Taking your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students for an outdoor scavenger hunt is a great way to get some sun while reviewing academic skills - and is a fun way to celebrate Earth Day! There are a variety of ways to make a nature walk fit in with your academic goals. Below, find 8 different outdoor scavenger hunt ideas you could use with your classroom today.
If you would rather go the no prep option, then check out this Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Resource. It includes 8 ready-to-use scavenger hunts that cover a variety of different skills.
8 Ideas for an Academic Nature Walk
1. Syllable Sort
Get some phonological awareness and syllabication review in by having your students go on a nature walk and sort words based on syllables!
This outdoor scavenger hunt idea works with any season. Simply have your students go outside and list everything they see, sorting their words by syllable! The worksheet in my Outdoor Scavenger Hunts resource asks students to sort by 1,2,3,4, and 5 syllable words - students might have to think creatively to get some 5 syllable words on their list!
2. Parts of Speech Practice
3. A-Z Nature Walk
This is a tried and true classic. As students go on a nature walk outside, have them try and find something for every letter of the alphabet. This seems simple, but some of the letters will challenge upper elementary students and require a little bit of out of the box thinking and makes it a great activity for outdoor learning!
As an extension activity, you could have students write a sentence for each word as well, or write a story using as many of the words as they can.
4. 5 Senses Outdoor Scavenger Hunt
Challenge students to use all of their 5 senses as they explore outside. (Or use 4 of their senses, and imagine what using their sense of taste would be like!) You could have students simply list all the things they see, smell, hear, etc., or help expand their vocabulary by providing them with 5 senses words. For example, have them find:
- something that rustles
- something odorless
- something gritty
In this resource, students are provided with specific things to look for, and then asked to use some of those words to create similes using provided sentence frames for a little figurative language practice as well.
5. Combine Phonics Review with Outdoor Learning
Use this no prep word study scavenger hunt, but take it outside! Have students look for things that follow specific phonics patterns as they go on a nature walk. For example, you could have them look for something that:
- has a long ā sound
- includes a prefix or suffix
- ends with the letter l
- is a compound word
- rhymes with cat
Some phonics skills will be harder than others for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to find.
Create your own scavenger hunts using these ideas, or go the no prep route with these 8 Scavenger Hunts for Outdoor Learning!
6. BINGO Fun
Combine an outdoor scavenger hunt with a BINGO game. You could hand out prizes, or let the prize be the feeling of accomplishment students get when they finish blacking out their card.
If you want your students to be able to find everything on their BINGO card, then be sure to include a little bit of wiggle room. For example, instead of asking students to find a butterfly, ask them to find something that flies. Instead of asking students to find a feather, ask them to find something soft.
My Outdoor Scavenger Hunts Resource includes a BINGO card that could be used at any time of year.
7. Review Math Skills With Outdoor Learning
An outdoor scavenger hunt is a great way to review math skills in a real world way - particularly geometry and measurement.
For example, you could review 2d and 3d shapes by having students find different things that are shaped like:
- triangles
- rhombuses
- spheres
- cylinders
- cones
Or, review angles by having students find things that make right angles, acute angles, or obtuse angles.
To get some hands on measurement practice, simply have students find things that are certain lengths.
This Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Resource includes 1 math scavenger hunt that reviews a variety of geometry and measurement skills.
8. Living Vs. Nonliving Scavenger Hunt
Reinforce the differences between living and nonliving things by having students go on a living vs. nonliving nature walk. As they walk around outside, have them write down what they see and sort them based on whether they are living or nonliving.
For some added reflection, have students consider which of the nonliving things are manmade and which are natural.
Items to Add to an Outdoor Scavenger Hunt List
For a no prep option, check out this resource. But if you want to make your own, this list of scavenger hunt items will help get your creative juices flowing:
- something patterned
- something that ends with the letter r
- something that reminds you of home
- something that crawls
- something purple
- something that rustles
- something smaller than an inch
- something taller than you
- something broken
- something with a hole
- something gritty
- something with 3 syllables
- something silent
- something that flies
- something soft
- something shaped like a cylinder
- something that rhymes with cat
- something odorless
- something that has a prefix or suffix
Want more ways to take your classroom outside? Check out these outdoor learning ideas!
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