3rd-5th

Small World Big Changes

Observe and Explore

Backyard Sensory Walk

Spring Engages all of Our Senses

During this time of year we can engage all of our senses to learn more about the world around us. Some of our deepest memories are forged through our sense of smell.

  1. Develop a sensory walk chart in your journal.

  2. If you have a partner, safely cover your eyes. Take a guided walk with your partner through your backyard and notice what you hear and smell. If you do not have a partner, get to a location, close your eyes, and begin to use your other senses to observe.

  3. Remove your eye cover. Connect your vision and touch to what you were able to see and possibly hear.

  4. Record details in your journal.

  5. Reflect on how your different senses helped you notice what is happening with Spring.

Geometry Scavenger Hunt

  1. Create a Scavenger Hunt Page in your journal.

  2. Save a few blank squares for shapes you didn't think of or things you don't know yet.

  3. Take a walk through your ecosystem. As you notice things in nature that match your journal, add a description or name and sketch the real life object. Things could be living or non-living.

Investigate and discover

This week's activities will take the age group into a world of using senses, measurement, and observation to gather information about the changing of the season. Encourage your child to continue exploring play and creativity through their prior week's creations. If you are starting with this module, consider fort or fairly garden building from week two as a complement to this week's activities. Happy exploring!

Documenting Change Through Photos

There are many ways to document change during this time of year. One of the best ways is through time lapse photos.

  1. Choose an area of your yard where things are starting to grow. This could be grass, small plants, emerging flowers, or anything you think is beginning to change. Mark your location with a toy or object.

  2. With a parent's permission: Take a photograph from the top looking down on your object. Take a photograph from the side looking across at your object.

  3. Take the same photos for five days in a row.

  4. Reflect in your journal how the photos changed.

  5. Compile the photos into a collage that shows the changes you noticed over time. Share with us on social media using #backyardcrusade or email to bob@outdoordiscovery.org

Measuring Change

Measure Changes Over Time in Spring

  1. Choose a tree bud or plant that looks like it is ready to grow.

  2. Mark it with a tape tag or object you will remember.

  3. Measure your object each day using a tape measure using centimeters or millimeters for 7 days.

  4. Create a line graph in your journal over time to show how your object has grown.

Extension: Record the daily high temperature. See if your rate of growth increases as the temperature increases from day to day.

Read all about it

This link can take you and a parent on a dive into photography. Learn to take better pictures and have fun practicing outside.

This article and video gives a quick lesson on how to use your measuring device to record cm and mm. There is a video, some visuals, and instructions.

Spring Poetry Collection

Here you can read poems with your child about the changing of the seasons.

Dinner Discussion

  • How did your different senses increase when you closed your eyes or had on a blindfold?

  • What stuck out to you the most when you were using your senses to learn about spring?

  • What was the most interesting item you found when matching nature to geometric shapes? What shape did it represent?

  • What makes the metric system difficult in measuring? How could we all get better at it?

  • What changes are you noticing as you return to take your daily photos in nature?

Share with the world

  • Use #ODCbackyardcrusade to share your learning from this week on social media

  • Email a photo to bob@outdoordiscovery.org so we can share it with our community.

Ideas of What to Share:

  • Share a photo of an interesting geometric shape you discovered.

  • Share your photo collage of change you documented over time for the week.

Beyond The Crusade

  • Create a photo album of everything you have done in this collection. Share a photo with a family member you don't get to see as much right now and have a chat with them about why you took it and what it means to you.

  • Try writing your own poem about spring. Share it with a parent on social media.

  • Myth Busters! Research sense of smell in other animals. Do birds really have a sense of smell that they can tell if we touch their nests? We will answer this next week in a small video from our Bird Naturalist Mr. Jamie.