I Spy in the Neighborhood

I almost always have my camera with me.  Yesterday, R and I took Kelly for a walk around the neighborhood and I took pictures of random things.  My plan for these pictures is to make color copies for C and R and take them out for a neighborhood scavenger hunt.

Here are just a few of the things that will be on the list (I have 33 items):

Why should you do this?  There are so many opportunities for learning here: 

• they have to pay attention to their surroundings, keeping their eyes open and looking for specific items
• I photographed a few street signs, and they will have to match the letters on the sign to the letters in the picture
• We will be counting - they might find the specific flag in the photograph, but for our purposes, we will keep track of every flag, every white fence, every sewer cover, every fire hydrant, etc. and make a tally mark on our papers for each one we find.  When we are finished, we will add up the tally marks.
• This is also a great way to learn about flowers or trees.  Take pictures of specific flowers, trees, etc. and count how many houses in your neighborhood have those specific varieties.  If you don't know what they are called, look them up on the internet.
• If your child is working on colors, you can make a sheet with patches of color and track how many red, orange, or blue houses, cars, flowers, or whatever you find in the neighborhood. 
• You can also use this for letter and number practice.  Type the alphabet or numbers on your page and keep track of letters or numbers you find in the neighborhood.  Which letter or number is found most or least?  Depending on the age of your child, you might want to start with just a few letters or numbers, or you can have a letter and number of the day and just look for those.

This will be fun for the whole family!  Your children will not even realize how much learning you are sneaking in during their play time!

I am linking this post to the Get Outdoors Challenge at 5 Orange Potatoes.  Head on over there and check it out!