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.

Ice luminaries, also known as ice lanterns, are a fun winter project for both kids and adults! They look beautiful grouped together or try lining your walkway to your front door! Such a beautiful way to welcome people to your home during those cold winter months. 

Ready to make a few ice luminaries?! Here’s what you’ll need–

Supplies:

• Balloons- Try latex balloons if you want to avoid plastic
• Water
• Waterproof tea light candles
• Pressed pieces of nature- There are a couple of things to keep in mind for this project. The luminaries are curved, so the pieces of pressed nature should be pretty thin and flexible/flimsy. They also should not be dyed or they will bleed onto the ice. The large pressed poppy flowers are from this shop and the wildflower mix are from this shop! We removed the stems from the poppy flowers and chose the thinner pieces from the wildflower mix. I love supporting these beautiful pressed flower businesses from Etsy, but these flowers took over a week to arrive at my house. If you need pressed flowers quickly, then I suggest going with Amazon. I’ve used many pressed flowers from Amazon for my crafts and am happy to recommend them as well. For this particular craft, I love this set and this set.

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Related: Check out How to Make Ice Lanterns (Using cans!)

Here’s How We Made these Beautiful Ice Luminaries:

Step 1:

Fill up the balloons at a sink to your desired size. Then put them outside to freeze! We stuck them in the snow. If you do the same thing, make sure you rotate them around as they freeze. You can also stick them in the freezer. I found sitting them in a small bowl helps them keep their shape in the freezer. 

Step 2:

Once your luminaries are frozen, peel off the balloon. I used a knife to start the process.

Some people let the outside shell of the lantern freeze then peel off the balloon, but I personally like them frozen solid. They are much more sturdy and look very magical!

Step 3:

I like to make a little dent for the candle by running warm water on ice luminary. 

Step 4:

After running warm water on your luminary, it will be slick and shiny. You can try to put your pieces of nature on the luminary now. The flowers and leaves should adhere to the luminary pretty easily. Then, they will freeze when you take them outside. But you might find that the luminary is too wet and might tear your fragile pieces of nature. If that’s the case then head outside!

We tried the indoor and outdoor methods and both worked well! When working outside, I found that a spray bottle of water and snow helped freeze and stick the pieces of nature to the ice luminaries. Just spray some water on the pieces of nature and the cold air will help it freeze the pieces of nature to the luminaries. The snow was helpful for the thicker pieces of nature. That was really like a natural glue!

One thing that I love about this activity, is that the ice luminaries look beautiful during the day and at night! They are really pretty to look at when the sun is shinning on them!

Place waterproof battery operated candles under the luminaries at night and they are so incredibly magical and beautiful! We watched them change from evening to night. Our candles are waterproof and came with a remote control! We placed the luminaries very close to our window, so I could turn them off an on from inside! 

At night, they look like floating orbs! And the reflection against the snow was beautiful. 

The pressed flowers and leaves look so pretty and it’s a cool way to see the details in the pieces of nature! If you give this a try, please tag me @littlepinelearners on Instagram! I can’t wait to see your creations

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you try making these ice luminaries! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more winter ideas?! Check out:

40+ Winter Picture Books for Kids

Winter Bird Feeder Made of Ice

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I had this fun idea to make icy bird feeders, but wanted to make sure it was safe for birds to land on and eat from in cold temperatures. 

So I did a little research and came across this fun fact! According to Bird Note, “Birds have a miraculous adaptation that keeps their feet from freezing. They have a netlike pattern of arteries that interweaves blood from a bird’s heart with the veins carrying cold blood from its feet and legs. The system cools the blood so the little blood that goes down to the feet is already cold, so the birds don’t lose much heat. The small amount that goes to the feet is likely just enough to keep the feet from freezing.” Pretty cool, right?!

