Instructions
Head outside to your backyard, a local park, or on a nature walk. Try to find as many of the 10 items on the list below as you can. When you find one, check the box next to it and read the cool science fact!
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☠A Smooth Stone
Fact: A stone gets smooth from tumbling around in water, like a river or the ocean. This process is called erosion, and it can take hundreds or even thousands of years to wear down the sharp edges!
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☠A Feather
Fact: Feathers are made of keratin, the same material as your hair and fingernails! Tiny hooks called barbules zip the parts of a feather together, making it strong but lightweight for flight.
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☠A Pinecone
Fact: Pinecones are clever protectors of seeds. They open their scales in dry weather to release seeds and close them up when it's damp to keep the seeds safe from moisture.
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☠A Leaf with Veins You Can See
Fact: Those lines are a leaf's veins. Just like the veins in your body carry blood, a leaf's veins are tubes that carry water and sugary food to all parts of the leaf.
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☠An Insect with Six Legs
Fact: To be a true insect, an animal must have three things: six legs, three body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), and a pair of antennae. That's why spiders, with their eight legs, are arachnids, not insects!
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☠A Spider Web
Fact: Pound for pound, a strand of spider silk is five times stronger than steel! It's also incredibly stretchy, which helps it catch flying insects without breaking.
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☠A Patch of Moss
Fact: Mosses are ancient plants that don't have true roots. Instead of drinking through roots, they act like a sponge, soaking up water and nutrients directly through their tiny leaves.
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☠Something a Bee Would Like (like a flower)
Fact: Bees are important pollinators! They are attracted to brightly colored flowers (especially blue and yellow) and sweet smells. As they drink nectar, they carry pollen from one flower to another, helping plants make seeds.
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☠A Twig with a Bud
Fact: A bud on a twig is a protected, undeveloped part of the plant. Inside that small package is a brand new leaf, flower, or shoot, just waiting for the right time to grow!
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☠A Seed or Seed Pod
Fact: Seeds are amazing survival pods that contain everything a new plant needs to start its life. Some seeds fly on the wind (like a dandelion), while others hitch a ride on animal fur (like a burr).
Answer Key
This is a discovery scavenger hunt, so the answers are all the wonderful things you found in nature! The goal is to observe the world around you. Great job exploring!