Animal detectives
You’ll need
- A4 paper
- Pens or pencils
- Clipboards (optional)
- Magnifying glasses and binoculars (optional)
Before you begin
- Decide how you’ll do this activity, make a plan, and do your risk assessment. You could plan a walk and spot animals as you go, or you could choose one area to explore.
- Choose an appropriate area (or route) away from any roads and remember that there’ll be extra safety considerations if you’re going anywhere near water. However you do this activity, you don’t need to go far – you’ll be able to find animals in a local park or even in the space around your meeting place.
- If it’s difficult to get outside, you could do this activity indoors and hide images of animals around the meeting space for people to find.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adults to support the activity.
- If you’re meeting at a different place to usual, make sure parents and carers know exactly where you’ll be, when to drop people off, and when to collect them again.
- Make sure everyone knows to come dressed for the weather. Don’t forget to check the forecast – and be prepared for it to change.
- If you want to use spotter sheets, you could use these animal spotter sheets from The Woodland Trust or create your own.
Story time
- Everyone should sit in a circle.
- Someone should read Anouk and the Atlantic Ocean by Jess Connett.
- After reading the story, everyone should take some time to reflect on it as a group. We’ve included some questions to help you reflect in the pink box below.
Anouk was a brilliant swimmer.
‘I think you’re part-dolphin!’ her foster mum would joke every time they went to the pool.
Anouk would take a deep breath and dive down to the very bottom to pick up a toy, kicking her strong legs like a frog.
She loved it under the water. With her eyes open wide behind her goggles, she would pretend she was a fish in a warm shallow sea, breathing through her gills.
One day at the pool, Kathy threw the toy and Anouk dived.
But instead of seeing the smooth white pool tiles, Anouk saw the water dropping away, deeper and darker. There was the toy, falling down through the blueness of an endless ocean. She kicked hard and followed it.
Down Anouk swam, out of the pool and under the leisure centre car park, and all the way out of town. She swam under the whole of England and out into the Atlantic Ocean, half-way to America.
The first animal she met was an Atlantic cod. He was brown and spotty, with lots of fins along his back that wobbled in the water as he swam.
‘Good afternoon, little girl,’ said the cod. ‘Have you met the rest of my shoal?’ He waved his fin and Anouk looked back.
Behind them were hundreds of cod, slowly swimming along with their mouths open. They were eating the little shrimps floating in the water.
‘Hello, Anouk,’ said one of the shrimps. She was grey, with big black eyes and two long whiskers. She wiggled her ten legs and swam away.
From below came a squeaking noise, and then a dolphin appeared! The dolphin swam underneath her. Anouk stopped. The dolphin stopped. The dolphin was playing a game!
‘Hi! What’s your name?’ said Anouk.
“Dolan,” said the dolphin.
They swam together for a while, and then Dolan began swimming fast to the surface of the water. He leapt into the air and span around before falling back in with a splash.
‘That was amazing, Dolan!’ said Anouk. ‘I want to stay in the ocean forever and learn how to do that.’
Dolan squeaked and whistled and clacked with excitement.
‘We’re going to be best friends, Anouk!’ Dolan said. ‘And there are so many more animals in the sea who want to meet you.’
By Jess Connett
It’s all about animals
- The person leading the activity should explain that everyone will go outside to try to find some animals.
- Everyone should talk about the animals they think they might find and where they might find them.
Don’t worry if anyone suggests something you’re unlikely to see, like a penguin or a lion – it’s a good opportunity for learning! You could talk about how some animals live far away – the only place you’d find them nearby is a zoo or a safari park.
Become an animal detective
- Everyone should gather at the agreed place. The person leading the activity should help everyone feel excited by explaining that there are lots of different animals waiting to be discovered, even though people might not spot them straight away.
- Everyone should stay where they are and close or cover their eyes. What can they hear? People might be able to hear rustling in the trees or bushes, or birds singing.
Make sure you’re in a safe area. An adult should keep an eye on what’s going on around you.
- The person leading the activity should explain that sounds can be a clue that people use to find animals.
- Everyone should think about other clues they could look for and share their ideas.
People might suggest things like footprints, chewed leaves, animal droppings, or nests.
Go and explore
- The person leading the activity should set some ground rules for the activity to make sure that no one disturbs animals or harms the environment (and to make sure that everyone stays safe).
You’ll probably want to include things like being calm and quiet (so you don’t disturb wildlife), not touching animals, and putting things like stones back where people found them.
- Everyone should split into smaller groups. An appropriate adult should support each group.
- Each group should start searching for animals. Can they find five different animals?
Encourage everyone to look high and low and to look for any clues that animals are around. People could carefully move things like stones or leaves to see if they can find anything hiding underneath.
- Every time someone finds an animal, everyone in their group should draw it (or write about it). They should talk about each animal they find with their group too. What colour is it? Does it make a noise? What might it eat? Where does it live?
This is a great chance to practise some counting. How many legs does the animal have? How many of the animal are there?
- Everyone should get back together. Each group should take it in turns to tell everyone else about one or two of the animals they found.
Reflection
This activity helped everyone connect with nature and explore the different animals that live nearby.
Anouk and the Atlantic Ocean
- What animals did Anouk meet in the ocean?
- What other animals live in our oceans and seas?
It's all about animals
- What animals did you find?
- Where did you find them? Do you think that's where they live?
Being an animal detective
- What was it like being outdoors? How did it make people feel?
- How did people feel when they closed their eyes and listened?
Get exploring
- What was it like to find different animals? What would it be like if every animal was the same?
- Did people have a favourite animal? Why were they their favourite?
- How difficult was it to find the animals? Were any animals trickier to find than others?
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.
- 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.
- Animals and insects
Be aware of the risks before interacting with animals. Be aware of anyone with allergies, and make alternative arrangements for them.
- 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.
- Near water
Manage groups carefully when near water. The guidance on activities near water will help you to keep your group safe.
- You don’t have to challenge people to find five animals. You could use a different number, or you might not want to set a target at all.
- You could challenge everyone to find particular animals. They’ll have to think carefully about where they might find the animals that they’re looking for.
- You could also add an extra challenge by getting everyone to find animals with particular characteristics. For example, can they find something that flies, something that has four legs, something that looks fluffy, something that makes a noise, and something that has the colour red on it?
- Think about the terrain and environment of your place to explore (or your route) – does it work for everyone?
- Make sure you have enough adults to give each young person the support they need. How many adults you need will depend on your group.
- You don’t have to use hearing to connect with the environment if that’s not suitable for everyone in your group. People could still practise being still and using their senses. What can they smell? What can they feel? For example, can they feel any breeze on their skin? What does the ground under their feet feel like?
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
Next time you’re out and about, see what animals you can spot. You could tell everyone about it next time you meet.
Everyone could choose a favourite animal and ask an adult to help them learn more about it.
Help everyone to share their ideas about where they’d like to search and which animals they’d like to search for.