Ready to make a winter bird feeder or two?! Here’s what you’ll need–

Supplies:

• • Tin cans- 2 sizes. I used tin cans that are smaller than the typical soup size because I wanted to make sure the bird feeder was light enough to hang from our trees. If you can’t find small tin cans, you can always just set the bird feeders on the ground! I also suggest finding tin cans that don’t have the pull tab openings. They leave a lip at the top of the can, making it difficult to wiggle to frozen bird feeder from the mold.  
  • Water
  • Stones
  • Tape
  • Biodegradable twine
  • Cranberries, oranges, or juniper berries- Birds can peck at the fruit as well!

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Related: Check out How to Make Ice Lanterns

Here’s How We Made this Winter Bird Feeder:

Step 1:

Fill up your larger can, a little less than half way with water. If you add too much, just pour some out!

Step 2:

Fill the smaller can with stones and place it in the center of the larger can. Tape the cans to anchor the smaller can in the center of the larger can. Make sure the smaller can isn’t tipping to one side or your lantern will have one very thin side. 

Step 3:

Place your fruity pieces of bird food in the section filled with water. Try orange slices, cranberries, or juniper berries! At this point, place the piece of twine in the water filled section as well. Make sure the twine extends to at least half way down the tin can so it doesn’t become loose when you remove the frozen bird feeder from the tin cans. 

Step 4:

Place your bird feeders in the freezer or outside if it’s cold enough. 

Step 5:

Once your ice bird feeders are frozen, peel the tape off and take the stones out of the smaller can. Gently run warm water around the larger can and fill the smaller can with warm water as well. Melt just enough of the ice to wiggle the cans free from the bird feeder. Don’t let the warm water sit too long or it might melt too much of the bird feeder. 

Place some bird seed in the middle and you are all finished!

We enjoyed walking around our yard and finding different spots to hang our bird feeders. We hung them in different trees and placed a couple on a table near our window so we could watch the birds from indoors!

The looked beautiful everywhere that we put them! 

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you try making a winter bird feeder! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

DIY Pebble Art for Kids

DIY Bowls Made of Beeswax

The post Winter Bird Feeder Made of Ice appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

This is one of those SIMPLE activities that you will return to over and over again! It’s the perfect outdoor center for a nature preschool or screen-free activity for home.

It was fun to show my kids that with just a dash of creativity, you can make a flower garden in the middle of winter!

Ready to create a magical snow garden? Here’s what you’ll need….

Supplies:

• Artificial flowers– We got ours from the Dollar Store. You can also find them in craft stores. I cut the stems from the bunch so they were individual flowers. You might want to add Duct Tape to the bottom of the stems if the wire is exposed.
• Flower pots
• Garden Tool Set
• Snow!

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RELATED: Check out Our Favorite Seasonal Nature Activity!

Here’s What We Did:

Step 1:

I set out the flower pots and garden shovels on our tree stumps. My boys loved filling up the flower pots with snow! It was the perfect alternative to dirt:)

Shoveling the snow in the pots is great hand-eye coordination practice!

Leo preferred the scooping method! He just put his flower pot right in the snow and scooped it up.

This kept them busy for a long time and they were having so much fun in the snow! They also loved patting down the snow into the pots. I knew this activity was a hit when they kept saying, “this is the best snow activity!”

Step 2:

Once all of the flower pots were filled with snow, I set out the artificial flowers. I put them on the ground by the tree stumps and they started “planting” their flowers right away!

Before I knew it, the snow gardens were complete. My oldest liked rearranging the flowers in different ways.

They looked so pretty when finished and added a some beautiful color to our yard!

We ended up moving them and they look so nice lined up against our house!

Here are so more ideas for flower play in the winter.

1. Make a flower field in the snow. Kids can just stick flowers right in the snow! No pots or shovels needed.
2. Stick the flowers in the snow before the kids get outside and have them make bouquets of specific colors or amounts.
3. Stick the flowers in the snow around your yard and have kids find them all.
4. Make snow castles with the flower pots and stick the flowers in the castles. So pretty!

Have fun and whatever activity you choose, it will certainly put a smile on your kids’ faces:)

Pin this activity to save it for later!

I hope you give this activity a try and have some fun in the snow! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Looking for more outdoor activity ideas?! Check out:

Creating a Musical Forest

Beaded Sticks

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