Summer is in full swing from late June until late September*. It’s a wonderful season that brings with it many amazing things for children and families to look out for in nature. Indeed, that’s what today’s suggested activity is all about. We’ve created a free-to-download poster that highlights 20 things from nature that children, including under-fives, can look out for when they’re outdoors†. Whether it’s in gardens, on walks with family members, at the park, or out in the countryside, summer’s natural wonders are incredibly abundant when you take time to look.
How many of the wonderful flora and fauna can your child spot? Some, like bees and butterflies, will be super-easy to spot. Others, like sunbathing birds and — for the very lucky few — slow worms, may be a little harder to discover. Searching is part of the fun, though, and this nature-based activity is a great way to get little ones to open their eyes to the natural world around them whilst also enjoying exercise and fresh air. It’s a great opportunity to encourage little ones to spend time outdoors, close to nature† — which is so incredibly good for them! Why not download the free Summer Nature Hunt activity poster today and see what you and your little one can spot?
* When Exactly is Summer?
According to the astronomical calendar, for 2025 summer starts in the UK on Saturday 21st June, which is the Summer Solstice — the longest day of the year. It continues until Monday 22nd September 2025, which is the Autumnal Equinox. That’s the time in the year when day and night are of virtually equal length because the sun is right above the equator. Dates vary a little from year to year, however, because the solstice and equinox will fall on slightly different days.
In contrast, summer always spans the calendar months from the 1st of July, through August, until the 30th of September according to the meteorological calendar. This calendar is used more for things like weather forecasting.
Download Your Free ‘Summer Nature Hunt’ Reference Poster
Click the preview image below to view or download the free Summer Nature Hunt reference poster (2MB, Acrobat PDF format). Print it out at any size up to A3 in high resolution. Use your printer’s best paper and settings for the best results.
There are many species of some of the creatures shown, so your child does not need to find one that’s absolutely identical. There are 51 species of mayflies, for example, each of which will look a little different. Similarly, there are over 40 different ladybirds and 59 species of butterflies in the U.K. — the variety of nature is incredible!
“Look Don’t Touch!”
Remember that children should look but not touch; the idea is to spot natural things, not to try to collect them or to interfere with living creatures who are going about their business. That’s a safety and well-being issue as much as anything — for both the child and nature’s flora and fauna. The idea is for children to simply see how many they can see when out and about. Then, when spotted, they can perhaps tick them off using the little tick boxes provided on the poster.
Have Fun Little Explorers — Nature is Good for You!
We hope today’s free poster and the activity idea give children and families some educational fun outdoors this summer. Spending time outdoors in the fresh air, close to nature, is incredibly important to children and adults alike. It benefits them in an amazing variety of ways, from greater motor skills and improved problem-solving to enhanced well-being and reduced stress just for starters. And did you know that even academic grades are improved when children spend time closer to nature? That’s just one of the many benefits of nature that you can learn more about here.
Other Nature-Themed Posters for Children
Today’s Summer Nature Hunt poster is just one in a whole series of nature-based activity posters that families can download free of charge. Other posters in the series include a Spring Nature Hunt, a Winter Nature Hunt, an Autumn Nature Hunt, a Leaves Nature Hunt, Discover British Butterflies, British Bird Spotting, Wild Mammal Spotting, and a Minibeast hunt. Visit our blog area regularly for more free stuff for kids! Click the bold blue links for more information.
Opportunities to be Close to Nature at Little Cedars Nursery, Streatham
Children get to enjoy nature at Little Cedars Nursery in Streatham too! We know how important spending time in and around nature is to children. So, we’re lucky to be close to natural open spaces like Tooting Common and to have our own planting area. Here, children can nurture seedlings, grow flowering plants that attract pollinators, and harvest their own vegetables. They love it! It teaches them so much about the world, where food comes from, the importance of taking responsibility for another living thing, and all the time teaching them new skills.
