Weather Scavenger Hunt

Asking what the weather is gives a one word answer. Asking for evidence of weather gives an hour.

The hunt

Print it, write it on a scrap of paper, or just read it out. It works either way.

1. Something the wind has moved

2. Something the sun has faded or dried

3. Something water has worn away

4. A place that is sheltered

5. A place that is exposed

6. Something that tells you which way the wind usually blows

7. Evidence of weather that happened before today

8. A plant that has adapted to the weather here

How to run it

Thirty minutes. Item six is the best on the list. Trees leaning, moss on one side, sand piled against one wall. The prevailing wind leaves a permanent record and children can read it once shown how.

Item seven takes it further. Erosion, old flood marks, dead branches.

For younger children

Four items. Wind, sun, water, and somewhere out of the wind.

For older children

Set up a simple weather station and record for a fortnight, then match the record against the evidence found. Do the observations predict the data.

What to do afterwards

Draw a map of the site marked with sheltered and exposed areas. It is genuinely useful for deciding where to sit and where to plant.

More like this

Every hunt on this site is free and needs no preparation. See the Start Here pages if you want them ordered by age.