If your children love getting outdoors and exploring nature, then these nature activities are for you! Just pick one out of the 16 scavenger hunt options, print, cut out and head outdoors! It’s ok if you don’t find all objects, just have fun and explore. 

What’s included in this Nature Hunt Printable Packet?!

There are 16 nature hunts to choose from and they are great for all seasons and interests. The nature hunts included are: Insects, Spooky Things (great Halloween scavenger hunt), Forest, Get Outside! (general nature items), Snowy Day, Garden, Spring Flowers, Summer Flowers, Tide Pool, Lake, Pond, Leaves, Seeds, Mushrooms (all edible varieties), Clouds and Animal Tracks.

All 16 nature hunt printables come in color and black & white. The circular nature hunt pieces only come in color, for a total of 60+ pages!

Here is an up close look at a few of the nature hunt printables. This Spooky Scavenger Hunt is great for Halloween and fall!

I love this Snowy Day Scavenger Hunt for the Winter Solstice or any beautiful snowy day!

We loved using the ruler handle for the Spring Flower hunt! It was fun to measure the flowers!

Pictured below is one of the circular nature hunt pieces. These are great to use indoors on a rainy day or hide them in your backyard or schoolyard for a different scavenger hunt experience!

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How to Make Your Nature Hunt Printables:

These nature activities are very easy to prepare and use! These should be printed on cardstock to make a sturdier magnifying glass. I also suggest laminating to use them over and over again. You can also cross off items you find with a dry erase marker on laminated scavenger sheets!

I use my laminator at home with thick lamination pouches, which makes them mostly waterproof. The lamination at school will probably be too thin to make them waterproof, but will help with durability!

If laminating, I suggest to print on cardstock, cut out the magnifying glass, run the cut out magnifying glass through the laminator, and cut out one more time. This method will help with water resistance. I highly recommend laminating printables for the Snowy Day hunt or any other hunt that is near water. 

Please Note!

Many of the images are the same in this packet as my Nature Scavenger Hunt Printables Packet. A handful of them are completely new, some of them are the same but have a few different objects to search for, and a couple (animal tracks & clouds) are exactly the same. I believe there is enough variability for students to love both sets and they also compliment each other nicely! Also, the ruler and shape of scavenger hunts add fun new elements. Check out my scavenger hunt bundle by clicking here!

Supplies:

• Nature Hunt Printables available on TPT 
• Cardstock or printer paper- I recommend cardstock for a more durable work mat. 
• Laminator machine
• Scissors

Now that you have all of your supplies, it’s time to get outside and start exploring!

I hope you try these nature hunt printables! I promise, your little learners will love it as much as my boys and preschoolers.

∼Tara

Looking for more fun printables for kids?! Check out:

4 Ways to Use Story Stones in the Classroom

Color Activities for Kids with See-Through Lenses

The post Nature Hunt Printables- Indoor or Outdoor appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

To prepare your shape lenses printable, cut out the lenses and run the sheets through the laminator. I used my laminator at home because my sheets are a bit thicker than the laminator machines at school. Cardstock is recommended to unsure a durable work mat!

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

RELATED: Check out the Nature Collection Journal

Find the Printable for this Activity HERE!

Check out the COLOR AND SHAPE ACTIVITY BUNDLE HERE!

There are four different shape activities for kids included in this packet and it includes both black&white and color options for printing. Here are the directions for the first activity! The shape options included in the printable packet are: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, oval, star, heart, crescent, diamond/rhombus, pentagon, hexagon, octagon and trapezoid. 

Activity 1: Trace the Shapes

First, look through the lenses and say the name of the shape.

Next, say the names of the shapes and trace them with dry erase markers. 

Last, erase the marker. 

Activity 2: Sort the Shapes

First, look through the lenses and say the name of the shape.

Then, say the names of the objects on the cards and sort them on the correct side. Object names are listed in the product.

