Friday

Science Sunday: Photo Scavenger Hunt Hike


Today, our field trip left us...
...smiling.

We hiked the rather tame...
...Sugarlands Valley Trail
of the Great Smokey Mountains.

I have grown up in the shadow of the
Great Smokey Mountains,
and yet I believe I have only hiked a handful
of its trails.

I do NOT want my kiddos to ignore this beautiful creation
(as I have been guilty of),
so I am going to make more of an effort
to get us hiking.

Now, my kiddos are still in the "young" category,
so the hike we did today was perfect.

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To increase the educational value of this field trip,
I created a photo scavenger hunt for the kiddos.
I put together a checklist for each kiddo
of natural items for them to look for.

When they found one of the items,
I would take a picture of it for them.
Here's a pine cone...
...an insect...
...a "worm"...

(or some kind of caterpillar-
not sure -
but it "passed" for the checklist)

...and a "mushroom."

(NOT a mushroom, but this was
closest thing we could find!)

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We also discovered many other
"treasures"
not on the checklist...

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Since we scared off all the mammals and birds
that we needed to find on the checklist...
...we went to the Sugarlands Visitors Center
to take a gander at the exhibits in the small museum.
We saw several mountain mammals...

...and birds, too!

*************************************************

Again,
this field trip just left us
smiling!

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For more Science smiles,
head on over to
Science Sunday...

2 comments:

  1. There is a super cool book with scavenger hikes in the smokies...I think it's even called that! There is one that takes you up one of the Greenbrier trails where you see a handmade rock wall, the remains of a fire place from a house, a Model T car....there's a lot of historical value to the hikes too! I found my copy on half.com...but I think you can find it in local bookstores too. I used to have it right here at my desk and now I don't....I'll try to remember when I stand up to look up the title and author! haha....always a debatable occurrence!

    ~Ann

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  2. So funny- I BOUGHT that book at the Welcome Center after the hike! You are right- it looks WONDERFUL!!!

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