Things to collect on a nature walk

Nature walks are lovely outdoor activities for children. We are always looking for family walk ideas, things that will stop the kids complaining they are bored on our walks. Things to collect on a nature walk is always a winner around here. You can keep it simple as you like or make it a little bit different. Find a full list of things to collect on a walk below as well as a few more creative ideas.

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Things to collect on a nature walk

There are many ways you can get your children to collect nature on a walk. These kinds of scavenger hunts are always great things to do on a walk with kids. You can keep it simple and let your children collect whatever they like or make it more challenging by asking them to find specific things.

You could give them a bag, basket or even an egg box and ask them to collect things that you can use to create easy nature art when you get home or to use in various other nature craft activities. We also use natural loose parts in our mud kitchen and for outdoor learning. Find some great summer art activities here.

Before we start, it’s important to mention that you should only collect fallen leaves, sticks, flowers etc. Do no harm so that you and everyone else can continue to enjoy the beautiful wildlife.

Why not print out one of my nature walk scavenger hunt free printables and try that on your next walk.

List of things to find on a walk

If you’re looking for ideas, here are some things that you might be able to collect on your next walk.

• Sticks – by far our favourite thing to collect. Kids love sticks. I even wrote a post with ideas for 30 fun things to do with sticks.
• Pinecones – another great free natural craft material. How about using them with play dough and making hedgehogs?

• Leaves. Fallen leaves are easy to collect even for toddlers. How about asking them to find 5 different coloured leaves or 5 different types of leave. They’re also great for taking home to paint like in this autumn process art activity.
• Acorns
• Conkers – Wondering what to do with all your autumn treasures? You need my autumn activities for preschool post.
• Helicopter seeds

• Stones. Why not take some home to paint?
• Shells, the ultimate things to collect on a trip to the beach
• Drift wood
• Seaweed
• Fossils if you’re really lucky

• Wildflowers (never pick flowers from other people’s gardens, parks etc and don’t pick protected wildflowers like bluebells. We only ever take a few. Leave more than you take.) Once home why not try making these beautiful gelatine flower suncatchers.
• Moss
• Feathers

Creative ways to collect nature on a walk

You could simply give your child a list of things to collect on a nature walk or you could try one of these different ways. They are still all about collecting nature but they add a creative element to it. Sometimes they even add a competitive element too if you have more than one child to entertain.

Matchbox challenge

The idea of this challenge is for your kids to find as many small items as they can fit into a small matchbox. Just one rule, no living creatures. Once you get home empty the boxes out and see who has fitted the most items in. Who has found the most interesting item?

 Nature weaving

I saw this gorgeous idea on one of my favourite blogs for nature crafts, Little pine learners. All you need it some cardboard and some rubber bands or string/wool.

Create a journey stick

We love to creating journey sticks on walks. They’re a really fun way to collect things on a walk. All you need is a stick and some wool or string to tie your nature finds to your stick as you walk.

Go find it cards

Why not make collecting nature into a game using a set of go find it cards. We love our set and use them regularly on walks.

What is you child’s favourite thing to collect on a nature walk?

Things to do with the nature you have collected

You can use nature in activities like this We’re going on a bear hunt small world activity.

Find more ideas here – nature activities for kids

More great ways to get kids outside

• Find 100 ideas for things to do outside with kids here.
• If you’d prefer things to spot on a walk rather than collect you’ll love my post of things to find on a walk with ideas for scavenger hunts, geocaching, orienteering, bug hunting and more.
• Find my free winter scavenger hunt printable here.
• Find more Nature activities for kids here.

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