With signs of spring now all around us, it’s the perfect time to release our free ‘Spring Nature Hunt’ activity poster for children. We’ve highlighted 20 beautiful and fascinating things that children can look out for when outdoors during this wonderful season. The activity is a great excuse for children to get outside, open their eyes, and see some of the wonders that this season brings. When they take time to actively look, they can spot beautiful flowers like crocuses, snowdrops and daffodils blooming. Fascinating pussy willow buds and dangling catkins can be seen on country walks. Wonderful butterflies and bumblebees have started to arrive in gardens again, having been absent over the winter. Now spring is finally here, birds like house martins and swifts will also start to return to the UK skies — children will be able to watch them soaring through the air up high. Down on the ground, beautiful animals like lambs and baby rabbits are also sure to delight little ones during a nature walk. These are just a few examples of some of the natural things you can challenge children to look out for in spring and our free poster will be an excellent visual reference. So, why not download the free poster today, print it out for your children, and get closer to nature as a family? This nature-based activity is fun, educational, and really good for both children and adults — such is the power of the natural world!
Download Your Free Spring Nature Hunt Poster
Our free Spring Nature Hunt poster is downloadable below — simply click the preview image to either view or download (whether you left- or right-click will depend on your particular browser settings). Once downloaded and viewed in Acrobat Reader, the reference poster can be printed as large as A3 or as small as A4, A5, or A6 depending on your printer’s paper size. We suggest selecting the highest-quality settings and paper for the best results.
How Many Can Your Child Spot?
We’ve included little tick boxes, so family members can tick off each natural wonder as it’s spotted. Some, like bees, butterflies and daffodils, will be easier to spot than others. So, children get extra kudos if they spot a frog or frogspawn! For an extra element of fun, perhaps offer a prize, badge or sticker to the child who successfully spots and ticks off the most items on the nature hunt list.
Nature Activities are Hugely Beneficial to Children
Not only is today’s activity fun and educational, but spending time in and around nature is hugely beneficial to children — and adults! Study after study has found that it enhances cognitive function, bolsters sensory and motor skills, boosts creativity, and improves overall well-being. It’s a stress-buster. It leads to better awareness of environmental issues. Spending time close to nature even directly improves educational grades! Just a simple view of green outdoor spaces can do this — so it’s easy to see why nature is incredible and immensely important for children. These are just a few examples, so head over to our post about the importance of nature in early childhood here to learn more.
Get More Free Nature Activity Posters Here!
If you’d like to further encourage your child’s interest in nature and the outdoors, download additional free nature-based posters — available right here on this website. As well as today’s Spring Nature Hunt poster, we have one for a Winter Nature Hunt, an Autumn Nature Hunt poster, and others that introduce children to British butterflies, wild land mammals, birds, and minibeasts. Children love looking out for nature’s flora and fauna and the posters also make for attractive and educational displays on bedroom walls.
Nature at Little Acorns Nursery, Hindley Green, Wigan
Children love spending time outdoors in nature, so we give them ample opportunities to do so at Little Acorns Nursery in Hindley Green, Wigan. Our extensive grounds include wild areas, nature zones, and lots of outdoor spaces and facilities. There, children under five can explore, discover, and learn about the natural world in a safe environment overseen by our childcare professionals. They can then reap all the benefits that nature and outdoor play have to offer — and there are many! It’s just one of the many benefits of sending your baby, toddler, or child under five to Little Acorns Nursery. It’s a lovely home-from-home environment where every child is valued, nurtured, and encouraged to be the best version of themselves in every area of their learning and development.
If you would like to explore the opportunity of sending your child to Little Acorns Nursery in Hindley Green, get in touch today. We’d love to meet you and your child, show you around, and answer any questions.
Little Acorns Nursery is a high-quality childcare setting for children under five in Hindley Green, near Wigan. Our location may also suit families living nearby in towns and villages including Leigh, Atherton, Westhoughton, Ince-in-Makerfield, Platt Bridge, Bickershaw, Tyldesley, and Bolton.
Safety First!
Remember that children, particularly the youngest, will need to be supervised and accompanied when out in nature or on walks. There are many dangers out there and we’ll follow up with a separate post offering tips on child safety outdoors in due course.
Families, set your diaries for the wildlife event of the year, which happens this January from Friday the 24th to Sunday the 26th inclusive. It’s free, takes just one hour, and allows children and adults to be part of the world’s biggest garden wildlife survey. During the event, families and individuals across the nation simply count the birds they spot in the garden, park, local green space, or even balcony over the course of 60 minutes. The results of hundreds of thousands of these surveys are compiled by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to build a picture of the health of the nation’s bird populations. It’s important scientific and ecological work and children can become citizen scientists if they simply take part. Learn more about the Big Garden Birdwatch and how to take part in today’s guide for families with children.
Children will love being involved in this important nature-based activity. They’ll not only play their part in helping birds and nature, but they’ll also have fun and learn something along the way. They will discover some of the many wonderful feathered visitors who live in their neighbourhood and learn about some of the important issues affecting the natural world. They’ll begin to grasp the impact of humans on Britain’s flora and fauna and learn the importance of conservation and looking after the natural world around them. Through this endeavour, they’ll learn how they can make a positive difference. They will also become little citizen scientists! It’s fun, educational, and will give them a wonderful sense of achievement too. It may even change their outlook over the long term and help them think about their own impact on the planet, which is a wonderful outcome. And last but not least, 
Once the chosen time and date arrive, all you/your children need to do is monitor birds landing on your chosen patch. Count those that actually land rather than any flying otherwise there’s a danger that one bird could be counted multiple times. What you need to record for the survey, though, is the largest number of each bird species that have landed at any one time during the hour. So, for example, if you spot two blackbirds that have landed at the same time in the first half hour, but later in the hour you can see 4 that have landed at the same time, then you need to record “4” for blackbirds.
