Sharing Nature

I'm so happy I came across this when researching nature activities to do with a wide age range in a semi-structured environment.  I wanted to do something fun, but also something that would spark an interest in nature, even among children who aren't so interested.  The website is for Sharing Nature Worldwide, an organization that started with a book published by Joseph Cornell called Sharing Nature With Children.  Cornell wrote several books, and those can be purchased online easily, however much of the information from the books is available free at the website http://www.sharingnature.com/index.php.

My favorite activity from the website is the "Meet a Tree" exercise.  One person is blindfolded while another person leads the person to a tree.  The blindfolded person gathers as much information about the tree as possible, using touch and smell.  Then the blindfolded person is led away from the tree in a different direction.   The blindfold is removed and the person tries to find the tree in the forest using the clues they gathered before.

An additional activity that also uses the sense of touch is the "Get In Touch With Trees" activity found on the Project Learning Tree website, http://www.plt.org/educational-nature-activities-for-families.  Collect some common objects from the forest floor and place in a box.  Children can be blindfolded or cut a hole in the box that only the hand will fit through.  After they have explored the way the object feels, they try to find another of the same object on the forest floor.