or injured wildlife, call your local wildlife rehabilitation center, a local animal shelter, an animal control agency or a nature center to find out what to do.

• Resources to Help Kids Discover More About Wild Animals

• Audubon Society

• Found an Orphaned or Injured Baby Wild Animal?, The Humane Society of the United States

• National Geographic Kids

• The National Wildlife Federation

• Plus,a few things I’ve found about kids and wild animals here …

• 5 Ways to Invite Birds to Your Yard

• Create a Wildlife Habitat in Your Yard

• DIY Animal Photo Book

• Getting to Know Critters: First Animal Encyclopedia

• Why We Love Ranger Rick Magazines
  
  

Resources to Help Kids Discover More About Forests

• Arbor Day Foundation

• Discover the Forest

• EcoKids (start with the tree planting basics)

• Smokey the Bear

•  PLUS, a few more ideas for playing among the trees:

• 10 Ways to Engage Kids With Trees from Gardening 4 Kids

• F is for Forest from Inspiration Laboratories

• Tree Time: A Kids’ Guide to Tree Facts and Fun

•  from The National Wildlife Federation

100 Things to Do Before, During, or After a Nature Walk

December 6, 2016 By Jimmie Quick

Nature walks don’t need any greater objective than enjoying the out of doors. When you and your school aged children are savoring the sky, the plants, the insects, and the wildlife, there is no need for a lesson plan or script.

However, there are an abundance of things you can do as a springboard or a follow up to a nature walk in order to enrich the experience. I share these 100 ideas not to detract from the healing beauty of nature but to offer some zest when nature walks are becoming too routine, when you have children who might be reluctant to go out of doors, or even when you need a bit more academic tie in for whatever reason.

Nature needs no embellishment. And many of these ideas come from the innate fascination children (and adults) will experience when they turn off the electronics and use all five senses to experience nature. If making leaf crafts doesn’t come automatically to your children, you may need to offer a slight nudge to get the ball rolling. But by all means, don’t turn these activities into strict lessons with educational objectives. Let them be methods of exploration that take their cues from your children’s curiosity.

Nature Walk Springboard Activities

Build anticipation for the nature walk with these activities.

1. make a pond viewer

2. make a juice bottle bug catcher

3. make a grass sweeper from a pillowcase

4. make a butterfly feeder

5. make suet and hang it for the birds

6. dissect a flower, leaf, seed pod or (dead) insect

7. make a rain catcher or anemometer and keep a record of your findings

8. read novels that have nature themes (3 of my favorites are Kildee House by Rutherford G. Montgomery, My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, and Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.)

9. make a nature walk backpack or tote with things like a journal, magnifying glass, binoculars, bug catcher, etc.

10. make a bow and arrow

11. make a slingshot

12. read the Christian Liberty Nature Readers or other classic nature readers

13. start a library of field guides and The Handbook of Nature Study

14. make or buy a bird feeder and fill it with food for the birds in your neighborhood

15. start an outdoor garden with kitchen castoffs.  More ideas

16. For mom — read Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
    
    

Nature Walk Explorations

Most children will come up with their own ideas for play, but if they need a nudge, here are some great ideas.

1. make leaf art on the ground

2. make stone stacks (cairns)

3. in the fall, organize leaves by color, making gradients, rainbows, and color wheels (as best you can)

4. collect river rocks

5. catch small fish, insects and butterflies; study and release them

6. catch tadpoles; take them home to raise to polliwogs and frogs

7. make leaf rubbings

8. leave sugar grains or bread crumbs near an anthill and watch the ants take the food into their nests

9. look at birds, squirrels or other far away animals through binoculars

10. identify bird calls

11. use a scavenger hunt list and make a collection of items to take home

12. use your shadows to enact silly plays; use what you find in nature as props

13. make fairy homes

14. take a color wheel or paint chips along and match real items from nature to the colors you have

15. lash structures from sticks and logs you find in the woods (take along twine or rope)

16. build a fire and cook on it

17. climb a tree

18. build a fort or erect a makeshift tent

19. identify constellations

20. watch an eclipse (safely, of course)

21. sketch what you see outside

22. go on a cloud hunt

23. splash in puddles

24. geocache

25. catch fireflies at night

26. catch grasshoppers

27. blow bubbles that freeze (in the winter)

28. make stick boats and float them in water

29. have stick sword fights

30. shoot rocks with a slingshot or skip stones on water

31. document your nature walk by taking photographs

32. make mud pies

33. build a snowman or ice fort/igloo

34. draw or write in the sand or snow

35. build a sand castle

36. dig holes and see what’s underground

37. examine a small area of the ground in detail

38. find examples of symmetrical and asymmetrical things in nature

39. make up stories about the natural places you discover (include trolls, fairies, sprites, and brownies, of course!)

