Summer is a wonderful time of year when children can get outdoors to play, explore, discover, and enjoy the freedom of nature. It’s also a time of great abundance, with nature’s riches everywhere we look. Nature’s gifts can be beautiful, fascinating, educational, stimulating, and hugely enriching for little ones. Whether it’s a delightful butterfly flitting through the air, a super-cute bumblebee searching for nectar, or a patch of colourful wildflowers growing in a meadow, nature really is rather magical — and that’s especially so for young children. With that in mind, today’s Summer Nature Hunt activity encourages children to get closer to nature* to discover some of its many delights. When children and adults take time to properly look, nature’s wonders really are incredible. Our suggested activity today comes with a free, downloadable reference poster that highlights 20 wonderful things for little ones to look out for during the summer months. From caterpillars and dragonflies to winged seeds and slow worms, there is a lot for children to discover during this abundant time of year. A summer nature hunt will open their eyes and teach them about the natural world around them, as well as being a fun adventure — enjoy!
Summer — Dates
Summer in the UK is generally the warmest part of the year, but the exact dates vary from year to year depending on whether you are using the meteorological or astronomical calendar.
- According to the astronomical calendar, summer starts on Sunday 21 June for 2026 (the longest day of the year or ‘Summer Solstice’) and ends on Wednesday 23 September (2026’s ‘Autumnal Equinox’ when the day is the same length as the night). The exact date varies a little each year because the solstice and equinox sometimes fall on alternative days due to the Earth’s path as it travels around the Sun.
- According to the meteorological calendar, summer starts at the very beginning of June and ends at the very end of August every year. This particular calendar keeps things simple, using full months. It is used for such things as weather forecasting and, being based on full calendar months, allows scientists to more easily compare climate data from year to year.
Download Your Free Summer Nature Hunt Reference Poster
Download your child’s free Summer Nature Hunt reference poster below. Simply click the large preview image to view or download it in high-resolution Acrobat format. We recommend printing it out using your printer’s best settings and paper for the highest-quality results. Posters can be printed at A4 or even A3. For handouts for your child to take with them on a nature hunt, A4 or A5 may suit best. Children can use the little tick boxes to indicate which natural item they have seen during their excursion into the natural world. The activity combines a challenging quest with exploration, discovery, learning, and fun!
How Many Can Your Child Spot?
Can your child find a winged seed, like those from a sycamore tree? Perhaps show them how such seeds spin and travel, often long distances, when falling through the air on the wind — a great example of just one of nature’s magical tricks. Can your little one spot wildflowers, daisies or a wonderful sunflower? How about a bird’s feather, apples growing on a tree, or blackberries growing on a bramble bush? There are also lots of insects to find, such as bees, hoverflies, butterflies, mayflies, and dragonflies. Caterpillars are also fascinating and come in all manner of different forms, including some that are harder to spot if well camouflaged. Then, for the luckiest or most observant young nature watchers, the elusive slow worm is a wonderful creature to discover. Looking more like small snakes, they’re actually legless lizards. There are some birds on the reference poster too — ducks, the magnificent swan who majestically glides through the water, and the amusing sight of a sunbathing bird (rather than being injured, they’re simply warming themselves in the sun).
Nature is So Good for Children
Spending time close to nature is hugely beneficial to children — and adults, in fact. Studies have shown that it benefits people physically, mentally, and spiritually in a huge variety of ways. When little ones spend time in and around nature, stress and anxiety reduce, motor skills improve, knowledge grows, and empathy for other living things increases. What’s more, nature can benefit children and students academically. Indeed, some studies found that even just a view of nature or a natural space can improve academic grades — incredible! It’s a huge topic all on its own, so we wrote a whole article about it — learn more about the enormous benefits and importance of nature to children here. It’s also one of the many reasons why Little Acorns Nursery is starting its own Forest School sessions in and around Hindley Green very soon.
More Nature-Inspired Posters for Your Child to Download (Free)
Today’s Summer Nature Hunt activity is just one in a series of nature-inspired activities for children available here on this website. Each comes with its own free reference poster for children and families to print out. So, if exploring nature and learning about the natural world is something you want to encourage your child to do, visit our other nature-inspired activity suggestions today and download your free poster for each. Examples include an autumn nature hunt, winter treasure hunt, and spring nature hunt as well as activities for spotting British birds, minibeasts, mammals, and butterflies. Follow the bold links to learn more and access the free posters — or bookmark them today so you can come back later.
