The woods scavenger hunt/word search activity introduced in the last blog post represents the culmination of a month's work of at least a dozen people, including students, teachers and parent/community volunteers. If you think that coming up with a half dozen clues, painting a few animal pictures, and building a snowman really isn't that big of a deal, then, well, you'd be wrong! Consider not only the work of meeting with kids and helping them narrow down ideas, planning the scavenger hunt, and writing the clues, but also coordinating times for every single class to go outside over the course of a week and finding volunteers to help out! Not to mention building that snowman when there was hardly any snow (hard to imagine after the 6+" we got today, but never mind!)...
In any case, I want to acknowledge the tremendous amount of time and work that goes into coordinating an outdoor activity like this one. The kids had a fabulous time going outside and finding clues; from all accounts the Mousekin activity was a resounding success.
I also want to mention that the Crestwood forest is really beautiful in the winter, with the stark, bare trees, the snow packed on trails, and animal tracks all around. It's important that the kids experience their school forest in all seasons; in some ways they know the terrain better than anyone.
For fun, I've reprinted the Mousekin scavenger hunt activity below with answers to the clues along with some photos from the woods. The word scramble was different every day, and you can scroll down to the end of this post to find the mystery words throughout the week. A little mouse awoke in the woods and was hungry. As the little mouse scampered through the woods to find its stores of food it saw the tracks of other animals and the animals themselves! Read or listen to the facts Mousekin knows about these creatures and where it saw them. Follow its clues to see if you can find and identify the 6 animals. Write down the kind of animal you found and the letter you see on the animal. When you have found all 6 letters unscramble them to find the secret word! Mousekin awoke in a nest in the tall pine tree. Where is the pine tree in our woods? (in the Robin Plot near the classroom/sharing circle) It used its keen sense of smell to find the seeds and nuts it had hidden. As it went to unearth its store of food it listened closely with its large ears for predators and for the friendly warning calls of a friend. Goldfinch Plot - upper loop Between two big oak trees on the path that cuts through the goldfinch plot, Mousekin saw an animal much like itself: a rodent with a tail as long as its body, a great sense of smell, and a diet of nuts, seeds, and berries. This animal looked like a big chipmunk but without stripes. Think about what grows on oak trees and what animal would eat these as food. |
Mouse kin wanted to get the stash of seeds it had hidden at the base of a sideways tree. Do you remember what type of tree this is? (Boxelder). It saw an animal lumbering across this tree using the long fingers on its sensitive paws. Mousekin remembered having seen this animal dip its food in water to clean it! It waited to see if this animal went into a den it had made in rocks or trees or the ground nearby.
Robin Plot - along the main trail
As Mousekin neared the green bench along the main trail it heard the warning call of a friend. Mousekin lay down, frozen in fright, at the thought of a predator nearby! As Mousekin looked up it saw two large eyes peering down from a perch in the red oak tree. Up in the tree there was an odd-looking nest! What could it be made of? (wooden basket). Mousekin would not have known this silent flying hunter was watching if it hadn't been for the call of his friend.
Mousekin scurried down the trail, past the classroom circle, and around the Chickadee loop. Mousekin was looking for the black-capped, feathered friend. This creative is active during the winter days looking for seeds, insects, and fruits to eat. One of the calls it makes sounds just like its name! Mouse kin spotted this bird in a tree that is losing a lot of bark. This tree is shaped like the letter Y.
Nuthatch Plot
As it continued to look for food it had hidden, Mousekin ran down the Nuthatch loop trail. Although there were not many trees, there were stands of dried plants and piles of branches. These were good for finding seeds to eat and places to hide. Again the friend's warning call sounded. Another predator was nearby! An animal with red fur and a long, bushy tail was hidden in a brush pile between the path and the field, on the eastern edge of the loop. This animal is known for being sneaky and clever.
Blue Jay Plot
Mousekin remembered hiding food under a fallen log in the Blue Jay plot. It looked like an animal had hopped from under the shelter of the fallen log to a red twig dogwood tree that Crestwood kids had planted. There Mousekin sw a long-eared, short, bushy-tailed creature eating the bark off a stand of bare twigs. Food is scarce in the winter of for these creatures that eat mostly plants. Mousekin did not know if the animal was a doe or buck but was sure that it was not a deer.
(Eep! Somehow I neglected to take a photo of this one...can you guess what animal it was?)
Before retuning to the nest in the pine Mousekin wanted to gather one last cache of food. At the top of the main trail, Mousekin again stopped in fear. There was a creative it had never seen before - a giant made of snow and wearing a red cap! Mouse kin slowly realized this creature was not a threat and went to investigate. There were a lot of seeds, nuts and other treats for the woodland animals to eat!
What creature did he find? Who left the food for the animals?
TNWIER
URTANE
ESRFOT
CRAKTS
RSTTEA
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(WINTER, NATURE, FOREST, TRACKS, TREATS)