40. create a natural obstacle course or race track and time each other as you go through it

41. wear a nature bracelet — put duct tape, sticky side out around your wrist and see what you collect on your walk

42. get “lost” and use a compass to find your way back

43. go barefoot and feel the grass, sand, water, etc. with your feet and toes

44. look at things in detail with a magnifying glass

45. preserve a spider’s web on black construction paper

46. make plaster casts of animal tracks

47. take the nature walk in your socks and then study what is stuck to them

48. close your eyes and listen; identify as many sounds as you can

49. lie on the ground and find images in the clouds; make up stories about them

50. make bark rubbings with crayons

51. roll or sled down hills

52. lay a white sheet under a tree and shake it; study what you find

53. play pick up sticks with sticks you find
    
    

Nature Walk Follow Up Activities

Once you are back home, extend the nature fun with these post-nature walk ideas.

1. make paints and inks from nature and create art

2. experiment with chromatography using leaves

3. study your nature study collections under a microscope

4. look at pond water under a microscope

5. break open rocks with a hammer, do streak and hardness tests

6. use photo sensitive paper to make designs with things you found on your nature walk

7. make paintbrushes with evergreen sprigs and create art

8. make leaf prints by painting on leaves and pressing them to paper or cloth

9. make leaf prints by laying leaves on paper or cloth and painting over them

10. hammer leaves or flowers to create prints on paper or cloth

11. make foil relief crafts with leaves or flowers

12. preserve fall leaves with modpodge or with wax

13. use your stick collection to paint with

14. color mud with tempura paint powder and make mud paints

15. paint the rocks you collected on your nature walk

16. make art from the pebbles you collected

17. make a simple loom and weave into it the things you collected

18. classify the insects, rocks, or flowers that you collected

19. press flowers

20. write about or draw your nature walk experience in a nature journal

21. build a terrarium with dirt, rocks, etc. that you found on your nature walk

22. make a leaf/tree guide for your local area

23. make a nature table for all your nature finds and collections

24. make pictures collages or 3D art from the leaves, twigs, shells, feathers, flowers, insect wings, etc. that you collected on your nature walk

25. study an ant farm (even putting ants into a jar works if you don’t have a fancy kit)

26. make a hanging mobile from things you found on your nature walk

27. make “fossil” imprints in salt dough (use shells, leaves, feathers, etc.)

28. calculate the perimeter and area of leaves from your nature walk

29. eat something you gathered on your nature walk or make snow cream

30. make perfume from rose petals (or another fragrant flower)
    
    

Collecting or Scavenger Hunts will show just what your child i nterests are...

Exploring & Collecting Natures Treasures

Nature Collection Activities Your Kids Will Love

Spring and Fall are my favorite perfect time of year to encourage your kids to take a break from their devices and soak in the crisp, fresh air.

Need help getting them out the door? We’ve got some simple ideas to get kids excited about abandoning their screens. The best part is, most of these ideas are completely free!

PUT ON YOUR HIKING HAT AND GO EXPLORING WITH THEM

Exploring for natures treasures offers endless room for creativity, and it encourages your little adventurers to get outside more regularly. Nature walks or strolls sharpen their observation skills, encourages curiosity and deepens their connection to nature.

I do recommend that you use your backyard as a training space with printable and age appropriate scavenger hunts that provide an introduction to the native plants and animals in your area.

Make sure that you know the unfriendly, dangerous, posionous critters and foilage so you can teach them.

Here’s just a few ideas:

• Collect treasures that catch their attention in a paper bag

• Use themes, picnics and hunts to keep things interesting while you are hiking and exploring. Personalizing them to your childs interests like frogs, bugs, foraging for certian berries or flowers that are seasonal adds to the fun.

• Use crayons to make leaf rubbings or bark rubbings

• Use play dough to make imprints with natures little bits or tree trunks

• Document first experiences and nature discoveries with a camera or customised and buddy art (animals, weather, plants, etc.)

• Discover more about the "story" as to why you found the specimen in that area. Identify the specimen or critter and explore the areas surrounding areas for similar collectables. Its the story that stimulates
  their curiosity as well as what forms a connection or attachment to the specimen.

• Develop sensory hikes seeking specimens and asking them questions to develop their observation skills;
  What does it feel like?
  What caught your eye or how did you see that?Does it smell?
  How do your think it tastes?
  How does it feel?

• Sketch the native plant life, animals and insects or replicate their color on coloring sheets. Hope always wanted to paint the Indian paint brush in Colorado, even when she was itty bitty.

• Write a story or poem about your outdoor adventure

Rock weaving and other
collection hacks

Rock weaving is a great activity for helping kids develop their motor skills. Take a walk and have them search for a large rock (but not so large that they can’t carry it).

Then, give them some colorful rubber bands to wrap around the rock. From there, they can collect outdoor materials to weave between the rubber bands on the rock. The rock serves as a canvas, and the pieces of nature they collect are the paint.

Plus. I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase multiple times before… “Wow, look how cool this rock is. Can I keep it?”

With this nature collection activity, you can finally make use of all those rocks and sticks your children love to collect.

