Summer has arrived and kicked-off the season with a record-breaking heat wave here in the PNW. Even as the AC blasts and we look for ways to relax, the natural world’s energy is contagious. Summer is a time of heightened productivity for plants and animals. Have you been watching them?
This Spring I took time each day to observe two of my neighbors, a pair of Scrub Jays, as they carefully selected twigs to build a nest right near my Sit Spot. I watched them raise their young and it was such great fun to sit, still and quiet, watching one or the other protect the nest by ferociously chasing and attacking another neighbor, the Gray Squirrel.
Now, I await and hope to see the fledglings as they fly off the nest for a Summer of growing up and surviving to make their own nests next year. I will keep visiting my Spring Sit Spot all through Summer, staying in tune with Mother Nature’s joyous melodies.
And just as Summer is the time for nature to produce, you too can tap into this energy. There are many ways to tune into the season’s natural energy, and I’ve created a Summer Scavenger Hunt to get you started.
By looking for signs of nature, you’re building the habit to pay attention to life’s little clues. As you do, listen with an open mind as you find some area in your life to expand and enhance.
May your Summer be relaxed and rejuvenating,
~Lexie
Click Image to Download Free printable PDF of Summer Scavenger Hunt Activity
Nature Break Tip: A Summertime Scavenger Hunt
Use the following activities to spark your curiosity and energize your awareness as you look for signs of Summer to tune into the season’s vibrant and uplifting energy.
#1: Listen to the language of the birds. Baby birds with their scruffy voices begging loudly at poor mothers for food. Angry squawks of males protecting territory and nests. Soft coos of contentment or nearby conversations. And the lovely mating calls and aerial displays of courtship. It’s all a wonderful show to savor and enjoy.
#2: Look closely at the flowering plants as their fertilized seeds begin to swell and ripen. Plants have developed very interesting methods to successfully disperse their seeds: cones, pods, berries, cattails, burrs, wind catching fluff. Make a collection throughout the summer of these different forms to appreciate their diversity of forms.
#3: Fill a vase with as many different types of grasses you can find to enjoy the graceful differences of how they display their seeds. Try making a quick sketch of each one.
#4: Pay attention to the little crawly animals. Can you find a beetle, a caterpillar, or capture a butterfly or moth? Watch a slug or snail make its way up and over everything. Find an ant nest and watch their industriousness. Find and study a spider making a web. Put your eyes close to the ground and search for tiny creatures moving in the grass or leaf litter. All little crawly things are not always insects. Find out what they are.
#5: Listen to the songs different trees make as the wind blows through them. Notice how each type of tree has its own characteristic dance in the wind. See who lives there, and how the wind might affect them.
#6: Pay attention to the position of the sun at sunrise and sunset, notice how it moves from it’s furthest northern point.
#7: Explore what summer smells like? Ripening fruit, fresh cut grass?
#8: Feel the heat of summer. Notice how the sun feels as you step out of the shade, the soft brush of a summer breeze or the cool luxury of resting on the grass. What are the different sensations of summer?
#9: Make sure to experience, with all your senses, the coming of a summer storm. Describe it, how you felt and what your senses told you.
About the Author
Lexie Bakewell is a lifelong naturalist, artist, and retired homeschool teacher. She is the co-author of Coyote's Pocket Guide and Curious Coyote and is the in-house nature education and homeschooling expert at ZieBee Media.