Activity 3: Trace the words

First, look through the lenses and say the name of the shape.

Next, trace the shape words and say the name.

Last, erase the marker. 

Activity 4: Write the words

First, look through them and say the name of the shape.

Next, write the shape words on the lines.

Last, erase the marker. 

The unique and convenient combination of both see-through lenses with the learning activities on the sheet, makes this the perfect blend of learning and play!

These are fun to hold up in front of different objects to view them as different shapes! I love this packet because there is truly something for every young learner. Whether you are trying to expose your students to shapes for the first time or working on shape mastery, there is an activity for here for many age levels and abilities!

Here’s what you’ll need to make these shape activities for kids!

Supplies:

• Shape Activity printable
• Cardstock or printer paper- I recommend cardstock for a more durable work mat. 
• Laminator machine
• Scissors
• Dry Erase Markers
• Dry Erase Marker Cleaner

Pin this to save it for later!

Check out the COLOR OPTION as well!

I hope you try these shape activities for kids! I promise, your little learners will love it as much as my boys and preschoolers.

∼Tara

Looking for more fun printables for kids?! Check out:

4 Ways to Use Story Stones in the Classroom

Muffin Tin Nature Scavenger Hunt

The post Shape Activities for Kids with See-Through Lenses appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

To prepare the printable, cut out the lenses and run the sheets through the laminator. I used my laminator at home because my sheets are a bit thicker than the laminator machines at school. Cardstock is recommended to unsure a durable work mat!

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

Find the Printable for this Activity HERE!

Check out the COLOR AND SHAPE ACTIVITY BUNDLE HERE!

Once the sheets are prepped, decide if you want to use cellophane sheets to color the lenses or if you want students to color them with dry erase or chalk markers.

Here is the cellophane method:

Tape a strip of cellophane to the back of the lenses and you are all set! This gives a very smooth and colorful finish, which is great for viewing! The cellophane is also a good option if you are using thinner lamination and regular printer paper. Erasing dry erase marker over and over again on the lenses portion might cause wear and tear on thinner work mats, so the cellophane would help the mats last longer!

Here is the Marker Method:

Another option is to keep the lenses clear and let the children color the lenses with dry erase or chalk markers! My preschoolers and second grade son both really enjoyed this option. They thought it was fun to create colorful lenses all by themselves. 

This is all great fine motor work for little ones! Both the cellophane and marker options are great, and you can choose one that works best for your class… OR try them both! Keep dry erase liquid cleaner on hand for easy clean up. 

There are four different color activities for kids included in this packet and it includes both black&white and color options for printing. Here are the directions for the first activity!

Activity 1: Trace the Shapes

First, color the lenses (if there isn’t cellophane), look through them and say the name of the color.

Next, say the names of the objects and color them with dry erase or chalk markers. Objects on the coloring mats and sorting sheets (next activity) are the same.

Last, Erase the marker. 

Activity 2: Sort the pictures

First, color the lenses (if there isn’t cellophane), look through them and say the name of the color.

Next, say the names of the objects on the cards and sort them on the correct side. Object names are listed in the product.

Last, erase the marker.

Activity 3: Trace the words

First, color the lenses (if there isn’t cellophane), look through them and say the name of the color.

Next, trace the color words and say the color name.

Last, erase the marker. 

Activity 4: Write the words

First, color the lenses (if there isn’t cellophane), look through them and say the name of the color.

Next, write the color words on the lines.

Last, erase the marker. 

The colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and pink work best for these activiteis. It’s easiest to find the supplies for these colors and they look really inviting and fun to play with. I included brown, black, white and grey/gray for teachers that want to make complete sets and might have access to supplies that I don’t access to. Here is a list of supplies to help you get started!

