Skip to main content

The Great Habitat Hunt

Explore local habitats, uncover wildlife clues, and discover how nature is connected.

Back to Activities

You’ll need

  • Pens or pencils
  • Clipboards
  • Habitat hunt challenge sheet
  • A way of recording what groups find
  • Map
  • Identification guides (optional)
  • Phones or cameras (optional)

 Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help. 

Planning and setting up the activity

  • Create a list of habitats, species groups and wildlife groups that you might find in your local area.  
  • Create a challenge sheet with a list of things teams can find. Here's some examples:
    • A pollinator at work
    • An animal home or shelter
    • A seed being dispersed
    • A food chain in action
    • Three different tree species
    • A habitat that provides food
    • A habitat that provides shelter
    • A sign of seasonal change
    • Human impact on nature
    • A species adapting to its environment 
  • Everyone will be working in small teams, and will need a map and a way of recording what they find. Teams should record their discoveries using notes, sketches, photographs, or descriptions. 

Running the activity  

  1. Gather everyone together and explain that naturalists learn about the world by exploring habitats and observing how living things interact. 
  2. Challenge teams to find as many items from the challenge list as possible within the time limit. 
  3. Teams should record their discoveries using notes, sketches, photographs, or descriptions. 
  4. Encourage teams to explore different habitats and look closely at the natural world around them. 
  5. Award points for each challenge completed. Bonus points can be awarded for unusual discoveries, accurate identification, or evidence of connections between species and habitats. 
  6. Halfway through the activity, introduce a bonus challenge, such as finding evidence of an ecosystem service like pollination, decomposition, or seed dispersal. 
  7. Once the time is up, bring everyone back together. 
  8. Ask each team to share their most interesting discovery and explain why it caught their attention. 
  9. Total the scores and celebrate everyone's findings. 

Reflection

Naturalists learn by observing the world around them. Ask everyone to think about what they discovered during the activity. Which habitats supported the most wildlife? Were there any surprises? How do different plants, animals, and habitats depend on one another? 

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Visits away from your meeting place

Complete a thorough risk assessment and include hazards, such as roads, woodland, plants, animals, and bodies of water (for example, rivers, ponds, lakes, and seas). You’ll probably need more adult helpers than usual. Your risk assessment should include how many adults you need. The young people to adult ratios are a minimum requirement. When you do your risk assessment, you might decide that you need more adults than the ratio specifies. Think about extra equipment that you may need to take with you, such as high visibility clothing, a first aid kit, water, and waterproofs. Throughout the activity, watch out for changes in the weather and do regular headcounts. 

Outdoor activities

You must have permission to use the location. Always check the weather forecast, and inform parents and carers of any change in venue.

Gardening and nature

Everyone must wash their hands after the activity has finished. Wear gloves if needed. Explain how to safely use equipment and set clear boundaries so everyone knows what’s allowed.

Animals and insects

Be aware of the risks before interacting with animals. Be aware of anyone with allergies, and make alternative arrangements for them.

Online safety

Supervise young people when they’re online and give them advice about staying safe. Take a look at our online safety or bullying guidance. The NSPCC offers more advice and guidance, too. If you want to know more about specific social networks and games, Childnet has information and safety tips for apps. You can also report anything that’s worried you online to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command. As always, if you’ve got concerns about a young person’s welfare, including their online experiences, follow the Yellow Card to make a report.

  • To make it easier, focus on common species and habitats and provide picture clues. 
  • To make it harder, ask teams to identify species relationships, estimate biodiversity, or explain the role a species plays within its ecosystem. 

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Explorers Nature Activity Badge