Adventures in Homeschooling / Web 2012 / Fall Nature Activities

Oct 19, 201202:07 PMAdventures in Homeschooling

Fall Nature Activities

“I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house.” ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

Fall break is here and the beautiful weather came with it!  Though we don’t always follow the public school schedule, we are taking a break right now to go camping while my niece and nephew are out of school.  Of course, camping is fun all by itself, but after a few days of free play, sometimes it does everyone’s nerves a bit of good to add in some structure.  Here are a few fun ideas for exploring the great outdoors in the gorgeous autumn sunshine!

• Scavenger Hunts: There are different free printable scavenger hunts available such as the ones at Nature Detectives.  (This site is based in the UK, though, so you may want to skim through them beforehand to make sure there are familiar items for your area!)  Spell Outloud has several sets of printable nature I Spy cards that are easy for even young children to use.  And of course, if you know the area you’re visiting, you can make your own pretty easily.  Our absolute favorite nature scavenger hunt is the egg carton color hunt.  Simply paint the inside of an egg carton different colors and have your children look for items that match.  I’m still waiting for mine to find something blue besides a Bud Light bottle cap.

• Leaf Rubbings: These are so simple and so fun!  And of course you don’t have to limit it to leaves.  There are all kinds of interesting textures outside!

• Photography: Take your camera on a nature walk and let your child make a scrapbook.  If you have an older child you could make it more challenging by giving them a theme such as a certain color or a certain shape.

• Crafts: Use some of the interesting items you’ve collected to make a craft.  The Crafty Crow has many ideas, as does Pinterest (of course!).  If your kids don’t need any direction, set them free to come up with their own creations!

Whether you decide to spend the whole break outside or just a little of it, make sure you get out and enjoy the weather—it will be cold before we know it! 

Happy Fall!