Junior Ranger: Stretch Your Senses Scavenger Hunt

Whether it's walking to the kitchen or navigating a trail at a local park, our senses help us label all the things around us. How? Sit on your bed and think about what is around you. Your brain labels it: floor, ceiling, closet, door, clothes, blanket. Those labels are part of our memory that helps us move around in the world.

Move to a different place. Our brains label things automatically when we experience new things. We do this using our senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Some people rely on some senses more than others. If you could not see, then how do you label what is nearby? What senses can you use to label things if you can't hear? How could you label different foods if you could not taste? or smell? And some people cannot feel textures or temperatures - how would their labels be different?

Here is a scavenger hunt that's a bit tricky!

Try to think of all the ways you could answer each question using more than one of your senses.

Here's an example: Think of the word hard. What does that mean? Hard as a rock? Hard to push? Hard like a really difficult math problem? Is it something heavy or sticky or something you don't like? It can mean many things.

Try and think of a different answer for each of the questions, or think of as many possible answers as you can!

Scavenger hunt instructions:

Using any method you choose, create answers for the questions. How? Record a story about your adventure, make a map with clay, take pictures and make a collage, create a play that includes all the things you found, make a poster to announce your discoveries, or even write a song that tells everyone about your experience.

Things to find:

• A round thing with many colors
• Something so soft that you almost didn't find it
• A bridge between two places
• Something that has too many parts to count
• Exactly 14 of something
• Something louder than loud
• A cloudy day (with or without rain)
• A puzzle or a mystery
• Something that makes you very very sleepy
• A way to find your way back to start

Wrap up:

What was the most difficult thing to find?
What was the easiest?
Which one made you think the most?
Which one had the most answers?

Make sure you find a way to share what you created with someone. Well done!

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