In fact, some of these activities will focus your child’s attention so they are looking for more specific details in the nature items they find.

At the very least, it will allow them to burn off some energy running around!

Personalized magic wands or Hiking and journey sticks

What kid hasn’t waved a stick around pretending it was a wand? Nature gives them the perfect chance to put their own whimsical touch on it!

Send them off to find the perfect magic wand stick and use nature as a way to personalize it. From flower petals to leaves to blades of grass, there are plenty of creative ways for them to make it their own.

First, take your children on a stick hunt.

This can be an adventure in itself!

Or pull some sticks out of your kids already growing nature collection.

Of course, my boys had to pick up the biggest stick they could find. So they made them into a hiking stick instead.

Rock collections

There are thousands of different rocks out there. Have your kids start a collection of different colors, shapes, and sizes. Rocks are easy to search for, and if you want to do additional activities with them, the sky is the limit.

Some kids love to stack rocks while others want to draw on them. Allow nature to be their canvas and go all out!

This type of nature collection was so not only fun for my kids but was also fun for me. I just was intrigued by how many different rocks got in one small area anywhere on our planet.

We made a family photos of the many ways that we thought of, to find or use sticks and stones!

Let the kids be creative and have some fun here.

They can collect treasures from a boat, on top of high rocks, climbing mountains, or even fishing in the picture.

You could even get your pets to help.

Just a note, you can use tacky glue to place everything onto a plain canvas panel for pebble art.

Or make creative nature frame for your family photos.

Have fun with this twist! Nature frames are both fun and easy for little ones. We sure did!

Nature Collection Rock Dominoes

My girls love to play dominoes!

In fact, we own multiple sets (some with dots, some with pictures and even some with letters and sight words).

One day as we were down at the lake, a thought came to me as my girls were collecting rocks for the millionth time.

Why not make rocks into dominoes?

To make our set, we used colored sharpie markers.

The girls were so excited that they had to help too.

Hence, why some of the domino dots are a little off. However, this turned out to be awesome bonding time for us!

Rock Coloring and Hiding

This last nature collection activity is my kids all time favourite.

They will do multiple times every summer.

To do this activity, have your children color rocks with colored sharpie markers.

They can create anything. The possibilities are endless.

If you have older children, they could also write words of encouragement on their rocks.

Next, go to a local park, trail, or campground.

Have your children hid the rocks in random places for other people to find and treasure.

Like I said, my girls will do this multiple times.

Once their rocks were all hidden this time, they already wanted to collect more to color.

Use those sticks and stones that your child has collected and make some fabulous family projects to secure the memory of all the fun that you had.

Grab a polaroid and go outside

Do you have an instant-print camera on hand? Head outdoors and hand it off to younger kids. Ask them to take pictures of interesting things they see along the way. From trees to rocks and streams, you can build a beautiful collection of outdoor photos from your child’s perspective.

As kids grow older they become tech crazy so hand them a digital camera where they can snap all the photos that they want to. Then you can take it home and create a fun collage or photo memory book from the journey.

Plus there is no way to build kids’ stamina without pushing their limits. They’ll ordinarily get hungry, tired and express the feelings we all feel when we exert ourselves. But learning to feel and manage a little struggle will serve our kids well. The only ones really suffering were us, caught in the chasm between our vision of “family hikes” and the real deal. Right?

Here's one of my favorite photos that the boys snapped of baby Hope camping with us. I would have never thought to snap it and I just love it.

Or another photo when she was playing with sticks during a Sunday picnic.

Let them use their own creativity for photo memory books and projects. Other photo inspirations from other projects:

Enoying Nature

Being in nature is great for us in so many ways but being in the forest is very special. Spending time in the forest has been found to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and anger, strengthen our immune system and boost overall wellbeing. Wow!!!

There is a higher concentration of oxygen in the forest, according to Japanese medical doctor and researcher Qing Li, compared to an urban setting. Exposure to the plant chemicals, that are part of their defense system, has measurable health benefits for us. Benefits such as a reduction in physiological stress, lowered blood pressure and heart rate. Evergreen forests are particularly beneficial for our health. You sleep better when you spend time in a forest, even when you don’t increase the amount of physical activity you do. It is simply enough to just be in the forest to take in the health benefits. Nothing additional is required!

Remember to prepare your little ones for new experiences with nature related books, videos and any other media that your child enjoys.

Maybe build a miniature pond or other
small world wild waters and wetlands or forest
treetops full of flying birds and bugs and even little furry creatures.

Even the dirt and plants interests them when furry critters run and scamper about or slimmy slithering creatures crawling and hopping around. They They are being taken to a new and
exciting place with all sorts of new
things to explore with their senses.

Walking and Talking

Spending time with your little one outside also provides new opportunities for language development. As you walk around, narrate what you see and try to react to your baby’s sounds and gestures. Known as “serve and return,” this kind of early “conversation” with your baby can have a major impact on their language and cognitive development.

