Scavenger Hunt

• A scavenger hunt is a fun way to practise observation skills.
• Collecting objects, living or non-living, is prohibited in all parks including Fish Creek Provincial Park.
• Instead of collecting items, have your groups 
  • Check items off the scavenger hunt list OR
  • Draw the items OR
  • Write a few words about each item

Tips For A Successful Scavenger Hunt 

• Visit the area before you make the list to see what natural objects are there.  Ensure the area is free of most natural hazards (like stinging nettles, eroded banks).
• Put some easy items on the list so all groups experience some success.
• Divide your youth group into smaller groups of four. This gives all participants a better opportunity to contribute.
• Make sure the groups are divided evenly in terms of age and ability.
• Emphasize sharing, cooperation and teamwork.
• Clearly define the hunt area boundaries.
• Give the groups a time limit.  Explain the signal that indicates the game is over and they are to return to the starting point.  A whistle works well as a signal.
• Send an adult to supervise and help each group.
• When the hunt is over, give the youth time to discuss and share their discoveries.

Suggestions For Themes

• Concepts such as adaptations or camouflage.  List colours and markings.  Examples - pale yellow; more than two colours; spotted; striped.
• Sensory experiences.  Focus on just one sense or all them except taste.  Examples - cool; warm; damp; dry; hairy; smooth; rough; waxy.
• Characteristics of animals or plants.  Focus on observation not identification. Examples - prickly plant; hairy leaf; spotted leaf; a seed; leaf with jagged edges; plant part eaten by insects; something a deer might eat; something a bird might use to build a nest.

Observation Walk

Preparation 

• Walk the trails in the area prior to bringing your group to the park.
• Look for animal shelters and food sources for animals found in Fish Creek Provincial Park. Note the locations.
• If you find lots of examples, narrow the list to one theme. It could be shelter or food, birds or mammals, for example.
• Sketch, trace or cut out pictures of the animals that are connected to the objects chosen for the observation walk.

Activity 

• Walk your group along the trail.
• Stop at each of your selected objects.  Show the animal picture.  Ask the youth to find its shelter (or food, depending on your theme.)
• An easier method for younger children is to show them three animal pictures.  Have them guess which animal would use the shelter or food.  For very young children, you could include pictures of animals that do not live in the park (like elephants).

Shelters

Trees 

• Nests - birds
• Nests - squirrels (ball shaped, against tree trunk)
• Holes in trunks - made by birds, squirrels may be using
• Tiny holes in bark - insects
• Rolled up leaves - insects
• Very low hanging evergreen branches - snowshoe hares

Plants 

• Galls - insects

Ground 

• Holes - ground squirrels
• Dirt mounds - pocket gophers (mounds are evidence of their underground tunnels)
• Under rocks or bark - insects, slugs and other invertebrates
• Ant hills

Flattened plants or depressions in snow 

• Bedding down spot for deer or coyote

Water 

• Lodge - beaver
• Nests - redwinged blackbird, up in tall plants
• Nests - ducks, water level, among reeds and other plants

Food Sources

For many species, diets change with the season.

• Seeds - birds, mice, meadow voles
• Twig ends - deer (ragged end) snowshoe hares (clean-cut end)
• Bark - mice, beaver, porcupine
• Insects - birds (e.g. woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees), shrews
• Berries - birds (e.g. grouse, waxwings, coyotes)
• Cones - squirrels
• Mushrooms - mice, voles, squirrels
• Gnawed bones or antlers - mice, voles, squirrels, porcupine
• Green plants - summer diet for all herbivores (plant-eaters)

Nature Bingo

• Bingo cards are a fun way to record information when doing scavenger hunts or observation walks.
• Print off bingo cards.
  • Bingo card with suggestions for a general exploratory activity in any season
  • Blank bingo card to fill in based on your activity theme and season
• Distribute the bingo cards. Explain if youth are to check off items, draw them or write a description about them in the boxes.
• Clarify if "bingo" is all four corners, two straight lines or a blackout.