Outdoor Treasure Hunt: Fun STEAM activity for kids - Parents' Toolkit

Time for you and your child to explore the wonderful world around you, get out and about, and see how many great things you can find!

This outdoor science activity, brought to you in partnership with the , is a great way to get your kids exploring science in nature.

Help them develop their observation and questioning skills, as they try to complete as many of these mini challenges as possible. Or why not create your own?

Here are the instructions for you and your child.

Kids running through the woods on a sunny day

You will need

A pen
Some paper
Your five senses
Your curiosity

Let's get started

Step 1

Treasure hunts are a great way to get to know the area around you.

Take our list as an example, or write your own and see how many objects you can find. You can take your time, or make it more of a challenge by setting a time limit.

Just by making these small observations, you can start to see the important role that science plays in our everyday lives.

Step 2

Stimulating the five senses is a great way of making links between what we experience with our different senses.

It’s through all of our senses that we make links between what we see, what we feel and what we hear.

Try going out and finding three different leaves. Draw the leaves and, inside the leaf, write words that describe how it looks, feels and smells.

Step 3

Experiencing the science of nature up close and personal is great for helping with the early understanding of scientific concepts.

Close your eyes and listen to all the sounds in nature. What can you hear?

While you're trying this activity, it's important to ask questions to try and engage their natural curiosity.

Why is this sound louder than the others?

What makes things noisy or quiet?

Which of these sounds are natural and which are man-made?

Step 4

If you could invent anything to help protect the natural environment, what would it be?

Get creative and plan a green invention by drawing a diagram, or even creating a prototype together.

If you are stuck for ideas, why not go out for a walk and let nature inspire you?

See if you can spot any objects that have been thrown away. Can you think of any ways to reuse them?

Top exploring tips for curious minds

Find different objects for each challenge
Look up, down and up close and see what you find
Work together as a team and talk about your choices
Write down or draw the different things that you find

The is a group of five museums across the country, whose focus is the history and contemporary practice of science, medicine, technology, industry and media.