Get Kids Outside: Tracking

By Matt Miller, The Nature Conservancy

My nephew Jacob excitedly called me over, with the impatience only an 11-year-old can muster. “You have to check this out,” he exclaimed.

He wasn’t urging us to view a new app on his iPad. He wanted us to see his latest find along a river: a set of raccoon tracks. And, as Jacob enthusiastically pointed out, these tracks seemed to be made not by your ordinary, run-of-the-mill raccoon. This thing must have been enormous. A big old boar coon, to be precise.

Looking for a new activity to get kids outside? Tracking may be close to the perfect activity.

Jacob and his brother Jack had actually initiated this day’s fun: They asked my wife and me to walk with them on the inch of snow, freshly fallen in northeastern Iowa. Immediately we began seeing tracks: cottontail rabbits, white-tailed deer, red fox, fox squirrel.

Wild animals can be difficult to see. But in the snow or mud, they leave signs of their passing. A seemingly empty woods suddenly becomes a treasure hunt for what animals had passed in the night.

There’s an element of mystery: What was the animal doing? Why did it stop there? Where is it now?

I’m well familiar with the oft-heard refrain: Kids aren’t going outside anymore. Conservationists’ solution to this is usually environmental education or highly-structured outdoor “learning” activities.

These are important. But sometimes it’s nice just to get outside and explore, without plans or goals. I know there is the fear that kids will get bored left to their own devices in the outdoors. I don’t think we give them enough credit.

My nephews found no trouble staying entertained. Here: a rabbit jumped between bushes, its distinctive and large back feet making striking indents. There: a coyote paused to survey the river bottom, perhaps looking for the escaping rabbit. With each new track, they’d bend down and construct their own story as to what was going on.

It helps that Jacob and Jack have parents who spend a lot of time with them outdoors, fishing and hunting and camping. They’re also blessed to have great places to explore, like the wooded bluffs on their grandparents’ farm where we searched for tracks.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Rose N.

3:57PM PST on Feb 17, 2012

Thanks for this

send a green star

Joe R.

3:56PM PST on Feb 17, 2012

Nice.

Vicki P.

1:11PM PST on Jan 30, 2012

Thanks for the article...great idea!

Peter M.

4:26AM PST on Jan 30, 2012

thanks

Lynn C.

2:28PM PST on Jan 29, 2012

It's wonderful to hear about children being encouraged to really see the world around them.

Rosemary G.

12:56PM PST on Jan 29, 2012

My town has an elementary school that has a class after school just for this event. It's great we can teach our children that their backyard has so many wonderful creatures to learn about. The fun & learning they can have & it's free.

Past Member .

7:05AM PST on Jan 29, 2012

Much needed awareness to the fact that we are ALL PARTS of the ONE WHOLE, interconnected and interdependent for balance and survival ... with added features of bonding, thirst for further knowledge, etc.

Nature has no more dangers than the two-legged city-dwelling vipers we rub elbows with every day. Preplan for the adventure, if unfamiliar with the great outdoors, and appreciate another gift that although always there was never before embraced.

Joan M.

5:17PM PST on Jan 27, 2012

Great Story I think it is so important to get kids involved in nature and the outdoors, after all they are the ones who will inherit it

Brenda B.

2:26PM PST on Jan 27, 2012

Good read!

Laura S.

2:09PM PST on Jan 27, 2012

I'm fifty-six years old, and I'm still fascinated by the tracks left in the snow outside my house. They're mostly neighborhood cats but once, after a weekend of heavy snow squalls, I found a trail of bunny prints that ended at my car, under which the bunny had apparently spent a few nights. Of course, I had to move it to clear my driveway, but I was glad I was able to provide some shelter during the storm.