Wonder in the Woods & A Seed Scavenger Hunt Activity

A Forest for Every Classroom, a beloved program for teachers, celebrates 25 years

In the middle of the forest, a group of detectives work to solve a mystery. With magnifying glasses in hand, they carefully observe a large wasp darting in and out of cavities in a dead standing tree, or “snag.”

“Who are you?” one detective asks the insect, pulling out their phone to take a video.

“What do you think it’s so busy doing inside the tree? Maybe laying eggs?” asks another. “Wow, I’ve never seen a wasp like this before!”

These “detectives” are Vermont teachers, on-site at Shelburne Farms for the professional learning workshop A Forest for Every Classroom. Nurturing a sense of wonder with the natural world is central to the program. Throughout the school year, teachers rekindle their relationship with the land, and consider strategies for helping their students do the same. They’ll learn in the woods and indoors, about topics from habitats to the forest economy, and in varied locations like Shelburne Farms’ 400 acres of forests and in the horse-drawn logging plots at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, VT.

“Our goal is that these teachers get students thinking about their relationship to land, and what kind of action students can take to support the future of this planet,” explains Courtney Mulcahy, a facilitator with Shelburne Farms. The program “plants seeds,” says Courtney, providing teachers with lessons, tools, and ideas they can implement right away in their classrooms. The program is offered in partnership with Marsh-Billings and the U.S. Forest Service, so conversations about public lands—their accessibility, protections, and their importance to wellbeing and democracy—are a big part of the program, too.

Though A Forest for Every Classroom has been running for 25 years, the curriculum shifts based on participants’ feedback and current events. At this year’s kickoff in early August, for example, the air was hazy with smoke from Canadian wildfires. “We’ll be talking about ways to address topics that can be overwhelming or daunting with our students in ways that are hopeful,” says Courtney. Participants spent time with Shelburne Farms woodlands manager Dana Bishop in the forest to talk management strategies and carbon sequestration, and heard from Forest Service wildlands firefighter Lindsay Rae Silvia about education resources, careers, and controlled burns. “I think showing students where things are working in our forests is crucial,” says Dana. “But protection does take action.”

If you’d like to experience your own moment of wonder in the woods, check out our Seed Scavenger Hunt activity below.

From Cultivating Joy and Wonder

This activity, which Forest for Every Classroom teachers did in the woods of Shelburne Farms, invites us to think about different types of seeds, and how they get where they need to go! “Any time we take kids into the woods, we look for ways of encouraging them to slow down and take their time exploring,” explains Courtney. “A scavenger hunt can be a great way to do that.”

View this activity as a PDF.

A few other tips from Courtney on immersing in the woods:

• Introduce yourself to the forest. “Say ‘hello’ before you enter, and offer a hello to who you meet along your journey. Try to walk slowly—if you do it right, you might see something really cool, like a deer or an owl!”
• Say thank you when you leave. “It’s a simple way of practicing gratitude for the gifts the land shared with us.”
• Collect with care. “If kids want to gather findings from the forest, I like to ask them: Is it dead? Is it down on the ground? And is it disconnected from other living things? Only if the answer is yes to all three will we consider moving it from where it lies.” You can also follow Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Honorable Harvest” rules, including, “Never take the first, never take the last.” For this scavenger hunt activity, you might re-use an egg carton to collect what you find!

This activity is originally from the Shelburne Farms publication, “Cultivating Joy and Wonder.” Visit our resource section to download a complete PDF.

A Forest for Every Classroom runs every other school year. To be notified when applications open for this and other professional learning programs, join our educator mailing list.