Supplies:

• Color Activity printable
• Cardstock or printer paper- I recommend cardstock for a more durable work mat. 
• Laminator machine
• Scissors
• Dry Erase or Chalk Markers- If you want one marker for every color offered in the product, you might need to buy multiple sets. This set has most of the colors needed. I have only found white in chalk marker sets. Please note that chalk markers are not quite as see-through as dry erase markers and will leave lines on the lenses, but they still work and are easier to clean! Here is an entire set with all of the colors needed for the activity. 
• Colored cellophane- Just like the markers, you will need to do some searching for all the colors offered in the product. Here is a great set that offers the rainbow colors. Here is a black cellophane roll. I would use that set for both gray and black. Just use one sheet for gray and 2 sheets for black. Here is a white polka dot cellophane roll (white is tough to find) and here is a brown cellophane roll!
• Dry Erase Marker Cleaner

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Pin this activity to save it for later!

I hope you try these color activities for kids! I promise, your little learners will love it as much as my boys and preschoolers.

∼Tara

Looking for more fun printables for kids?! Check out:

4 Ways to Use Story Stones in the Classroom

Nature Collection Journal for Kids

The post Color Activities for Kids with See-Through Lenses Printable appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

I try a lot of nature activities with my boys, but only share my biggest hits here! Our favorite activities are usually easy to prep, fun to play and create with, and can be reused multiple times. This activity checks all of those boxes!

We brought it along during our last nature walk and my boys continued to play with it when we got home. They loved using the box to practice counting, organizing and sorting, and now it’s displayed on their dresser. There are a few holes empty, so they are already talking about getting outside and finishing their box tomorrow!

 Ready to make a one!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• A cardboard box
• Scissors
• Sharp Pencil
• Pieces of nature
• Twine

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RELATED: Cardboard Nature Display

Here’s How to Make the Nature Poke Box:

Step 1:

If you plan on taking it on nature walks, I suggest putting some kind of handle on your box. I created twine handles and secured them by tying a knot on the inside of the box. The random piece of string you see there is from the knot on the other side. The string was a little longer over there. 

Also, I suggest cutting out the inside flaps, so you only have one layer to poke through. I did not do this, so we had issues poking nature pieces through a few of the holes. 

Step 2:

You can skip this step if you would like, but the box I had was a bit of a mess. I decided to add a piece of white card stock to clean up the top of the box. I placed the card stock on the top of the box and creased it for cutting lines. 

Now glue the card stock to the box top and poke holes with a sharp pencil. 

It’s time to head outside and search for the perfect pieces of nature to display! The colors are starting to change in Wisconsin, so we found some beautiful leaves to display. 

The handles were perfect for carrying! The boys were so proud of their portable display and it got a lot of compliments from people walking past us!

This is the perfect activity for building fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. 

The next time your kids need a little nudge to get outside, give this activity a try! They will love building their very own nature display. 

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you give this simple nature activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love this one.

∼Tara

Need more nature crafts ideas?! Check out:

Nature Collection Journal

Easy Porcupine Nature Craft

The post Nature Poke Box appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

I love this math review game for so many reasons. You can use it as a pre-assessment for a new unit of study, post-assessment at the end of a unit, boredom buster at home, or fun math review game! We are currently using this game to help prevent the dreaded summer slide. We put in a ton of hard work during virtual learning this past spring and we want to keep everything my boys’ learned fresh for fall! This game is easy to set up, fun, and will help children retain all those important math skills they learned during the school year. 

Before we get started, I just want to mention that you can also use post it notes and stick them on the grid instead of writing the problems directly on the paper. This way, you could move the problems around or easily create and completely different grid for another day.

Ready to give it a try!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• Role of Paper
• Markers- I used sharpies and flip chart markers
• Rocks or Wood Cookies
• Post-It Notes

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I made 2 versions of this game. One for my soon to be kindergartener and one for my soon to be second grader. I’ll start with the grid I created for my older child. 

Here’s How to Make Your Math Review Game Board:

Step 1:

Make your grid. I traced around a chopping board with pencil to get a nice even rectangular shape. 

