Part of my kindergartner’s homework last night was to go on a nature hunt. Honestly! How cool is that? Our mission: To collect items in groups of 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. (I didn’t like math growing up. But if I’d had assignments like this, things might have been different.)
The weather outside was frightful: so windy my son said he was afraid he’d be blown over. We decided to brave it, bundled up with jackets and headed out the back door to see what we could discover.
The sun had all but set so we had to work fast, making our task feel more like a game than homework.
The first thing my son noticed was that our lawn was covered with all sorts of treasures. Thanks to the wind, there were leaves everywhere. There were big leaves, small leaves, brown ones, yellow ones and red ones. So much to choose from!
He started picking up little ones, counting them off one by one as he did so. When he got to five, he reminded me, “we need one more.”
Next up: 7. Just a few steps away from the leaves, my son noticed some flower petals that had been blown our way by the strong winds. He gathered up seven bright orange petals before racing off to find his next set.
Eight big leaves were easy to spot. The only challenge was gathering them up before they blew away!
Next up, nine rocks.
By the time he reached 10, my son was ready to head to the front yard to see what magic the wind had worked there.
He quickly spotted the roses outside our neighbor’s front gate and counted off ten.
When we’d finished our counting, we stood in the dark together and talked for a couple of minutes about what it was like to be outside in the wind. How things sounded and looked different than on other evenings. What it feels like to let yourself move with the wind compared to when you try to fight it.
By the time we headed back indoors, my son proclaimed that he wasn’t afraid of the wind anymore.
I wish every homework assignment was this fun.
Lessons learned: Our assignment was to count things, but the task could easily be changed to find items based on letters, colors or size. Don’t have a backyard? No problem! Go for a walk around the neighborhood or head to a park, beach, garden or other green space. All that matters is that you get outdoors!
Have you or your kids ever had a great school assignment that incorporated the outdoor world? Please share! I’d love to hear about it.
I'm with Bethe — I hate the idea of my kindergartner having homework. This assignment was a welcome treat. And yes, Carolina, I wish there were more opportunities like these!<br /><br />Beth: Quinn's school rocks! A school garden is such a great way for kids to enjoy being outdoors. So cool that you got Rowan out exploring what the wind blew your way. Now that's what I'm talking
Quinn's school does nature work all the time, which we love. They had a huge planting day about two weeks ago, which I volunteered for– the kids plant in the "edible garden" which they work in and harvest all year, and they have a compost heap, etc. They all brought home cups of planted seeds– the first graders had red oak leaf lettuce. The wind was a total nature boon the
Love these types of assignments, wish there could be more of this and that parents would take time to do this.
Hey Deb! I am totally against homework in elementary school(especially the first 3 yrs), but this is a cool assignment! You can do all sorts of fun things on nature walks — colors, shapes, counting, alphabet, etc. Of course, I hope that what folks don't do is over structure or get too outcome based while exploring nature. The focus should be on fun and exploration and getting to know nature