Printables and Activity Guides

From colouring pages to activity instructions, this section offers resources for families and teachers to enhance their Arboretum visit or connect with nature at home.

Nature scavenger hunts or bingo games are a great way to explore both familiar and unfamiliar natural spaces. They encourage people of all ages to look closely and notice details in nature that they may have otherwise missed.

Instead of printing out a pre-made scavenger hunt, we actually recommend creating the hunt yourself, so that drawing the objects before looking for them can be part of the experience. 

How to Create Your Own Scavenger Hunt

Create Your Page:

Think about the age of your participants and how long you want the activity to take, then create a grid on a sheet of paper. Try anything from a short scavenger hunt with just 4 squares to a full bingo card with 25 squares.

Choose Your Items:

Think about the space you will be visiting, how long you want to be outside, the season, and how much of a challenge you want! Depending on the age of the participants, this could be a discussion you have together. ("What are we likely to see in the park in spring? What will be harder to find?"). Choose nature items from the suggestions below, or think up your own.

Print the Names:

Print the name of each item at the bottom of a square; you may want to leave a little space where you can put a check mark when you find something. If you're playing bingo-style, pay attention to layout so you don't accidentally create a very easy row! 

Draw the Items:

Have the participants draw a picture of each item in the right box. These can be quick sketches if you just want to get outside, or take your time with details and full colour. This part can take a few minutes, or be spread out over several days! Go ahead and search for images on the internet to draw from if you're not sure what something looks like.

Get Outside:

When everyone’s cards are ready, head outside and get searching! Agree in advance if you're going to make it competitive or work together, and if you're going to set a time limit or keep searching until you've found everything.

Follow Up:

After the search is over, talk about what was easier or harder to find than expected and what everyone's favourite discovery was. Consider choosing one of the objects that it's okay to take out of nature (ex. pine cone, rocks, sticks) and take it home to try drawing a more detailed picture that you can compare to the one you drew on the scavenger sheet.

Suggestions for Your Nature Scavenger Hunt: 

• Squirrel 
• Squirrel drey (nest made of leaves) 
• A flying bird 
• A chirping/singing bird 
• Robin 
• Cardinal 
• Pigeon 
• Duck 
• Feather 
• Snail shell 

• Spider web 
• A flying insect 
• A crawling insect 
• Animal footprints 
• Hole in a tree 
• Mushroom 
• Moss or fungus 
• Pine cone 
• Maple key 
• Seed pod 

• Berries 
• Acorn 
• Bur 
• Log 
• Tree root 
• Fallen leaf 
• Leaf on a tree 
• Leaf with a hole in it 
• Long thin leaf 
• Short wide leaf 

• A stick that looks like a Y 
• A stick longer than your foot 
• A tree taller than a house 
• A bush shorter than you 
• Vine 
• Puddle 
• A smooth rock 
• A rough rock 
• Tree stump 
• A shape in a cloud