Expedition ABCs

Loving Expedition ABCs

With the weather so nice here in Florida, my daughter and I just want to spend as much time outside as we can.  Today, we decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood and work on our ABC’s.  Our goal was to try to find an object (preferably in nature) that begins with each letter of the alphabet.  Before we embarked on our alphabet expedition, I wrote each letter of the alphabet down in a notebook that we took with us to keep track of our goal.  My daughter was in charge of keeping track of letters that we needed to find, and I wrote down each object that we found next to its beginning letter.  Since the weather was cooler causing fewer animals to be found, it was more difficult to come across objects in nature starting with every letter of the alphabet.  Therefore, we allowed some items that were not natural; as long as they were found outside.  During our walk, any objects that were new to her, I explained, as well as expanded on information for items that interested her.

This is what we found:

A – acorn

Discovering beautyberries

B – beautyberry bush, birds, butterfly

C – car

D – dragonfly

E – earth

F – flower, fern

G – garden, grass

H – hole (dug by an animal)

I – insect

J –

K –

L – leaves

M – mammal, mushroom

N – nest, nuts

O – orange tree with oranges

"Where'd the pinecone come from?"

P – pinecone from a pine tree

Q –

R – rock

S – sand, squirrels, stick

T – tree

U –

V – vultures, vine

W – water, wasp

X – xeriscape

Y – yard

Z –

In charge of finding objects in nature

As you can see, we didn’t find all of the letters of the alphabet (and I was really disappointed we didn’t see a zebra longwing butterfly), but my daughter welcomed our walk with an educational purpose since it related to what she has been learning in preschool.  She enthusiastically took the notebook and started searching for objects as soon as we were outside.  During our walk, she learned new words such as Xeriscaping (which will probably be my go to “X” word during future walks).  Hopefully someday soon, after she’s heard the word several times and understands its meaning, she’ll be able to help me create a drought tolerant, Florida friendly garden for her to play in.  We also concentrated on the meaning of the word “yard.”  As a two year old, she doesn’t quite understand the concept of land ownership, so distinguishing one yard from another was a great exercise, as well as learning that she shouldn’t walk in other people’s yards unless she is invited.  She also discovered the many beautyberry bushes that are full of bright purple berries this time of year.  She hadn’t seen that color in nature on something that wasn’t a flower before.  We talked about how the berries are food for birds and small mammals.  And yes, mammals were on our list, although we only saw people, dogs, and squirrels during this walk.  We discussed how hair is a characteristic of mammals, which means we are mammals too.  As an added benefit to finding objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet, we also got to work on the sounds each letter makes all the while adding new words that were connected to tangible objects for her to store in her memory files of alphabet words.

Trying to write down one of her findings

As my daughter gets older and the seasons change, we’ll find other letters and new words during our ABC nature walks.  This can also become more of a game when the ABC’s are second nature to her as she begins to read and write (who can spot the most objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet?).  And each walk may be different as my daughter learns and notices new things in the neighborhood. 

This ABC nature walk can easily be adapted to any child’s age, so get out into your neighborhood and explore the ABC’s in nature.  Not only will your child grow his or her vocabulary, but he or she will also find something new, connect it with what is being learned in school, and develop a love of nature in a fun and energetic way.