After-school adventures: going on a nature hunt

Now that the evenings are getting lighter, we are starting to enjoy outdoor adventures after school again. Sophie quite likes having a purpose when it comes to going out for a walk. Geocaching is always a favourite activity as are nature hunts. I thought she might enjoy looking out for some signs of spring.

 

 

The Woodland Trust have some great nature activities on their website, aimed at different age groups. I downloaded three different sheets for Sophie – the spring scavenger hunt, a bird hunt sheet and one to help us identify any leaves we found.

 

 

We headed to a small local nature reserve which I’d discovered while out on a geocache hunt. I was quite sad to see that the tree where the cache had been hidden had been chopped down since my last visit. It’s quite a tiny outdoor space but has a meadow area, a stream and some woodland so was a good place for a quick outdoor adventure.

 

 

Sophie liked the carvings on the wooden posts along the path showing different leaves, plants,  birds and animals that we might spot. It was good reading practice for her to sound out all the words too!

 

 

We ticked off a few of the things on the sheets – spotting leaf buds, blossom, moss, smooth pebbles and silky feathers. White feathers always make me think of Jessica. Sophie had fun blowing the feather off her hand and watching it float down to the floor.

 

 

Bark rubbing is always a fun activity to do and I’d made sure I’d packed paper and crayons in Sophie’s backpack. The pink crayon probably wasn’t the best one for bringing out the texture of the tree trunk though!

 

 

Sophie also enjoyed doing some crayon rubbing on the boardwalk. This was a bit easier for her than the bark rubbing.

 

 

We didn’t quite manage to spot everything on the spring scavenger hunt sheet. It was fun though to get out and have a little after-school adventure. I’m looking forward to more afternoon outdoor adventures as the days get longer. It’s nice not to feel restricted to weekends anymore!

 

This post isn’t a sponsored post or written in collaboration with the Woodland Trust. I just like the nature activities on their website.