This Trail Finding Scavenger Hunt is a Great Idea for Summer

Kids love scavenger hunts, and a hunt that gets them outside and helps them learn a little bit about navigating in the wild is extra fun.

This trail signs scavenger hunt idea from There’s Just One Mommy is a great one to do with a group or as a summer camp activity, but you can also set it up yourself instead of having two groups of kids do it.

The activity includes a printable with different trail marking symbols kids can make with sticks and rocks. One group of kids can collect the items and make the symbols to help the other group find a toy or another fun little treasure.

If you have a smaller group of kids you can set it up yourself, or have one kid set it up for the other(s) and then switch.

Or if you need it take less time, start with sticks and rocks already collected for the trail markers to start with.

I do want to note that this post is old and when I clicked on the link to download the trail signs printable I had to request access (which I did but haven’t gotten access yet) but the idea is still a good one.

Check out this post from Ranger Rick to find ways to mark trails (it includes a PDF of the basic trail markers that you can access). You could also buy this printable trail signs activity from Still and Made on Etsy that includes even more symbols you can try.

Either way, this is a great activity to do at a park or somewhere with a nice amount of space to direct people around. Check out the post from There’s Just One Mommy for more inspiration on how to do this activity.

[Photo: There’s Just One Mommy]

Johnny Appleseed Day is sometimes celebrated on Sept. 26 because that is John Chapman’s birthday, but even if you’re just doing an apple unit study for fall it’s a great time to talk about Johnny Appleseed.

And that’s the place to start, that Johnny Appleseed was a real person named John Chapman who was born in 1774 in what was then the province of Massachusetts Bay. He traveled west when he turned 18 and despite the image of him randomly tossing apple seeds everywhere, he was really a deliberate planter of apple tree nurseries, which he left in the care of others and checked on every year or two.

Learn a little more of his story with these cute coloring pages (though not entirely historically accurate, they’re still cute) from Homeschool of 1. They also have a Johnny Appleseed themed word search printable.

This pin of a Scholastic News page doesn’t link to a website, but it gives you some basic information and a true and false quiz you can use with kids.

Crystal & Co. has a cute apple themed counting mini book you can print and use with your Johnny Appleseed unit. They also have some coloring pages with a bit of handwriting practice. Or practice cutting with the Johnny Appleseed themed worksheets from 3 Boys and a Dog.

Make a Johnny Appleseed puppet to help tell the story with this craft with a free printable template from Simple Everyday Mom. You’ll also find some cute printable worksheets there to learn his story and put it in the correct order.

Color, cut out and assemble this Johnny Appleseed drawing from Homeschool Preschool. They also have an apple seed counting activity you can use for practicing one to one correspondence.

Tiaras and Tantrums has a free printable apple unit that includes Johnny Appleseed facts and coloring pages, as well as how to say apple in different languages, tracing apple vocabulary, art project ideas, science experiments and more.

And if you need more apple themed activities to go with your Johnny Appleseed celebrations, check out my posts on apple crafts and apple learning activities.

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