Grin N' Bear It

This last month we were able to spend a fabulous week up in Grand Teton National Park and Island Park (just outside of Yellowstone) with my brother and his family! It was so fun! We have boys just about the same age and they are such good buddies! Since we were camping a few of the nights and spending time in the beautiful outdoors, my sister-in-law Caitlin and I decided to plan some fun nature/forest animal activities for them to do while we were up there. 

So I thought I'd share some of these cute ideas that you can do to spice up your camping trip or use for a Forest or Nature-themed Unit. 

Paper Binoculars

These little guys LOVED their paper binoculars and played with them for hours! They were perfect for "spotting wildlife" on a little hike we took. Get instructions on how to make these HERE at andweplay.com! 

Haha, they are such goofballs!

I spy...

Nature Scavenger Hunt

Caitlin put together the cutest little scavenger hunt. She taped a key of things they were supposed to look for onto a paper bag and then the boys could put some of the things they found in the bag.  Her list included things like a pinecone, a leaf, a flower, a rock, a twig, etc. And also some things like animals tracks, a deer, a spider web and so on. 

Click  Here  or Here for some suggestions (and printable versions) of a nature scavenger hunt. 

These boys crack me up!

They were pretty excited about all the things they found. 

Painted Rocks

The boys had fun painting some rocks. You could also paint walking sticks, pinecones or something like that!

Forest Learning Activities

I used ateachingmommy.com to print out some cute forest-themed activities for them to do too to practice counting, sorting, etc. 

 Bear Toast 

This makes an awesome breakfast, lunch or even snack! Just spread a piece of toast with peanut butter to make a face, then use banana slices for a snout and ears and raisins or blueberries for eyes and a nose. 

 Bear Masks

We made bear masks for the boys to wear after reading some of our favorites books about bears (see below).  

Grizzly Discovery Center

For a fun outing we visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone to get an up close and personal look at some real life grizzly bears and wolves! 

We got to pet some real bear fur :)

Dad of the Year right here!

Bear Books

We read some fun books about bears too. 

Some other fun camping books:

So often we go places but we don't stop to really SEE and LOOK! I think the best part about doing these activities was how it got our boys thinking about and noticing their surroundings. 


xoxo
Annie