Daisies
STEM
Daisy Shapes in Nature Activity
Search for Shapes in Nature
Count shapes hiding in all parts of nature on an exciting scavenger hunt.
Activity Details
Time needed: 25–35 minutes
Materials needed:
- Shapes Tally Chart (meeting aid PDF)
- Photos of Natural Objects (meeting aid PDF)
- Access to an outside or indoor space to look for natural objects OR photos and/or videos of nature
- Pencil
Setup:
Nature is full of beautiful things. You can find rainbows. You can search for flowers. You can look for leaves. Natural objects are things from nature. These include plants, animals, mountains, lakes, sand, planets, and rocks.
Shapes are important in math. They’re everywhere. You can find them in all kinds of things. When you search for shapes, you can take field notes. Field notes are when people go out in nature and write about or draw what they see. You can draw and make tally marks for shapes, too. Tally marks are lines to track what you see. You can count your tally marks to find out how many natural objects you saw in total.
Activity:
Look at the “Types of Shapes” on the Shapes Tally Chart. Do you know what all of the shapes are? Ask an adult to explain any shapes you don’t know.
Then look at the Photos of Natural Objects. What shape do you see in each photo? Some objects have more than one shape. It depends on how you look at them. For example, from the side, the stem of a plant looks like a rectangle. From the top, it looks like a circle.
Next, choose where you want to search for natural objects. Will you look outside, search indoors, or find shapes in a video? You can go outside with an adult or look out the window at nature. You can look for natural objects indoors, like pets, house plants, fruits, and eggs. You can ask an adult to help you find a nature video or webcam to watch.
Then search for natural objects for 15 minutes. When you find one, look for shapes in it. Draw the natural object you see next to the shape on the Shapes Tally Chart. Make a tally mark in the box next to the drawing. Can you find at least one natural object for each shape on the chart? Remember that a natural object can have more than one shape!
When you’re finished, add the tally marks for each shape. Count the tally marks in each box. Write the number next to the tally marks. Then add up the numbers in the boxes or count all the tally marks. That will be the total number of all the shapes you saw.
Look at your final chart: which shapes did you find? Which shape did you find the most of? Which shape did you find the least of? Did you find any natural objects with more than one shape?
For more fun: What other shapes can you find in nature? Maybe a star? Or a crescent like the moon?
Download the Badge Requirements.
Troop Leaders: The instructions for all badge steps are available free of charge in your Girl Scout Volunteer Toolkit.
Girl Scout Activity Zone activities have been adapted from existing Girl Scout programming.
Adapted from Step 1 of the Daisy Shapes in Nature badge. Purchase the official badge booklet to complete all requirements and earn the badge.
Made possible by a generous grant from Johnson & Johnson.
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