03/31/2020
From St Louis County Parks, here are some fun things you can do safely outside:
Explore Nature from Your Backyard or a Park!
Avoid cabin fever! Check out these activities that you and your family can do at a park or your backyard. If you choose to visit a park, keep 6 feet of distance between you and others and follow the guidelines in the next section.
Make a scrapbook (or even a video!) of animals, flowers, trees, bugs, snakes, anything you observe in your park or backyard. Share your pictures or video on social media, especially with someone who lives in a different state or country.
Take a super close-up shot of an object along the trail or in your backyard: a bug, a knot in a tree, a crack in a rock. The close-up should focus on just one part of the object rather than the whole thing. Make a game of seeing who can guess what the object is and who can find it first.
For younger kids, practice shapes and counting with animals, steps, trees, cars, mailboxes, anything!
Using colors of the spectrum (ROYGBIV), find items/animals/birds that match for each color or are a mixture of colors.
Using a compass, walk a good distance away from your starting point making several directional turns along the way. Record your compass directions as you walk. Use the compass directions of N, S, E, W to create a path for a treasure hunt or to teach a lesson on using a compass.
When studying the five senses, talk about/make a list of how kids can experience the trail/park or backyard/home/neighborhood with their smell, sight, hearing, touch, and maybe even taste!
Use places around your home or park and do a creative writing story about a specific spot or structure. For example, a trail could be a pathway to a magical land, or a tree could be a portal to a different dimension. Use aspects of/on your landmarks or structures to create the parts of your story It’s creative writing so be sure to use comedy, mystery, action, and drama!
Adjective Scavenger Hunt Find things that are fuzzy, smooth, rough, smelly, prickly, scratchy, etc. The possibilities are limitless so make your list as long as possible!
While walking in the park, try to name something for every letter of the alphabet.