Forest School Sessions Near Wigan
from Little Acorns Nursery, Hindley Green
At Little Acorns Nursery in Hindley Green, we know how important nature and spending time close to it are for children and under-fives. That’s why we’re lucky to have such extensive outdoor grounds where the children can play, explore, discover, and learn under the watchful eye of our early years professionals. It’s also why we’ll provide Forest School sessions for our nursery children. Learn more about Forest School sessions coming to Little Acorns Nursery in Hindley Green, Wigan, here.
Little Acorns Nursery provides almost year-round nursery and preschool places for babies, toddlers, and children under five in and around Hindley Green, Wigan. We support funded childcare hours and places for eligible children and welcome enquiries from families looking for childcare provision in the area. Please get in touch using an option below to get started. We’ll be delighted to tell you more, show you and your child around, and begin your child’s enrolment.
If you are a family living in Wigan, Bolton, Atherton, Platt Bridge, Westhoughton, Bickershaw, Leigh, Ince-in-Makerfield, Tyldesley, or near Greater Manchester, Little Acorns Nursery in Hindley Green could make a very convenient choice for your weekday childcare. Contact us using one of the above options if you’d like to explore this further — we’d love to hear from you.
* Safety notice: Always ensure that children, especially the youngest, are supervised by a responsible and vigilant adult when they’re playing and exploring outdoors. There are many hazards out there!
Wherever you look, nature’s flowers and trees are bursting with life during spring and summer. This got us thinking about the many nature-based activities that are possible for children and under-5s to enjoy at this time of year — under appropriate supervision, of course. One of them is a simple leaf-hunting activity that’ll get little ones exploring the outdoors, enjoying the fresh air, having some fun, and learning about the natural world. With this in mind, we’ve put together a Leaf Scavenger Hunt reference poster for children and families. It can serve as inspiration for some common leaves to look out for during the warmer months of the year. The poster is free to download, right here today, and highlights 16 different types of leaves. Included are oak, sycamore, beech, lime and many more. Children will probably be familiar with some — especially oak leaves with their wonderful little acorns — while others may be unfamiliar. However, all of our examples were sourced on a single morning’s outing, so it’s feasible to find all 16 kinds with a bit of eagle-eyed persistence! So, download the poster for your children, print it out, and explore the outdoors to see how many of the 16 leaf types your little one can find. See if they can identify the differences which make each species of leaf/tree/plant unique — and learn their names if they can. The free identification poster and some help from an adult should help. Have fun out there!
Some of the leaves will be easier to identify than others. For example, Horse Chestnut (a.k.a. ‘conker tree’) leaves are quite distinctive with their fan of multiple sections (see the 2nd row, last image on the right on the poster for our example). In contrast, hazel and lime leaves are quite similar to one another. One easy clue to tell them apart is that lime leaves are slightly shiny, whereas hazel leaves are extremely matt. And, of course, they have very different seeds once those appear (the lime seed clusters are quite beautiful as you can see on the poster in the 3rd row, 2nd image from the right).
Another interesting factor to point out to children is that some of the leaves come in different colours. Beech leaves, for instance, can be green or deep burgundy, brown or dark purple depending on which variety of beech a child locates. It’s similar for acers, which can be green, yellow, red or a deep purple/maroon. Acers however, are more likely to be found in gardens and parks than in the countryside. Some are a little like miniature sycamores, only rather more delicate and fancy! And, come 
This activity is a great opportunity for children to open their eyes to the natural world. By looking at nature more deeply, they’ll see the finer details that may have been overlooked. Nature is incredibly varied and interesting when you take the time to look closely and discover it properly. It’ll teach children about the natural world, the seasons, the changes in plants and trees at different times of the year, the circle of life, and so much more. Getting out, close to nature, is also incredibly beneficial to children. From busting stress, improving well-being, supporting the EYFS and boosting exercise, to improving concentration and even academic grades, 
Once children have collected them, leaves can inspire various other creative activity ideas for children. For example, has your child ever tried leaf rubbing (putting a leaf under paper and scribbling over it to reveal the leaf structure), leaf pressing (pressing leaves between pages of a heavy book to allow them to dry and flatten), or leaf printing (painting a leaf with paint then pressing it onto paper to offset the leaf’s form as an image)? These are just a few examples of the 