Then I used a yard stick to make the rest of the grid lines. Once I created a template that I liked, I placed another piece of paper over it and traced another one for my younger child. 

Keep in mind that your grid doesn’t need to be perfect and you can just freehand it!

Step 1:

Now fill in your grid with math problems that you worked on during the school year. Also, make sure you write the problems in a way that is familiar with your child! If you need some guidance with this step, I suggest looking at the first grade common core math skills (or whatever grade you are interested in) that were covered last year. 

I wrote the answers on the rocks as I created the grid. 

Step 3:

Move all the rocks outside the grid and invite your child to move the answer rocks to the correct space. You might need to review how to solve a few of the problems since your children might not have seen them in a while. 

My son jumped right in and started the math review game right away!

He liked that this was a “huge worksheet” and thought the grid and rocks were fun to work with!

Right after I got my older son going on his math grid, I invited my younger son to try his activity. I set up a grid filled with colors, shape patterns, ten frames, counting sequences, easy addition, and subitizing dice pictures. You could also draw simple pictures for one-to-one correspondence or try simple number/shape/color matching. 

He felt like he was doing “big kid work” because he was doing the same activity as his older brother. 

I was happy to see he used familiar strategies to solve the problems like counting the dots on the dice and using his fingers to solve the easy addition problems. 

This math review game was a huge hit with my boys and I’ll keep these grids out all week! Next time, I will use post-it notes to write the problems to I can use the grid for varying math skills. I think a literacy game would be fun too!

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you give this math review game a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love this one.

∼Tara

Need more activity ideas?! Check out:

Alphabet Grab and Color Activity

Butterfly Flip Books for Nature Study

The post Multiage Math Review Game appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

This is one of those activities that you can 100% tailor to meet the needs and the interests of the children you are working with. If you have multiple children at home, you could have one child searching for alphabet letters and the other searching for sight words. If your children need help with math skills, you could write numbers or draw dots on the stones for counting. This is a naturally differentiated activity that helps children learn in a fun and active way. 

Ready to give this garden activity for kids a try!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• Stones
• Chalk
• Watering Can

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RELATED: Check out 10+ Simple and Beautiful Stone Activities for Kids

Here’s How We Did This Garden Activity for Kids:

Step 1:

This is basically the only step! Just write letters on stones with chalk and hide them in your garden! Remember you can do this exact same activity with numbers, words, shapes, or anything else you are currently working on. 

A few of the stones that I wrote on were larger stones and already set in the garden. Once I hid the rest of the smaller stones, we were ready for the alphabet letter scavenger hunt! I tried to have a nice mix of easy to find stones and a few that were a bit more tricky to find. 

My four year old was completely sold when he found out there was a watering can involved. He loves watering plants in our yard, so this was pretty exciting for him!

This garden activity for kids is also great for gross motor skills. As you can see in the photo below, he is working on balance, coordination, physical strength and so much more!

My son loved searching for the letters and would shout out the letter names as he found them. I challenged him on a few and asked if he knew the letters sounds.

I plan on trying this with my older son next with sight words he’s been working on. This is so much better than a boring worksheet!

When he finished the activity, he grabbed the chalk and wrote some letters on a few rocks because he wanted to keep going! This one kept him busy for long time, was inexpensive, and got him outdoors! We’ll definitely revisit this garden activity a few more times this summer:) 

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you give this simple garden activity for kids a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

Four Ways to Use Stones in the Classroom

Dandelion Rock Family

The post Alphabet Stone Activity for the Garden appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Children are often bombarded with worksheets at school. They tend to be boring and not very interesting to look at. Here is a fun and simple alternative to worksheets that can be used at home or as a learning center in a classroom! 

Here’s just a quick tip before we get into the “How To” section:

If you don’t want to make this a dry erase surface, you can keep the pieces of nature loose similar to our Nature Find It activity!