Little Cedars is a fabulous nursery located in Streatham near Streatham Hill and Streatham Common, conveniently close to those in Tooting, Furzedown, Balham, Norbury and Colliers Wood. Rated as a Good Provider by Ofsted, you know your child will be well looked after and nurtured at Little Cedars. It’s a warm, welcoming, home-from-home environment where children feel safe, well cared-for, and valued. If you’d like your baby, toddler, or preschooler to have the best start in life in readiness for school, consider Little Cedars Day Nursery for your weekday childcare needs. We would love to show you and your little one around, so you can see for yourself the wonderful environment for under-fives.
Get in touch today to register for a place, request a tour, or ask a question — we’re here to help!
† Outdoor Safety
It goes almost without saying that children, especially the youngest, should only explore outdoors under appropriate and close adult supervision. Read our tips for child safety outdoors for more safety inspiration.
Families: get ready for World Wildlife Day! On 3rd March each year, we celebrate UN World Wildlife Day, an important event that is all about protecting nature’s flora and fauna. At nursery age, little ones are naturally curious and eager to learn more about the world around them. World Wildlife Day is therefore the perfect opportunity to inspire a greater love for nature and wildlife in our young. Exploring the wonders of plants, trees, and the animal kingdom teaches them more about the world and also helps children develop key skills like language, creativity, and empathy. Whether through outdoor play or wildlife-themed activities, engaging with nature’s wildlife can therefore create valuable early learning experiences. With that in mind, today’s post outlines some simple activities that children, including those under five*, can take part in to celebrate World Wildlife Day. We also highlight some of the benefits of nature to children towards the end of the post.
Getting outdoors is the best way to see wildlife, especially if your family lives near a park or the countryside. Rambles, picnics, and simple walks are all obvious options and, of course, wildlife sanctuaries are a good choice if you have one nearby. That said, while such outdoor options are amongst the best ways for children to connect with nature, sometimes they’re simply not possible. However, when that’s the case, there are plenty of other possibilities including bringing the wonders of wildlife into your nursery, home, or garden. Here are some engaging, age-appropriate activities that will allow children to take part in World Wildlife Day whatever their circumstances:
Most children naturally take to drawing, so encouraging them to draw wild animals, plants and birds will be a popular suggestion, especially around the time of World Wildlife Day. For example, they could try drawing British mammals like rabbits and squirrels, jungle animals like elephants and tigers, or sea creatures like dolphins and whales. To make it easier, perhaps give them some visual reference to inspire them. They could choose from a variety of media, be it pencils, crayons, paints, or collages — or something entirely different. Playdough or salt dough models are also an option. Children naturally love to create and, once complete, perhaps display their pieces to encourage future progress.
Reading books about wildlife will introduce children to new animals and habitats. Great options for younger under-fives include ‘Dear Zoo’ by Rod Campbell and ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?’ by Bill Martin Jr. (author) and Eric Carle (illustrator). Also, of course, children and families have the option to tell each other made-up stories. They’re a great way to encourage creative thinking and can be approached in a number of different ways. For example, a parent could tell a story first to give the child an idea of 
Try making some simple bird feeders with your children. There are lots of easy ways to make them as outlined in our dedicated guide, 
Create a simple scavenger hunt using pictures, words, or our free nature hunt sheets to encourage children to find different natural objects like leaves, feathers, and pine cones. This activity builds children’s observation skills, gives them deep insights into nature, and instils in them a better appreciation for the environment. Currently, free reference sheets are available for 
Engage children with easy science experiments, like 
Spending time in nature or learning about wildlife isn’t just fun—it has incredible benefits for early childhood development. To harness such benefits, families can incorporate nature-based learning into children’s routines in a variety of ways. Examples include organising outdoor exploration sessions, setting up small wildlife observation areas, and using nature-themed storytelling to engage the young learners. Connecting children with nature:
Incorporating wildlife into children’s activities doesn’t have to be limited to one day. Encouraging youngsters to notice the birds in the garden, look for insects on nature walks, or watch the changing seasons can gift them a lifelong love of nature. Parents and families can make wildlife observation a regular habit, perhaps by keeping a simple nature sketchbook where children can draw or glue in pictures of what they see, or by creating a wildlife corner at home with books, nature finds, and small child-safe plants. Even setting up a bird-watching station near a window can turn everyday moments into exciting learning opportunities. By celebrating World Wildlife Day, we can inspire the next generation of nature lovers—one little explorer at a time!
