During one of our class outings, we went to
Tanglewood Nature Center in Elmira. There we were given a piece of paper with
our scavenger hunt directions. In small groups we had to go around the Nature
Center and find the most items on our list and take pictures of them. A couple
of the items on our list were: an amphibian, a bird on water, an animal print,
a yellow flower, a trail sign, a bird nest, something red, mud, a bug on a
leaf, and our reflection in water. I have always been a fan of walking around
in nature and this activity added a sense of competition between the groups and
forced us to look beyond the main trails. This exercise was fun and gave us the
opportunity to become creative with our pictures and the items to find on our
list. Although the items were written on the list, the way the pictures had to
be taken was not described and therefore, we were able to take different
shots. 
Being all athletes in our group, we were very
competitive and therefore moving quickly around the Nature Center in order to
find the best pictures. Looking at the list of items, we acknowledged that a
couple of the items could be found in the entrance building and decided to
start our scavenger hunt there. Armed with two different cameras, with were
able to get different shots of the same items in order to get the best shots.
Overall I thought this activity was really
interesting and gave us the opportunity to experience both a redesigned
scavenger hunt as well as the nature itself, in a way that most of us have not
before.
The Tanglewood Nature Center website is a great place for a scavenger hunt of information.
