Forest Trip Guide

5. Forest Game: The Un-nature Trail

Observation is a skill – and most children don’t have it. They race along without noticing what is about them. This popular game is easy to set up and really helpful in improving the observation powers of children (and grown-ups).

You will need:

A bag of clues – up to 20. The clues must be non-natural, such as pegs, rope, a detergent bottle, coat hanger, plastic ornament, felt tip pen and juice drink box.
A written and numbered list of the clues
A length of forest track – 40 metres or more
Ten minutes without the children to set up the trail

Walk along the track putting clues on either side so they can be seen without going off the track. Put the clues in the numbered order or it may be hard to find them again. Put some clues on the ground, some (like the string) entwined in the bushes, some (like the coat hanger) up high to encourage children to look at every level. Make some easy and some hard to spot.

Line up the children and let them walk slowly and quietly along the track, looking for and counting the non-natural clues they see – but not pointing or telling each other. You wait at the track end, where the children, without talking to each other, can either tell you the number of things they found or they may like to write down all the clues they saw.

When all the children have finished the walk, run through the master list, with the children telling you what they found. More than half found is good, more than three quarters is very good.

When you have finished walk back down the track together and retrieve the clues.

This game is great fun and teaches the children to really LOOK. Explain how they can now use their looking skills on the forest walk.