Let's Play Outside! Scavenger Hunt, Picnic & Book List for Kids

This is Part Four of my Asian Craft and Culture Series with author Debbi Michiko Florence:

November 2017: Asian New Year
February 2018: Asian Drumming
May 2018: Pink Flamingo Day
August 2018: Picnic and Scavenger Hunt
November 2018: Snow Statues
February 2019: Sumo

August 2018: Picnic and Scavenger Hunt

It’s summer so let’s go outdoors. We will be celebrating by going on a nature scavenger hunt.

Why not whip up some spam sushi rolls (spam musubi) as an easy portable picnic lunch?

Recipe: Spam musubi
Activity: Printables for Nature Scavenger Hunt and Folding an Origami Doll
Book List: Scavenger Hunt Book List

Scavenger Hunt Book List

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (Changing Picture Book) by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

This classic picture book gets an interactive makeover with sliding panels to make it a sliding board book. [board book, ages 1 and up]

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt: Let’s Discover Bugs

With facts, experiments, activities, and stickers, this activity book complements the scavenger hunt at the bottom. [activity book, ages 5 and up]

Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth by Debbi Michiko Florence, illustrated by Elizabet Vukovic

Jasmine wants to celebrate the Japanese holiday Girls Day with her best friend Linnie. Jasmine is planning a sleepover where she and Linnie can solve the mystery of her neighbor’s boxes of dress-up clothes. Things don’t go according to plan, however. Jasmine has to use her sleuthing skills to figure out why Linnie is unhappy and make amends in time for Girls Day. [early chapter book, ages 6 and up]

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Reading this book makes you wish that book scavenging really exists — it’s like geocaching but with books and with clues encrypted into all kinds of puzzles. This is a well-paced, well-crafted adventure that makes the reader like they too, are exploring San Francisco. And while I personally would be hard pressed to solve any of the puzzle clues in the book, just learning about them made me feel a little smarter. [chapter book, ages 8 and up]

The Emperor’s Riddle by Kat Zhang

I really liked this clue-solving adventure set in modern-day China. It’s a “Pirate
Treasure Map Meets Ancient Chinese Hidden Treasure” epic quest that Mia Chen and her older brother must solve in order to find their missing Aunt Ling. Time is running out as her Aunt’s nemesis, Ying, is on the trail too. [chapter book, ages 8 and up]

Recipes

I made rice using a rice cooker and teriyaki sauce from scratch. You can also use store-bought teriyaki sauce.

Teriyaki sauce:
– 1 tablespoon sugar
– 4 tablespoons soy sauce
– 2 tablespoon sake (or white wine)
– 3 slices of fresh ginger (thin slices about 1/8 inch peeled)

Bring to boil and lower heat to medium heat. Cook until thickened.

Instructions:
– Use Japanese short grain rice as it’s stickier.
– Slice the can of Spam into 1/4 inch slices. Fry the spam slices on both sides until golden. I use the entire can.
– put the teriyaki sauce on the fried spam RICE SIDE DOWN or it drips off and makes it messy to eat
– put the sheet of nori under the mold and then fill with rice. It makes it easier to unmold.
– wrap Musubi in plastic wrap if packing for a picnic or for later.

Put the nori (seaweed) shiny side up, then the musubi mold on top of the nori. Fill with rice, tamp down, add furikake if using. Brush Spam with teriyaki sauce., Add the Spam sauce side down towards rice, remove mold, and roll up.

Some hints:
– the teriyaki sauce needs to be cooked down so it’s syrupy or it will make the rice fall apart
– add rice sprinkles (furikake over the rice layer) for extra flavor

Summer Nature Scavenger Hunt

Can you find these 9 items in nature? Print this Nature Scavenger Hunt here: Nature Scavenger Hunt.

Nature Scavenge Hunt Game for Summer Fun

feather (Can you guess which bird? I think mine is from a goose.)
insect and a spider (Can you tell the difference? How many legs? How many body parts?)
something climbing a tree (Is this symbiosis?)
wildflowers (What are your favorites?)
an example of decay or decomposition (Do you know the difference?)
purple flower (Bonus points for spotting a bee near it!)
pinecone (Did you know that pinecones hold the seeds of a pine tree?)
a secret hiding place in a tree (What would you hide?)
dandelion seed head (Make a wish!)

Did you know …

that insects have three sets of legs or six legs in total? Spiders have four pairs or eight legs total. Insects have three body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen. Spiders have two main body parts (head and body).

Did you know …

that symbiosis is the interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both. What does the vine gain from the tree? Does the tree get anything from the vine?

Did you know … that fungi play a large role in the decomposition of plants in addition to animals and bacteria? In decay, the larvae or maggots of fly play a large role as well as other animals and bacteria. Decay speeds up decomposition.

Did you know …

that pinecones are either female and male? You can grow pine trees using seed in pine cone scales that are harvested from female cones which have two seeds beneath each sale. Female pine cones are considerably larger than their male counterparts.

Folding an Origami Doll

The Jasmine Toguchi website has an easy origami doll activity: easy origami doll activity.

To examine any book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Follow PragmaticMom’s board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.

Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.

My books:

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

- - Junior Library Guild Gold selection
  - Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
  - Starred review from School Library Journal
  - Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
  - 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
  - Green Earth Book Award longlist
  - Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids

Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me