Week 2 Nature Scavenger Hunt for Families

The first week has come to an end but it looks like lots of you have been having fun with your pictures. I have just returned home from four days of camping but I wanted to get this out as quickly as I could. I will add the tally's for this week to the facebook group page later tonight after we unpack.

I've decided not to post our photos to the facebook group since I am hosting but I still want to be able to participate with my girls. I will keep track of our photos here weekly at the end of each weekly update post...(see end of post for our photos this week).

I hope you enjoyed week 1 and don't worry if you didn't get a chance to upload many photos, or you didn't have a beach near you, or just didn't have time this week to participate...there are many weeks ahead to catch up. Feel free to complete as many tasks as you can but don't worry about falling behind as there are many weeks to go. Ready for week 2?

This weeks tasks are to be found while exploring the forest. Forests are wonderful places to explore and some of my best childhood memories include playing in the forest behind our house in rural Nova Scotia. Walking with me in the woods can be a pain for those accompanying me as I am continually stopping to to take a picture of a flower or a mushroom or a.... pretty much anything that catches my eye.

Here we go with week 2's tasks:
July 6th: A pine cone growing on an evergreen tree 5 points (5 bonus points if you can name the forest and state or province it is in)
July 7th: A tree with compound leaves 5 points (5 bonus points if you can identify the species of tree)
July 8th: A stream 5 points (5 bonus points if your picture has wildlife in it)
July 9th: A forest animal 20 points (5 bonus points if it is not a squirrel)
July 10th: Moss or lichen growing in the forest 5 points (10 bonus points if you can identify the species of moss/lichen)
July 11th: A fern growing in the forest (5 bonus points if you can get the ferns spores in the picture)
July 12th: An acorn or chestnut in it's natural surroundings 5 points (How many can you collect and get in your picture? 1 bonus point for each one in your picture up to 25)

WEEK 2 BONUS: A picture of someone climbing a tree 25 points

Don't forget about the overall bonus's which may be uploaded at any time during the 9 week period:
EXTRA bonus 1: A family portrait with a waterfall 25 points
EXTRA bonus 2: Discover a cave 50 points
EXTRA bonus 3: Make art with natures bounty 25 points
EXTRA bonus 4: Go camping... show us your favourite experience while camping 25 points
EXTRA bonus 5: Explore a hiking trail and share with us some of the wonderful natural things you saw while hiking 50 points
EXTRA bonus 6: Use natural items (rocks, sticks etc) to spell the word for how being in nature makes you feel 25 points
EXTRA bonus 7: A family portrait at either a National Park or a Provincial or State park. Let me know at least one thing you learned while at this park  100 points.

Have fun and enjoy your time exploring the forests around you. I look forward to seeing all your pictures.

Here are our pictures for week 1:

WEEK 1 bonus picture was to show how we enjoyed Canada Day outside in nature.

We took a boat ride down the river to the beach (Wasaga Beach (5) Provincial park beach in Ontario) and had a fun day enjoying the sun and the water and playing together at the beach.

Picture 1 for June 30th: A family portrait of participants

Our family picture was taken at Wasaga Beach 5 on Canada Day. Aayla made a flag by making a Maple leaf printed flag to take with us (my husband is in our portrait too but mainly it will be me and our girls participating in the nature scavenger hunt).

Picture 2  July 1st: A picture of a Maple leaf...(on the beach if possible) in celebration of Canada Day

Our little maple tree was found while camping this weekend on a little rocky beach along the Pickerel River in Ontario.

Picture 3 July 2nd: A picture of a beach

Our picture is at Wasaga Beach (5) Provincial Park in Ontario. Sierra is building a little sandcastle in the middle of a nice little warm pool she found.

Picture 4 July 3rd: A shell in it's natural surroundings

Ours is of a mussel shell laying just as it was washed ashore.

Picture 5 July 4th: Natures fireworks in celebration of Independence day for our US participants.

All week we were hoping for a beautifully coloured sunset but did not see one so we are using this picture of the sun setting over our camp fire with the sun rays exploding behind the tree line as it sets.

Picture 6 July 5th: An interesting rock at the beach and describe why we think it is interesting

Our rock we though was interesting because with a little imagination it looks like a puppy dog. Can you see the puppy by Aayla's feet as she steps down to get it from some other large rocks along the shoreline I will have a close up picture of the actual rock in our camping post when I get it done).

I am also going to include the EXTRA BONUS 4 go camping picture

Here is where we spent the last four days...it was so beautiful along the Pickerel River in Ontario. We loved this spot because we could do so much here. We enjoyed exploring around the camp site, watching wildlife, viewing new wildlife we have never seen before, cliff jumping, floating down the mini waterfall, swimming, fishing, canoeing.... I have so many pictures to edit for a post about everything we did!

We had a great first week with the scavenger hunt and I sure hope you are all enjoying your scavenger hunt too. Happy hunting!

And a big birthday wish to my mom whose birthday is today...Happy Birthday Mommy!!!