Outdoor activity ideas and inspiration

From mid-March to the end of May 2020, Harpswell Heritage Land Trust (HHLT) posted a simple outdoor activity idea and nature riddle for kids every weekday. Some days we also posted other resources, like downloadable chapters of the Junior Ranger Activity Book.

Created to support parents who found themselves homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic, these activity ideas are a great jumping off point for any outdoor adventure. Click here for a list with links to all 50 activity ideas.

Nature riddle

One of most common local sea birds is well known for his loud squawks and his willingness to steal food off your picnic table. Can you name it? Click here to read more about this bird.

Color hunt

As the weather gets warmer and the woods start to wake up again, you’re probably going to see a lot more colors outdoors than you could a few months ago when everything was covered in snow!

Why not go for a color hunt? To see how many you can find, try taking a handful of markers or crayons from your house in all sorts of colors. Pick some easier ones, like brown or green, and some harder ones, like orange or purple or blue, and some really hard ones, like silver or neon yellow or magenta. How many of the colors in your crayon box can you find outside?

You might need to get down very close to the ground to see. Look for colors in rocks, trees, flowers, lichen, shells, bugs, birds…anything! If you look closely, I bet you’ll be surprised by how many matches you can find. Did you find something new while you were looking?

This activity idea submitted by Emma Levy.

It’s Tick Season: Be Prepared

Click here to read an informative article about how to protect yourself from the diseases passed on my ticks.