Summer Saunters - Nature Experiences for the Season
On our last day of Nature School - Nature Kids Weekdays for the year I asked the Kids to write down some of their favourite experiences from the term.
Once we’d done this we randomly selected some of our faves to enjoy on our last day of term together.
It was SO neat reading all the favourites from this term at Nature School, the kids love these experiences and we thought other kids (and their families) might enjoy them too, so the kids asked me to share them with you.
Nature Kids Faves for Summer:
Roll or Slide down hills
Climb Trees
Rest (under a tree)
Swimming in a rock pool
Make a bug hotel
Have a snack (food tastes way better in nature)
Bird Watching
Hut and Shelter Building
Observe flowers
Explore Rock Pools
Quiet Time
Talk about and watch animals
Hide and Sneak*
Animal Tag*
Animal Relay*
Learn about Wild Food
Play our Bee Game*
Watch Bees
Eating lunch in a tree
Have a Shrimp-i-cure
Make Wild Forage Tea
The Nature Kids and I hope you have as much fun with these experiences as we have - we hope you have a super summer!
Now you may have noticed a few experiences with * these are games we play at Nature Kids that help us connect with and learn about nature. Below I’ve shared Animal Tag, but to play the others you’ll have to come and join us at Nature School or our School Holiday Programme.
Animal Tag
Using trees, shoes, or cones mark out a small area for the ‘animals’ to run between, the two ends are safe. Have all, but one, person pick a NZ animal to be, make sure they don’t tell any one else what they are. One person, this is the investigator, stands in the middle of the marked out area, the rest stand an end together. The investigator asks yes or no questions (to one or all of the ‘animals’) in an effort to work out what animal they are. For example, do you live on land, can you fly, are you an insect etc. If any of the ‘animals’ answer yes they have to run to the other side of the playing area. If they are tagged by the investigator as they run they must give a clue about themselves. This continues until the investigator has guessed all of the animals, or there is one animal left who becomes the winner!
We love using native NZ animals to play this game, it helps us learn about new creatures, their features, habitats and characteristics. Animals of Aotearoa by Gillian Candler and Ned Barraud is a great book to use for choosing animals if you need some help.
Some of our experiences this term at Nature School