A 2014 study found that toddlers are more likely to try to verbalize experiences they’ve had outdoors: “When an child feels the leaves or notices the airplane in the sky, they are more inclined to verbalize this experience because it will elicit a favorable response by their caregivers.”

If your child looks at a tree, for example, get close and invite them to reach out a hand to touch it, describing what they’re seeing and feeling: “you’re touching the bark of the tree. It feels rough, doesn’t it? The bark helps protect the tree.” If your baby reacts to a sound, try to find the source and name and describe it; if something captures their gaze, try to go investigate.

Better sleep

Exposure to sunlight plays an important role in how our bodies secrete melatonin, often referred to as the “sleep hormone.” A 2004 study in the Journal of Sleep Research found that “babies who slept well at night were exposed to significantly more light in the early afternoon period.” Particularly if you have a fussy little one, time outdoors in the afternoon—leading up to the “witching hour” (late afternoon into evening)—can help regulate their sleep-wake cycle. Exposure to direct sunlight can help establish your baby’s circadian rhythms more quickly than if they’re indoors all day.

Resources
Sleep Study (Journal of Sleep Research)

• Early Brain & Motor Development (Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance)

• Outdoor Play Environment in Early Childhood for Children (European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research)

Easy Collections Containers

Nature Basket

Nature Exploration Tray or Shadow Box

Journey Stick

Fall Treasures in Play Dough

Flower Drying Mobile

 Nature Sensory bottles

SUPERSCRIPT

50+ CREATIVE WAYS TO USE MATERIALS FOUND ON YOUR NATURE WALKS

April 21, 2017 By Deb

Previous article: Free Earth Day Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time

Next article: Nurturing the Love of Learning: Montessori Education for the Early Childhood Years

Nature walks are fabulous activities for both kids and adults. But what should you do with the treasures found along the way? I’ve rounded up over 50 lovely, creative ways to use the materials found on your nature walks.

Here are lots of creative ideas you can use at home or in the classroom with a variety of ages.

Nature Exploration Table (The Imagination Tree)

Flower Exploration Center (Buggy and Buddy)

Invitation to Play and Learn with Numbers and Natural Materials (Fun with Play and Learn)

Nature Exploration Station (Mama.Papa.Bubba.)

Nature Trays and Nature Tables (my roundup post)

Nature Mobile (Danya Banya)

Nature Sensory Bottle (Lemon Lime Adventures)

Nature Pocket Art (5 Minutes for Mom)

Nature Suncatcher Wind Chimes (Hands On As We Grow)

Nature Sensory Bag Suncatcher (Hands On As We Grow)

Stone Pendant (Red Ted Art)

Story Stones (Inner Child Fun)

Zentangle Rocks (Edventures with Kids)

Puffy Painted Rocks (Babble Dabble Do)

Painting with Rocks (Fantastic Fun and Learning)

Building Towers with Natural Materials (Nurture Store)

Story Stones – Farm Animal Families Treasure Basket

Story Stones – Farm Animal Families Treasure Basket (my post)

Beach Memento Windchime (Mama Miss)

Shell Painting (Fun-a-Day!)

Driftwood and Broken Shell Rattle (Photo from Red Ted Art)

Seashell Decorations (Crafts on Sea)

Seashell Wall Hanging (Crafts on Sea)

Seashells Sensory Bottle (Rhythms of Play)

Driftwood Boat (Red Ted Art)

Nature Paintbrushes (Messy Little Monster)

Painting Feathers (Danya Banya)

Painting Nature Objects (Natural Beach Living)

Printing with Nature (Danya Banya)

Painting with Flowers (Teach Preschool)

Dandelion Blow Painting (Teach Preschool)

Flower Petal Glitter (Teach Preschool)

 How to Make Rose Petal Perfume (my post)

Wind Chimes with Sticks Painted in Rainbow Colors (Happy Hooligans)

Syllable Sticks (In the Playroom)

Nature Tree Craft (Rain or Shine Mama)

Accessories for Playdough Creations (Mom Inspired Life)

Stick Art (Buggy and Buddy)

Bug Hotel (Red Ted Art)

Painting Leaves (Simple Fun for Kids)

Leaf Rubbing Collages (Mama.Papa.Bubba.)

Leaf Threading (Stimulating Learning with Rachael) – blog is no longer available

Leaf Printed Rocks (The Pinterested Parent)

Stick and Leaf Butterflies (Artsy Craftsy Mom)

Nature Resist Tie Dye Shirt (The Pinterested Parent)

Pictures Made with Pressed Flowers (5 Minutes for Mom)

Bookmark Craft Using PressedFlowers and Leaves (Buggy and Buddy)

Flower Mandala Design (Nurture Store)

Bark Owls (Fireflies + Mud Pies)

Bark Painting (Tinkerlab)

Pinecone Mobiles (Happy Hooligans)

Pinecone Bird Feeder (Tinkerlab)

Acorn Necklaces (Arty Crafty Kids)

Nature Weaving (True Aim Education)

Nature Impressions Crafts (Paging Fun Mums)

Nature Journals for Kids (Simply Rachel) – blog is no longer available

Nature Impressions (Arty Crafty Home)

Nature Stampers – Impressions in Playdough (Danya Banya)

Nature Ornaments (Danya Banya)

Tactile Nature Letters {Free Printable Letter Templates} (my post)

What is your favorite way to use materials from your nature walks?

