Earth Day Scavenger Hunt

Happy Earth Day! We celebrated by going on a scavenger hunt in our yard. The boys hunted for things found in nature to use in a craft. I had planned to go to a park for the scavenger hunt, but it was a little chilly this morning. We made quick work of it in our yard.

I made a list of items for them to find in the yard. My list was written and drawn. The list consisted of grass, leaves, flowers, sticks, bark, rocks, and sand. The boys added sand to the list. We collected everything from the yard, and we talked about picking things that could hurt us. I wasn't too worried about things from the yard. We put our collection on paper, and brought it inside to
make a collage. The boys glued everything to their paper. I used the hot glue gun for the sticks and bark. Otherwise, a glue stick holds everything pretty well.

This activity is great to help explain Earth Day to toddlers. Everything we collected was made by the Earth. If we hurt the Earth then we won't have these things; throwing our trash on the Earth hurts it. My 4-year old said that the brown leaves are dead, which led to a discussion about what's alive and dead and why.

Hint: Instead of taking bark from a tree, put paper on the bark and shade it with a pencil. Press the leaves and flowers between the pages of a heavy book before gluing in a collage to prevent wilting.