Give your students practice making observations by doing a seasonal scavenger hunt that will require closer looks at the familiar landscape to see what has changed. (Thanks to the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research for the idea.)
Does the tree (with branches low enough to see) have tightly furled flower or leaf buds, leaves the size of a squirrel’s ear, or leaves that are fully grown and changing color? Checklists can use both words and pictures to list items.

Use a new checklist for each season and include some of the following items to look for if they apply to your school yard:
Plants

• Leaf size on deciduous plants (choose any or a particular plant)
• Flower buds forming, blooming, forming seeds(choose any or a particular plant)
• Flower bulb leaves growing above ground, dying back

Animals

• Baby animals in the fields
• Tracks in mud, sand, or snow

Birds

• In groups or alone
• What are they eating?
• Birds building nests

Insects and other small animals

• Bees or other pollinators on flowers
• Small animals (roly-polies, caterpillars) visible in the garden

Weather

• Temperature
• Precipitation
• Windy or calm
• Snow on the ground
• Ice on water bodies
• People dressed in boots, coats, sandals, shorts, carrying umbrellas.

The scavenger hunt observations can be posted each month to make it easier to see how the observations have changed over the year. Some months no student will see a bee and other months every student will see some.
What other items should be added to an outdoor scavenger hunt list for your schoolyard?
Peggy