TONS OF FUN THINGS TO DO ON A WALK IN THE WOODS

THINGS TO MAKE OR DO ON A WALK IN THE WOODS

Woodland Outdoor Activities

THINGS TO DO IN THE WOODS WITH KIDS

Things to do in the Woods

WHY ARE WOODLAND WALKS GOOD FOR KIDS?

Going for a woodland walk is something that I very much remember from my own childhood. I remember spending Sunday afternoon in the woods somewhere and with my younger brother and sister getting very muddy in various puddles, it’s something that really stuck with me.

I think there’s just something about children in woods which means they can be free. They can run ahead of their parents, they can climb things, they can jump in muddy puddles and I feel like I really need to capture that and enjoy that to the full because there will come a time when they won’t want to spend their weekends doing that with us, they’ll prefer to hang out with their friends instead. But for now they really enjoy a family woodland walk and we’re lucky that there are lots of woods nearby to us and there are lots of things to do in the forest with kids.

And what if it’s raining? Raining doesn’t need to stop outdoor play – you’ll love our ideas of outdoor things to do when it’s raining!

24 THINGS FOR KIDS TO DO WITH NATURE ON A WOODLAND WALK

ACTIVITIES TO DO IN THE WOODS WITH KIDS

1. Build a Stick Maze in the woods with kids…..

…….and have the children navigate themselves out of it. A stick maze is a great woodland activity for kids.

2. Learn how to plait grass by Making a Fishtail Braid.

This is a great woodland activity for children.

3. Spot a Nest in the forest with kids!

For fun things to do on woodland walk with kids – use this cute Nest Nature Hunt to keep kids observant! Fancy bird watching with kids? Check out this FREE printable Bird Watching Book from Buggy and Buddy.com

4. Try Map Reading or Geocaching in the woods with kids

Playing with maps and compasses can be a lot of fun in the woods! Try out these map activities.

5. Play some Games in the woods with kids!

Try some of our games we love to play in the woods with kids! There are lots of different games here for playing in the woods with toddlers or older kids.

6. Make a Leaf Mandala in the forest

A good craft idea for the woods during Autumn (but would work any time of year) is to make a Leaf Crown or a leaf mandala.

7. Make a Nature Bracelet

Another collecting one – try making a Nature Bracelet using sticky tape. Our kids had lots of fun with this one and kept their bracelets on all day from Kid Citizen Blog! You can also see a Nature Belt idea here from How We Learn Blog. This is a fun activity to do in the woods with kids.

8. Play the Number Art Challenge

Once you’ve returned with lots of lovely nature materials. How about setting your child a Number Art Challenge? A great way of getting children to think about numbers and spatial reasoning. This is such a clever idea that I can’t wait to try out with our kids from Mosswood Connections.

9. Make Pot Pourri

Another lovely idea to make with your collected woodland is Pot Pourri – check out this recipe from Multiples Mom.

10. Do some Leaf Crafts for Kids

If you find yourself with a surplus of leaves at the end of your walk, try making our Autumn Leaf People or try one of our Leaf Crafts for Kids

11. Scavenger Hunts!

Scavenger Hunts are a Fantastic Way to help engage small people when out exploring nature. We tried this recently with my friend Laura and her kids. A scavenger hunt = 6 happy kids – it worked a treat! Here are some of my favourite Nature Scavenger Hunts. First up – is a FREE printable super scavenger hunt from Picklebums. The Father Fitness Nature Trail is also a great visual printable, suitable for younger children too.

12. Build a Den

Ever try building a Stick Fort in the woods? This is a fab Outdoor STEM activity that my kids have loved in their forest school classes at schools. This is a go-to activity for us and what our children are always happiest doing. Check out some great ideas for this at Littlebinsforlittlehands.com and instructions for building an awesome Stick Forest Home here, at Rainy Day Mum.

Fun things to do in the Woods

14. Climb a Tree or Find a Rope Swing

A great activity to do in the woods with kids is to climb trees or build a simple rope swing!

Things to do in the Woods with Kids

13. Storytelling

Collaborative Story Telling is a great way to help build your kiddos vocabulary and where better to do it then in an atmospheric woodland setting? See Rainy Day Mum’s ideas for collaborative storytelling here. Or you could try collecting some nature treasures and making some story art. Check out our other ideas for woodland crafts for kids.

