Family Field Trip Learning Adventures
eBooks
Engage your senses, explore nearby habitats, and learn about nature through these easy and fun activities designed to be shared by family members of all ages.
Animal Tracks Match Game
Games
Discover who else is walking in the forest when you learn to recognize their tracks.
Forest Bingo
Games
Take a trip to the woods. How quickly can you locate everything in a row or column? Can you find everything and black out your board?
Nature Scavenger Hunt
Games
Explore and observe to find as many things as you can on the scavenger hunt list.
Mosses Scavenger Hunt
Games
Moss breaks down rock to create soil in which other plants can grow. Can you find all the different kinds of moss growing on the Rhododendron Preserve?
Activity 1: Salmon Rescue Card
Science Activities
Learn about salmon life history, why salmon are endangered, and what we can do to help wild salmon thrive.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 2: Are You Me?
Science Activities
Using picture cards, learn to recognize various young stages of aquatic animals and match them to their corresponding adult stages.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 3: Life is Short and Then You Spawn
Science Activities
Use a sock puppet play to learn about the life cycle of salmon.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 4: Salmon Habitat Bag
Science Activities
Explore the contents of a bag that contains items representing the important features of salmon habitat. Decide what each item in the bag represents, and how this habitat feature contributes to salmon survival.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 5: Salmon Life Cycle Bracelet
Science Activities
Learn about the life cycle of salmon while making this bracelet, then use the bracelet to tell the salmon story to others.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 6: Kelp Help
Science Activities
Estuaries are the keyhole through which salmon pass to begin and end their journeys. Research the role of estuarine environments in the survival of salmon, create a mural and report about your findings.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 7: Zippy Zip-loc Bag Aquarium
Science Activities
Design a mini aquarium in a Zip-loc bag, demonstrating estuarine qualities that support the survival of young and migrating salmon.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 8: Fishy Who’s Who
Science Activities
Conduct an inventory of fish habitats in your area, learn about the various fish species that occupy these habitats, and locate the fish species on a map according to where they occur.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 9: Watershed in Your Hand
Science Activities
Make a watershed model with paper and markers, then observe how rain flows from high places to low and what the water carries with it as it goes.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 10: Managing Salmon Through Otoliths
Science Activities
Otolith marking is an innotive way of marking salmonids without ever having to handle the fish. Learn about thermal otolith markings and how to interpret the code as scientists do. Learn what kinds of information can be found once the “pattern” is discovered, and determine the otolith code of samples provided.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 11: Reading Fish Scales
Science Activities
Growth rings on a salmon’s scales can tell us a lot about the life of a salmon. Learn how scientists “read” fish scales to forecast the populations of future salmon runs.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 12: Managing Salmon by Coded Wire Tags
Science Activities
Learn techniques in fish management to count fish by coded wire tags. Practice decoding the wire tags to learn about the fish, and create a poster to illustrate how coded wire tags are used to manage fish.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 13: Where Have All the Salmon Gone?
Science Activities
Graph and interpret actual fish population data in relation to historical events.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 14: Water We Eating
Science Activities
Visit a local supermarket or grocery and compile a list of products that originate in aquatic habitats. Some of them may surprise you!
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 15: Aquatic Times
Science Activities
Using the news releases and websites provided, write and produce a newspaper that features the issue of salmon as an endangered species.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 16: Hooks and Ladders
Science Activities
Role-play salmon, predators, fishing boats, and turbines of dams as you simulate the challenges faced by salmon at each stage in their life cycle. This is a physically involving activity!
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 17: To Dam or Not to Dam
Science Activities
Learn how dams impact salmon, role-play the various stakeholders, and craft a plan to balance competing needs.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 18: Facts and Opinions
Science Activities
Not everything claimed about salmon is true. Learn how to identify the facts.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 19: Deadly Waters
Science Activities
How can water kill salmon? Analyze the pollutants found in a hypothetical river and find out.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 20: Aquatic Heros and Heroines
Science Activities
Many people are working to protect and restore salmon runs and salmon habitat. Learn about who they are and what they do.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 21: When Do Salmon Use Our Streams?
Science Activities
Different salmon species are using the streams at different times of the year. Create a visual display that shows who is present when.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 22: Take the Pledge
Science Activities
What can you do personally to improve the life of salmon? Choose habitat enhancing activities and practice them for a month.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 23: Your Impact on Salmon Self-Assessment
Science Activities
What are the things you do that impact salmon? How can you improve? This self-assessment will help you find out.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 24: Salmon Rescue Activity Book
Science Activities
Learn about salmon through coloring pages and other engaging activities.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Activity 25: NatureMapping for Watersheds
Science Activities
Become a citizen scientist and collect useful data.
Source: WDFW Wild Salmon Education Trunk
Science Activities 1-25 were provided by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wild Salmon Education Trunk.
The Adventures of Theodore Elliot Bear: Transforming Into a Beaver
Videos
See Ted E. Bear transform into a beaver to help people learn about the adaptations beavers have that allow them to do the things they do. Use the accompanying list to inspire additional learning activities.