As the colder months draw in, it becomes increasingly difficult to get out, yet it is such a beautiful time of year. I love the colours, the freshness and crispness this time of year has to offer. What better way to engage with it than to go on a nature hunt.
As my children are getting older, it becomes ever more difficult to persuade them to go for walks, even though they always enjoy it. Visiting new places is a good one, but that’s not always possible. Hence, I am constantly thinking up other ways to encourage them.
The Matchbox Nature Hunt
I had some matchboxes left over from a craft project we did earlier in the year, so we decided to go on a matchbox nature hunt. The idea is to collect as many things from nature in your matchbox as you can. Every item must be different. For example, 10 tiny stones won’t count…only one.
We headed off to our local nature reserve and lake.
The ducks and birds are always fascinating to watch and the children found it hilarious watching the ducks bob under the water with their bottom in the air.
After I managed to drag the kids away from the birds we wandered round the lake collecting tiny pieces of nature. At first the children struggled, until I showed them some examples of what they could collect in their matchboxes.
It really opened their eyes to the little wonders of nature….they actually saw the pretty berries, acorns, feathers and flowers that they would otherwise have bypassed.
At the end the children played on the playground and zip-wire, something they always enjoy.
Once home, we opened up the boxes to count our nature treasures. Boo won with 8, BB came second with 5 and Pinky had 4.
The nature treasures included: Acorn, stone, feather, flower, leaf, acorn cup, berry, grass.
There are loads of different variations you could use with a matchbox theme. You could collect different coloured items or different flowers.
It really didn’t matter how much we collected, we had fun searching, we saw things we would not normally have observed and we all got plenty of fresh air. I call that a win!