Ready to make an I Spy activity board!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• Cardboard
• Packing Tape
• Dry Erase Marker
• Paper Towel
• Pressed Pieces of Nature– If you don’t have any available, you can purchase a pack on Amazon. We used some from this pack on our board!

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RELATED: Check out Magical Pressed Flower Lanterns

Here’s How We Made The I Spy Activity Board:

Step 1:

Organize your pressed pieces of nature on your cardboard. You can read more on pressing flowers in How to Preserve Flowers for Nature Activities.

Step 2:

Now it’s time to make the dry erase surface. I did this two ways to compare methods:

For the “Key” I put some Mod Podge on the board first, put the flowers on the thin layer of Mod Podge, and covered the flowers with more Mod Podge. The Mod Podge dimpled the cardboard a bit, but looked okay when it dried. Once it dried, I put strips of packing tape over the key one piece at a time. 

For the actual board, I skipped the Mod Podge and went right to taping the board. I started at one end and worked my way to the other. Just make sure the pieces of tape overlap a bit so there are no gaps in between the strips of tape. This only took me about 10 minutes and it turned out great! 

Your I Spy Activity Board is Complete!

This took me about 15 total minutes to prepare and I gasped at it’s beauty when it was complete! As you can see, the board now has a nice surface and you can easily wipe off any dry erase marks. 

Now invite your child over to the board! I asked my four year old if he could find all of the pieces of nature on the board. He was so excited to find them all! Our conversation naturally moved to colors, counting, and comparing the different pieces of nature. 

My son put little dots next to the pieces of nature as he found them, but kids can circle, check them off, or make any other marking to track their findings!

Also you can skip the key and call out different items to find. “Can you circle all of the blue flowers?” “Can you count five flowers and put a heart next to them?”  The questions and prompts are endless!

The surface is so smooth and shiny. Children will love wiping the marks off of the board!

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you give this I spy activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

A Simple and Beautiful Nature Craft to Try Today

10+ Simple and Beautiful Stone Activities for Kids

The post Dry Erase I Spy Board Made With Real Pieces of Nature! appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Young children in preschool and kindergarten learn best by “doing” and actively participating in their learning. Touching objects helps children move from concrete to abstract thinking which is necessary for later tasks, such as reading and more complex math work.

These tactile dandelion counting cards are the perfect spring activity! Not only does this counting activity help children learn essential early math skills, but it also gives children the chance to get outside and strengthen both fine and gross motor skills. 

Ready to make these counting cards!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• Dandelions
• Cardboard
• Markers– These are my favorite markers!
• Tape

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

RELATED: Check out How to Make a Simple Dandelion Frame

Here’s How To Try This Counting Activity:

Step 1:

Cut pieces of cardboard, write the numbers on them, and poke holes for the dandelions stems. I used a sharp landscaping tool to poke a small hole, then used a pencil to widen the hole. Dandelion stems are pretty wide, so make the holes large enough!

Step 2:

Collect your dandelions. This activity strengthens both fine and gross motor skills. Children will strengthen their fine motor muscles by picking dandelions and build their larger gross motor skills by running from dandelion to dandelion and bending down to pick them! 

Children will also work on hand-eye coordination by threading the dandelion stems through the holes on the cards. 

Step 3: 

Tape the stems to the back of the board. The tape will help keep the dandelions in place and this method is much easier than gluing the dandelion heads! We’ve had our fair share of messy projects, but sometimes mess-free is the way to go. 

Now children have the chance to work on number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and other counting skills! The dandelions feel so soft and look so cute on the cards!

My boys were drawn to these cards and used them in their own way. My four year old likes to touch them one at a time to practice counting and my six year old likes to put 3 cards next to each other to practice 3 number addition problems. 

The dandelions will eventually dry out and shrink, but the still look super cute on the board! When you are finished with the cards, just take the dandelions out and save the counting activity cards for wildflower season!