Woodland Activity – story art for kids

FUN THINGS TO DO IN THE WOODS

15. Create a Nature Journal

Here’s an idea, I can’t wait to try out this summer as our kiddos love anything to do with reading, writing or painting! Creating a Nature Journal. I love the idea of trying out different art forms and processes in our Nature Journals – maybe we’ll try a different art form every week! If you’d like to start a Nature Journal with kids – here’s our post of Nature Journal Prompts for Kids.

16. Animal Observation

I love these Animal Observation Free Printable Logs for helping kids to learn more about animals – these are fun things to do on a woodland walk with kids by observing and recording them from Kcedventures.

17. Nature Bingo

Another FREE Printable that can be completed on the smallest of Nature walks or even in your back garden. Try out The Jenny Evolution’s Nature Bingo Game.

18. Make a Fairy House

Another activity to do in the woods is to build a Fairy House. Now, whenever we’re out for a walk, the kiddos like to collect little bits and pieces to decorate their fairy houses. I absolutely love these ideas for Nature Fairy Houses – you’ve got to take a look at this cute fairy teepee from Red Ted Art!

Fairy Houses to Make in the Woods with Kids

19. Nature Paint Brushes

Make simple paint brushes from nature and see what unusual patterns you can create. This is such a lovely outdoor process art technique with spectacular results from Messy Little Monster.

Crafts to do in the woods with kids

CRAFTS FOR KIDS TO DO IN THE WOODS

20. Bark Rubbings

And if you’re looking to explore nature in more detail – how about creating bark rubbings or going on a play-dough nature walk where you create nature play-dough creatures. Find out more how this idea works at How we Learn. Bark rubbings are fun to do with metallic crayons and black paper too!

21. Geocaching

Ever wanted to try Geo-caching? This is a great idea to keep older children engaged outdoors. Find out about our first not-quite successful geo-caching trip here! And a more successful pro how-to guide from Parenting Chaos.

22. Nature Keyring

If you should find some flowers on your woodland walk, then why not try making a perfect little keepsake – a woodland flower keyring.

23. Hapa Zome

Another flower idea – but can also be made with why not try Hapa Zome in the woods?

24. Woodland Arts and Crafts Journal

My last idea for fun things to do on woodland walk with kids really is a – ‘save the best idea ’till last’! I recently created this lovely Nature Adventure Journal. It’s a whole host of Nature Art and Craft materials in one pack. You simply head on a woodland walk, collect lots of nature materials and use the printable to document your adventure. If you’re looking to get your kids to play outside more – there are lots of easy nature journal activities to inspire kids to explore nature’s wonderland from cloud watching and scavenger hunts to designing their own garden and rock pooling. This is a fun and easy nature workbook with beautiful watercolour drawings encourages kids to look a little closer at nature and gently develop the lifelong habit of nature observation.

If you’d like to get your hands on this amazing Nature printable pack – click here. It doesn’t have to be used in the woods – it can be used on any kind of walk.

Nature Adventure Journal for kids

Hope this has inspired you to take more nature walks or fun woodland walks with your kids! I’ve got a whole load of things I now want to try out with my little people! How do you explore nature with your kiddos? Comment below and let me know any ideas we’ve missed! And don’t forget to try out this Nature Pack next time you’re on a woodland walk!

Do you have older kids? Teens or Tweens? Here’s our ultimate guide to getting older kids outside!

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES FOR TEENS AND TWEENS

100+ Nature Crafts

Easy Nature Crafts Your Kids Will Love

Create

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DIY Kids

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Learn

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Outdoors

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Spring is one of our favorite times to pull out the craft bins.  Plants and critters inspire us, and to be perfectly honest, I like messy things to happen outside as much as possible. The woods and yard also offer all sorts of free materials. There are no directions or rules. Nature crafts invite us to collect, make, and display, tap into our imaginations, and explore.

What follows are some of our favorite nature crafts.

Kids Create- Easy Nature Crafts

Step1- Gather Supplies

You may already have everything you need. We find most of our craft materials outside or in the recycle bins. There are, however, a handful of things I always try to have on hand.

Craft Supplies

• Glue in various forms and a Glue Gun

• String- lightweight, heavy, embroidery floss

• Scissors

• Acrylic Paint

We also keep cardboard boxes and scraps, used corks, buttons, string, rubber bands, and a lot of cardstock on hand.

To get started collecting supplies, I like to hand my kids a basket or container and a pair of scissors. I then encourage them to “shop” the woods or yard for supplies. Be sure they know what plants like poison ivy and stinging nettle look like. Never fun to pick those!

My kids love to find-

• pinecones

• bark

• different grasses

• wildflowers

• leaves in various colors and states of being

• old flower pots

• moss

• dirt and mud

• lost toys

• sticks

• nuts and seeds

• feathers

• rocks

If you’re short on natural objects, start making it a habit to collect things when you’re outside. Pinecones, rocks, acorns, sticks, and shells can be collected and stored for later. Just be sure you’re allowed to collect the items, there aren’t eggs or critters living inside, and nothing you take is invasive or endangered.

