Wild Time Learning has a variety of resources for both younger and older kids to engage with nature in focused ways. These short lessons give space for creativity from both the educator and the learner in how to proceed.

Nature’s Notebook’s Phenology Activity Book is a series of activities for kids aged 4-12 focused on observing phenology, which is seasonal or cyclic natural phenomena, in their time outside.

Sit-Spot Activity by Chewonki is a lesson that brings kids outside to sit and make observations about nature. This guided lesson can be repeated in the same spot and expanded into this Phenology Sit Spot Project in which students visit the same spot near their house daily to draw the changes they see. The thumbnail drawings make for a really fascinating comparison of how the spot changes as spring approaches.

Project Learning Tree has many activities for families that are based outdoors, mostly geared towards K-2nd grade. This lesson on bursting buds can be expanded upon with a dissection of the bud using this image as a guide.

Head to a nearby beach and do a beach scavenger hunt! You can design a board for your local species. Here is an example from the Blue Ocean Society for New Hampshire beaches.

EarthEcho has a host of various educational activities for families at home, ranging from regrowing food scraps (more info here) to using iNaturalist in outdoor explorations (if safe).

Learn about birding from Audubon – this guide leads parents through taking their kids birding, and it even includes a link to making your own cardboard binoculars!

While you are at it, make your own suet and see what kinds of birds come to your yard!

Use EcoMaine’s resources as a guide to doing an at-home waste audit! Now is a great time to track exactly how much waste your family produces as it will all be in one location, your home. This could be a great time to start composting as well!

Check out this Project Learning Tree lesson about birds called Sounds Around geared towards Pre-K through middle school aged students. This is a great time in Maine to listen for birds as spring nears! The lesson also contains some screen-based resources related to bird sounds.

Take a walk around your yard and use the Arbor Day Foundation’s What Tree Is That? guide to identify the trees in your area. Take some time to learn about what organisms these trees support and learn about your backyard ecosystem!

Project Learning Tree has compiled a list of 12 Nature Walk Activities for Earth Day. Take a seed collecting walk or learn how to measure trees!

Become a citizen scientist with the Signs of the Seasons project if you can access beaches along the coast that have rockweed!

Families in Nature’s Making Sound Maps is a wonderful article about engaging different senses while exploring outside. Pair this activity with the Bird Song Hero game and try to identify the different birds that you heard while making your sound maps.

Maine Audubon’s Spotting Connections Activity is a great guideline for exploring your backyard (or your house if it is raining) with kids in a scientific way! Make connections between the items you find – compare and contrast different types of pine cones or types of birds found in a field guide.

Make A Rain Gauge from Science Buddies is a great way to repurpose our recyclables that so many of us are not able to recycle right now as well as make the most out of the next rainstorm, in terms of learning! Make this simple rain gauge and compare rainfall over different storms – learn about intensity of rainfall and time of storms by utilizing local meteorological data in conjunction with your rain gauge.