At Little Cedars Nursery, Streatham, one of the activities we do with children around this time of year is to explore the season of spring. Spring is a wonderful antidote to the cold, winter months as new shoots begin to sprout from the soil, flowers start to reappear, birds begin to return from warmer climes and there are early indications of warmer weather ahead. Paying attention to such things when spring arrives can teach children a great deal about the world around them, nature, and the impact of the various seasons. It’s also a free, fascinating, and educational activity that parents/guardians can do with children. Families can, for example, explore the signs of spring in the garden, out on walks, in local parks, and in the countryside. With that in mind, today’s article looks at the type of things children and families can look out for during the season of spring.
As every child knows, young lambs are an absolute delight. They’re incredibly cute and the way they play, group together with fellow lambs, and happily jump into the air is simply adorable! Although timing varies from farm to farm, most newborn lambs arrive during early spring — typically in March — with others arriving in April, particularly if they’re in UK areas further north where it can be colder. At Little Cedars Nursery, we try to ensure children get to meet some spring lambs or calves each year and it’s always a huge hit with the children.
Another huge hit with children in spring is the appearance of frogspawn in ponds. Children will love watching the little eggs change over time, their contents growing from tiny black dots into creatures that have obvious legs, tails and heads. And, once they emerge from the eggs, the tadpoles continue to delight little ones as they gradually develop into tiny frogs. It’s a wonderfully magical thing for children to witness in spring and is also hugely educational.
Snowdrops are one of the very first plants to reappear when spring arrives. They’re pretty little plants with slender green leaves and flowers that, as their name suggests, resemble delicate drops of snow. Young children will love that! Look out for them in gardens, parks, forests and hedgerows. Each plant generally forms a ‘bunch’ of around ten stems and they reappear every year. Warn children to look but not touch, though, as they are poisonous if eaten.
Another of the earliest plants to appear in the year is daffodils. Their shoots begin to appear through the soil in February and, once spring arrives in March, their flowers will brighten up any garden, lawn, forest or flower bed right into May. Once daffodils are in bloom, you also know other plants will soon follow. So, they’re a great sign of the changing season for children to look out for, and a signal that gloomy winter is now over and summer is not far away.
Bumblebees are amongst the cutest of garden visitors and many children will naturally love them, particularly once they’ve realised how adorable they are with their velvety bodies, sweet faces and attractive markings. They’re also peaceful little creatures, many of whom don’t even have a sting, who simply want to go about their business of collecting nectar from flowers. Bumblebees start to reappear in the spring — because flowers are also reappearing after being dormant over the winter months. They then become more and more populous as the months become warmer and can be seen right into autumn.
The return of many of the UK’s favourite birds is another wonderful sign that spring has arrived and winter is over. While some birds, including robins, may stay during winter, others will have migrated to warmer places, perhaps thousands of miles away. Once they return to the UK, children will be able to watch out for them and listen out for more birdsong. Early mornings and sunsets are great times to hear them, particularly when the weather is calm, meaning their sounds travel more clearly. For example, tiny wrens have an incredible and very melodic set of sounds. Robins are also beautiful to listen to. Thrushes sometimes sing at the tops of trees at dusk too, and that’s also wonderful to hear. Encourage children to watch and listen out for other birds too, for example, blackbirds, starlings, doves, blue tits, great tits and occasionally more rarely-seen birds like goldcrests.
Buds on trees and bushes can also be an interesting natural phenomenon for children to look out for in spring. Many are quite beautiful if you take the time to have a close look. Young children are indeed fascinated by several types of tree buds in early spring and perhaps the most attractive one to them is pussy willow. For them, the soft, fur-like buds of the pussy willow are an instant hit and something that really draws their attention. They really do feel furry and it’s almost as if they’re little creatures or kittens paws — quite a magical thing for any child to look out for in spring!
Catkins are also fascinating. Their little dangling fronds almost look like yellow caterpillars, so this is another type of spring occurrence to draw children’s attention to. From such attention, they can be taught lessons about pollen, seeds, nectar and the circle of life.