Step 2- Create

Supplies gathered. Imaginations at the ready! Now the fun begins!

Create Creature Homes

Flower pots, milk or juice containers, a pile of rocks or sticks- there are many ways to make our furry, crawly, and scaley friends the perfect home. We especially love using flower pots. Second-hand stores like Goodwill often have them really cheap.

Make Nature Journals

In my experience, writing and nature go hand-in-hand. It’s fun to write or draw outside, and inspiration is around every tree. There are lots of ways to make nature journals.

One of our favorite ways is shown above. Here’s how to make them.

1. Cut different types of paper (lined, blank, tracing, graph) all the same size.

2. Cut two pieces of thicker paper, like card stock or cardboard, slightly bigger than the other pages. These are the front and back covers.

3. Punch two holes in each piece of paper and line them up.

4. Find a good stick and break or cut it to the size of the paper.

5. Thread a rubberband through the holes and over each end of the stick.

Fill journals with-

• pressed flowers

• drawings

• words and stories

• leaf rubbings

• all of the above

Plant Fairy Gardens

One of the first things my daughter did when we moved into our new home was find a place to create a new fairy garden. She has created many over the years, and I think likes re-creating them as much as she does spending time playing there.

Fairies are little, so they need little tiny things. Acorn top bowls, stone seats, leaf placemats. The recycle bin and under trees are great places to find fairy furniture and accessories. Old toys can get a new life in a fairy garden too.

Paint Rock Animals

I must admit; I like this craft as much, if not more, than my children. I currently have a handful of rocks waiting to become owls and foxes. Fun additions to planters, garden paths, porches, and fairy gardens, a rock and a little paint make creatures come alive.

Tip- if your rock animal is going to live outside, spray it with some adhesive after the paint dries.

Take on the Egg Drop Challenge

There is something so fun about dropping an egg from a high place and seeing if it breaks. This is a great activity to do with kids before recycling day. Outside materials like grasses and moss are fun to use too. The sky’s the limit!

If you aren’t familiar with an egg drop challenge, it’s just what the name suggests. Kids drop an egg from a high place and hope it doesn’t break. To keep the egg safe, they create a container for the egg. This container can be made out of anything. Parachutes (plastic bags) can also be added to slow the egg’s fall.

Build Forts

It never fails to amaze me what my kids can create with sticks. Sometimes they resemble structures they have seen in books or documentaries; sometimes, they are creations all their own.

Forts can be created in all sizes and shapes. Kids can make forts for chipmunks or fairies if they want to play with balancing sticks before they go big.

My son loves making forts with sticks and good sturdy rope. He’s also used PVC pipe and tarps.

Design an Obstacle Course

Add heavy cord or rope to the pile of sticks, and all sorts of amazing creations can take form. Inspired by a wilderness class they took, an obstacle course complete with a balance beam once came to life in our yard.

Obstacle courses can also be made out of whatever you have lying around. A hose can be a balance beam, and a picnic table can be something to climb over or under.

My favorite structure of all time, I have no idea how they did this. All I provided was a quick trip to Lowes for rope.

Put Treasures on Display

Some treasures need to be displayed! Melissa and Doug wooden trays make awesome shadow boxes. All you need is a little paint and some glue.

Add nature crafts in your garden, a special shelf, to pathways and porches. Create special spots in your yard just for fairy gardens or for fort building. The more kids see their works of art preserved and displayed, the more they will want to make more!

Perfect for sunny days, rainy days, or boring days, there are so many fun ways to get creative, thanks to nature.

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Books to Grow Young Nature Lovers

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We love giving our children good books about nature that will feed their curiosity and instruct them about the world around them.  I remember as a young girl going for walks with my mom and being surprised that she seemed to know the name of every bird and tree we passed. She even knew the names of the weeds in the ditch.

Sadly, few children growing up today are learning about the world around them.  I’ve read that the average person can recognize over 1,000 corporate logos, but fewer than ten plants and animals native to their area. This is hard for me to fathom, and yet so many children are growing up glued to technology. They have little time to explore the world around them.

Why Learn About Nature?

We value what we know about, so doesn’t it make sense for our children to learn the names and habits of the plants and animals that are around them.  If the future generation doesn’t know about the wildlife or the plant life around them, will they care if it is destroyed?  I am grateful for those who have had a vision to set aside the land for our National and State Parks, and I hope there will always be people who value the beautiful world God has made for us.

Perhaps one of the most important reasons to study nature is to learn more about God.  Psalms 19:1 says that “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork.”  The more we study the world God has made, the more we can learn about him.  We can see God’s creativity as we observe the variety of birds or flowers He’s made, His wisdom as we study how even the tiniest animal is complexly formed, and His greatness as we study the vast universe which stretches out farther than our mind can comprehend.

