Schoolyard Palette: Six Shades, Nothing Picked

Each group gets a card with six shades of greens, browns, and other natural colors and must find them on school grounds without picking anything, marking each spot on a map. Then another group checks the finds by following that map.

How to play

1. Explain: find natural things matching each color sample (leaf, bark, moss, soil, flower) and mark the spot with its number on the map (2 min).
2. Groups search at a brisk walk inside the boundaries; you may only touch things already on the ground, and you leave them where they were (8 min).
3. Swap maps: each group goes to the spots marked by another group and checks whether the color matches (7 min).
4. Back at the meeting point, talk it over: which shade was hardest, and what living things did you see? (3 min).

Rules

• Don't pick any leaf, flower, or bark.
• Search as a group, staying within talking distance.
• Stay inside the boundaries and off the flower beds.
• If you see a bug or a nest, watch without touching.

Variations

Adaptations

• Color blindness: the card also includes a texture or type-of-object clue.
• Limited mobility: an accessible search area and the role of group mapmaker.
• Students who wander: carry the map and keep the group together.

Learning goals

• Observe the nearby natural environment closely.
• Enjoy nature without harming it.
• Communicate locations on a map.

Equipment for a class of 25

• color cards: 8
• school grounds maps: 8
• pencils: 8

Teacher tip

Make the cards from paint swatches or magazine clippings. Common mistake: picking a leaf 'to show it'; repeat the rule before heading out.

More main activities for Middle School