The outdoor challenge this week in Travis’s summer workbook was to create a game using items found in nature. Not only was Travis up for the challenge, he requested an extra long nature walk to make sure we had enough materials, turning it into a fantastic opportunity to get outside.

First, he gathered up any items that caught his eye. Soon we had a collection of leaves, sticks, and two pebbles.

I laid everything out on a picnic table and challenged him to think of how he could combine the items into a game. At first he was at a loss. Lining up the sticks helped provide a bit of direction. Since there were two pebbles, it made sense that those would be our playing pieces.

Aha, now an idea was forming. With each turn, we could jump our piece forward over one stick. He still had to decide what we would do to earn that move forward. Looking around, he settled on spotting any animal or bug; the same animal could not be used twice.

Soon he was finding birds, butterflies, ants, spiders, and more. With each new creature, his stone jumped forward. He was delighted when he was ahead of me!

The first player to reach the leaf “jackpot” wins. I was so proud of him; this activity involved a bit of nature, a bit of creativity, and lots of problem solving. He truly came up with a game that can now be our family pastime almost anywhere outdoors!