Books about Nature for Children

The Work of Thy Fingers by Pablo Yoder

The Work of Thy Fingers is a great book to introduce your children to the wonders of God’s creation.  There are beautiful photos throughout the book and fascinating stories written by the author taken from his time growing up in South America.  Our third son has always been very curious and observant.  This is the same boy that I found out recently once tried to see if he could generate enough static electricity to set the mosquito net on fire by rolling around madly in his bed.  This was the perfect book to feed his interest in nature.

My Father’s World by Pablo Yoder

My Father’s World is written by the same author and is filled with more interesting facts and stories about God’s creation.  There are twenty-five chapters, each featuring a different animal or plant.  Beautiful, full-color photographs are found throughout the book. This book will inspire your child to look more closely at the world around them.

Slow Down by Rachel Williams

Slow Down is a beautiful book illustrating small moments in nature. It will encourage you to keep your eyes open for the miracles happening around you each day.

Moon Finder by Jay Ryan

Moonfinder is the story of a young boy who learns about the moon’s phases from his father as they watch the changing moon each night.

We bought this book for our youngest son a number of years ago.  He went through a stage where he was in love with the moon.  I think most children are fascinated by this bright, white ball that hangs magically from the sky, but our son’s interest was intensified by the fact that we slept outside for a couple months of the year, due to the intense heat where we were living.  One notices things about the sky when he sleeps under it week after week.  This book explains clearly and simply the phases of the moon and what causes them.

The Keeper of Wild Words by Brooke Smith

When Mimi finds out her favorite words—simple words, like apricot, blackberry, buttercup—are disappearing from the English language, she elects her granddaughter Brook as their Keeper. And did you know? The only way to save words is to know them.

This book (as well as the larger and more poetic book Lost Words) is based on the fact that in 2007, when a new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary was published, around forty common words concerning nature had been dropped from the dictionary and replaced with words having to do with technology.

The Julia Rothman Collection: Farm Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, and Food Anatomy

Julia Rothman is known for her beautifully illustrated books about nature. This handsome box set provides hours of enlightening entertainment for those curious about farm life, the natural world, and food.

Find the Constellations by H. A. Rey

If the author and cover of this book look familiar, it is because the author also wrote the popular Curious George books (hence the bright yellow cover).  Find the Constellations  is a fascinating and easy to understand introduction to the constellations. This book would make a great gift for a budding astronomer.

Made in Heaven by Ray Comfort and Jeffrey Seto

We bought this book for our science-loving son who cannot read enough about inventions.  Made in Heaven is a book that talks about inventions that were patterned after things found in nature  How neat is that!  You might have known that Velcro was invented by observing a burdock burr, but did you know that the observation of a creature called a ship worm led to safer tunneling techniques, and that scientists are studying a mosquito’s stinger to work on developing pain-free needles?

Untold Secrets of Planet Earth: Dire Dragons

What kind of nature book do you get for a history buff?  What about one that offers evidence that the dragons of ancient times were the same as the dinosaurs we know today from fossil records?   Dire Dragons does just that.  The book examines ancient artwork from around the world and concludes from the accurate depictions of dinosaurs made by ancient man that dinosaurs and man were alive at the same time. What modern science calls dinosaur is another name for the dragons of old.  We bought this for our oldest son who loves reading about history.

What Tree is That? by Arbor Day Foundation

I really love this book.  What Tree is That? is an easy-to-use guide that helps you identify the trees you encounter.

It asks a series of questions that lead you to identify the tree in question.  As you follow the questions with the correct answer, it’s like working on a puzzle. When you find your tree, you know that you have solved it.

There are clear illustrations throughout to help you choose the correct answers.

Fun With Nature by Mel Boring

While by no means comprehensive, Fun With Nature helps young children identify the animals in their neighborhood.  It describes the animals, tracks, scat (droppings), and habitat.  It also has a section on trees and fun nature activities that your child can do.

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America

A good field guide is essential to identifying the birds in your area.  We like the Peterson field guides.  Make sure you buy one that is for your location.  It can be a lot of fun to see how many different birds you can identify in one year’s time.  My husband’s family usually had a contest each year to see who could see and identify the most birds.  The contest usually fizzled out before the year was over, but he’s still ahead of me when it comes to bird identification.

Besides books about nature, we’ve also enjoyed magazine subscriptions focused on the natural world. One magazine we’ve enjoyed is Nature Friend Magazine.

These magazines have interesting stories about nature, but the part my children liked best is the monthly art lessons.  I was amazed at some of the art work they produced.  Your children are welcome to submit their drawings, and some of them are featured each month.  The drawings are not necessarily chosen on skill level, so everyone has a chance to have their art work featured.

The magazine also holds an annual story contest and reader’s issue where the readers can submit material for the magazine.  This encourages your children to keep their eyes open during the year for a great nature story to share.  One year my son was just overjoyed that his story about an antlion was picked to be included.

I’m sure there are a lot of other great books about nature to encourage your children to be aware of the world around them.  What are some of your favorites?

Gardens are for Growing -Book Review