Elementary School - Off Campus Outdoor Activities

Here are some cool outdoor ideas to try with your Elementary student!

• We want to see your outdoor activities and adventures! Email photos and anything you’ve done pertaining to the outdoors to arogers@silverdaleba.org or sgreene@silverdaleba.org. We may share them on our SOAR Outdoor Ed Facebook page! Silverdale SOAR Facebook Page

• Birding: Spend some time outside and see how many birds of Tennessee you can find. Use this resource to help identify the birds you find: 100 Common Birds of Tennessee Bird Call App Birding Guide

• Got a five-gallon bucket? Let's simulate the amount of freshwater available on earth. Water Quantity Activity for 4th & 5th Graders

• With all the rain we are getting in our area, let’s use it for a cool study. Rainfall around the world: If you have a rain gauge, set it out for a certain amount of time. Do a little research so you can compare and contrast how much average rainfall we get to other parts of the world. If you don’t have a rain gauge, here is a link on how to make one and some cool rain studies to do: Click here for How to Measure-Rain link

  • INaturalist fun: 4 years ago, we introduced SBA to the INaturalist app when we had our first school wide bioblitz (study and identification of all living things on campus). Download the app and have a bioblitz in your yard or another place you have access to. Snap a photo (through the app) of all the organisms you find (plant and animal) and get them identified and get them placed on the world wide INaturalist map. Click here for iNaturalist App

  • Here is a neat activity to do if you're caught inside due to bad weather. Watch this short video and try to identify all the critters by their specific name. There are over 20! YouTube video of a Pennsylvania log critter crossing camera

  • A cool video about the benefits of Outdoor Education: Click Here

  • SBA has its own weather station! You can check the weather at the school, even if you're not here.

  • More bird watching! Our local Wild Birds Unlimited Store is taking orders and doing curb service. Use info from the previous activities to continue birding. Also you may want to buy or make your own bird feeders. The food will help you get some great photos to share with us. Check out the local store for products and ideas at: Chattanooga Wild Birds Unlimited

  • Want to try the Bucket Tug of War Game” that Seymour beat Coach Rogers in?

Items needed: (2-4) five-gallon buckets, (1-2) 15-20′ ropes if 2, then tied in the middle, 2-4 participants

How to play: Have participants stand on the five-gallon buckets that have been turned upside down and place one end of the rope in their hands. Have them tighten up on the rope so there is no slack. For safety, it might be a good idea to have spotters around each participant. Some students are hard core (especially older students) and don’t want to lose so they will likely hold on to the rope while they dive head-first into the ground. Last participant still standing on their bucket wins!

• • Can’t go outside today? Set up a world-watching window. Bring the outside in. Many of us don’t have the option of hiking or spending time in the backyard. Find a window view or other view designed to induce feelings of deep relaxation, awe, and vitality. Air and light pollution prevent two-thirds of the U.S. population and more than half of Europe’s population from seeing the Milky Way with the naked eye. But if your family is lucky enough to live where the stars are visible, stargaze in the evening or very early morning. With your kids, locate a few key constellations and orient to those. Other world-watch window activities can include cloudspotting, bird-watching, and more. Keep handy: a nature notebook, field guides for birds and stars, binoculars, a telescope, a digital camera with a telephoto lens, and maybe even a sound recorder to capture the sounds of the natural world. Other ways to bring the outside in: Indoor plants, as many as possible, will help. Especially native species. No plants? Send for seeds, especially for native plants if you can find them, and make an indoor garden in your apartment or house. Also, keep learning about nature.

  • Want to go on a tour of a National Park? Click Here

  • Plant a family or friendship tree, or adopt one. Nurturing nature is a positive action to take wherever you live. Adopt or plant a tree to help mark important family occasions—a holiday, a birth, or marriage. Every week, check your adopted tree or shrub and note any changes. Make bark rubbings using crayons and paper. Make a digital adoption notebook with photos, videos, and observations. Plant its seeds. To get started, visit Project Budburst or Nature’s Notebook, and set up an account for your adopted tree or shrub. Acts of caring for others and nurturing nature build psychological and spiritual resilience at a time when children and adults most need it.

  • Got dirt? Set aside a piece of ground in the backyard for kids to dig in. Research suggests that children strengthen their immune systems by playing in the dirt—and weaken those systems by avoiding dirt.

    • • • Here are some good outdoor activities to do at home. Pick a few out and send us your thoughts and pictures. Have fun! Click here for outdoor activity ideas

  • April 22 is Earth Day and 2020 is the 50th year of Earth Day! Click here to learn more from the National Park System.

  • Kellogg Gardens offers free ebooks for download. Click here for your free guide to Earth Day activities and 10 Garden activities for kids!

  • It has been a great year for outdoor learning on our campus! Enjoy a few photos of our students in preschool through high school learning in the outdoors, participating in creative play, and doing schoolwork outside. Creation is the best classroom! Click here for the Facebook link

  • Click here for 100 backyard studies for your student!

  • How about some Dandelion jelly? Give it a try and let us know how it tastes! https://www.homestead-acres.com/how-to-make-dandelion-jelly/

  • Here are some fun pollinator-themed activities! https://www.pollinator.org/parents-and-kids

  • Check out this free virtual marine biology camp for kids! Click here

  • Our Director of Outdoor Education Al Rogers helped Seymour put together a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers for Mama Seahawk, and they want you to know that you can do the same! See video below!

• • • Here are some resources on how to pick wildflowers:

    • 9 Tips For Wildflower Hunting: https://www.ecowatch.com/9-tips-for-wildflower-hunting-1881…

      • Tips For Picking Wild Flowers: https://celebratingeverydaylife.com/tips-for-picking-wild-…/

      • How To Pick Flowers: https://www.wikihow.com/Pick-Flowers

• • Tree identification and how they are used: Spend some time outside and see how many different trees you can find. Use these resource & others you may find to help identify the trees and their uses: Identifying Common Tennessee Trees and tree poster: