For this week’s Virtual Instant Challenge, Take a Hike, we’re heading outdoors for an alphabet scavenger hunt! Students will find and take photos of as many letters of the alphabet in nature as possible and challenge their friends or family members to do the same. Once they complete the challenge, continue the fun by having them print some of their photos to create a piece of art.
Challenge: Create an album of alphabet letters found outdoors.
Procedure: This is a two-part challenge.
Part 1: (Challenge a friend.)
- Connect with a friend or family member and challenge them to take a hike outside with a camera to look for letters of the alphabet.
- Decide how long you will “hike” collecting photos before connecting to score your alphabet pics.
- Talk to an adult to see if they will come along and use the camera if you are not allowed to use the camera outdoors by yourself.
- Share a copy of this challenge so your friend or family member will know the challenge too.
Part 2: (Take a hike.)
- Use a camera to collect photos of as many alphabet letters as possible found outdoors.
- Signs and labels do not count. The letters must be other places—in the grass, up in trees, along fences, anywhere! For example, a tree limb branches to make the letter “Y”.
- Zoom in and take a close-up photo of the alphabet letter.
- Use the downloadable checklist of alphabet letters to keep track as you photograph the letters.
- Watch the time and when time is up, call your friend to see if your friend is ready to score your alphabet photos. (You may decide that you need more time. Maybe an hour, or an entire day!)
- Once time is up, score your outdoor alphabet photos and see who has the highest score.
- For more fun, print and create something with your alphabet photos, such as a banner for your room, or let your imagination go wild as to how you can use them. (If you don’t have all the letters, ask your friend to send you some!)
Materials: Alphabet checklist (available in the full challenge copy below), pencil, camera
Scoring for the Builder:
A. 2 points (10 points maximum) for each different vowel photo
B. 2 points (40 points maximum) for each different consonant photo
C. 5 points (20 points maximum) for each different letter in your name
D. 30 points if you have all the letters to spell your friend’s last name
Reflection Questions:
- What possible uses can you think of to use the photo letters for?
- What strategy did you use when looking for the letters? Did you look for a certain letter or look until you found a letter?
- What was the easiest part of solving the challenge? What was the hardest part of solving the challenge?
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