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you give this simple counting activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

Ice Flower Sensory Play

10+ Simple and Beautiful Stone Activities for Kids

The post Tactile Dandelion Counting Cards appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

I don’t know about you, but lately I’m grabbing on to any excuse I can find to head outdoors with my kids. This packet includes activities that are prefect for any time of year and spans a variety of interests and abilities! I love nature scavenger hunt ideas because they are quick activities you can print out to get the kids moving, learning, and having fun in a pinch. If you are looking for more simple activities to try at home in your own backyard, then check out 100 low-prep activities you can do in your own backyard!

This packet of nature scavenger hunt pages and checklists include these themes:

• alphabet and beginning sounds
• tally marks
• seasons: spring, winter, summer, fall
• insects
• neighborhood
• bird watcher
• verbs, adjectives, and nouns
• colors
• sounds
• senses
• and gratitude

Fun Ways to Use these Printables:

Try setting out the nature scavenger hunt pages in the yard to be discovered. I promise kids will be instantly excited and interested to check out the activity because it was presented as a fun surprise and no one is telling them they HAVE to do it! You can set it near a tree trunk or on a picnic table with pencils and a magnifying glass. Setting up this fun adventure activity will keep kids busy and entertained for a while! Depending upon the ages and ability of your children, you might need to be available to help with the activity.

If you just need a break and the kids need a calming activity, grab a timer and set it for 15 – 20 minutes. You can offer the window checklist and give children the chance to connect with the world outside on a rainy day or slow morning. I included this indoor scavenger hunt in this packet because I know we all need something to do when we can’t get outside. This is the perfect activity to help the family take a break, relax, and connect with the outdoors while you are stuck inside.

I hope you give these nature scavenger hunt activities a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more simple nature activities?! Check out:

A Simple Nature Craft to Try Today!

Creating a Musical Forest in Your Backyard

The post 20+ Outdoor Nature Walk Checklist and Scavenger Hunt Printables appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

This activity can be tried during any season or theme! You can use cut up leaves or pine needles, bird seed, beans, beads, or any other sensory filler that fits your child’s interests or your classroom theme.

If you are worried about the mess and clean up, you can place the tracing board in a large tupperware bin and the sensory bits and pieces will be contained.

Ready to give this a try? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• Flower confetti- Cut up flowers from a bouquet or your garden.
• Paint brush– You can try a variety of sizes and styles.
• Tracing boards– I purchased our boards from Target, but you can also find similar styles on Amazon or Etsy. You can find alphabet versions of this tracing board!

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RELATED: Check out Ice Sensory Play with Flower Confetti

Here’s How We Made Them:

Step 1:

The only thing you need to do ahead of time for this activity, is make your flower confetti. Just cut or tear flower petals to make these little flower pieces. Flower confetti is a great sensory filler for activities because it’s 100% biodegradable, it smells wonderful, and looks beautiful! Kids are immediately drawn to it!

Once your flower confetti is prepped, you will need to let it dry for a couple of days. This makes it much easier to sweep on the board.

To start the activity, just put your flower confetti in a pile on the center of the board.

Then, I gave my four year old a paint brush and he quickly discovered that if you sweep the flower confetti, it fills in the numbers and makes them stand out in the most beautiful way! He was really excited to fill in all the numbers!

He liked “cleaning up the tray” and sweeping away the excess pieces of confetti. This part kept him focused for a while.

Once the numbers were filled in, my son liked digging out the confetti pieces. He started out using his fingers to remove the  flower bits and then moved on to the tracing stick. This was great for strengthening fine motor skills and practicing correct pencil grip!

When you are finished, you can store your flower confetti in a bag and save it for another activity!

Save it for later and Pin it!

I hope you give this activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more flower confetti ideas?! Check out:

Natural Play Dough with Flower Confetti

Pinecone Nature Confetti Shakers for New Year’s Eve

The post Tracing Boards with Flower Confetti appeared first on Little Pine Learners.