Outdoors Activities

Different caterpillars only eat specific plants. You must plant the right Host Plants to invite your favorites!

Toads are cold-blooded and need a cool, damp, shady hiding spot to rest during the hot daylight hours. They're most active at night when they hunt. Without a safe damp refuge, they'll move on to a yard that has one!

What you'll need: One old ceramic flower pot (6–8 inch), a small hammer, a thick cloth or towel, adult supervision!

Unlike honeybees, solitary bees like Mason bees have no queen to protect and no honey to guard — which means they are incredibly gentle and almost never sting. They are also 2–3× more effective at pollinating than honeybees! A bee condo lets kids observe the amazing process of a female bee laying eggs, packing in pollen as baby food, and sealing the entrance with mud.

What you'll need: Hollow bamboo stalks OR paper straws (6–8 inches long), twine or rubber bands, a small waterproof container or coffee can (optional), and a sheltered mounting spot!

Decomposers are nature's recyclers. They break down dead plants and animals into nutrients that feed the next generation of life. Without pill bugs, beetles, fungi, and earthworms, dead wood and leaves would pile up forever and the nutrients trapped inside would be lost. A rotting log is one of the most densely populated habitats on earth!

What you'll need: One medium-to-large untreated log (not pressure-treated lumber!), a quiet corner of the yard, a magnifying glass, and a field journal!

These projects use the garden as a "supplies store" rather than just a place to grow things. Louisiana's lush plant life and humidity make the colors extra vivid!

Place brightly-colored flowers or leaves face down on a piece of white cotton cloth. Cover with a paper towel and gently hammer them until the natural pigment transfers to the fabric — creating a one-of-a-kind print. Each flower is different!

Create 3D art boxes filled with petals, leaves, and seeds from the yard using a cardboard frame and clear contact paper. Hang in a window and let the Louisiana sun turn your backyard finds into stained glass!

If you're okay with a little (or a lot of) mess — mix dirt and water to create natural "paint." Kids can use old brushes to decorate trees, logs, or rocks with patterns, animals, or murals. The next Louisiana rain washes it all away — leaving a blank canvas for next time!

Each February, birders around the world count every bird they see for at least 15 minutes and submit the results — creating the world's largest bird snapshot. But you can report bird sightings year-round through eBird!

Louisiana is on the Mississippi Flyway — one of the great bird migration routes. When you spot your first hummingbird returning in spring, or see the first Robin of the season, you can report it to a database that maps migration progress in near real-time!

Louisiana has some of the richest amphibian diversity in North America — and on humid summer nights, the chorus can be overwhelming! FrogWatch USA trains you to recognize different species by their calls and report which frogs are active in your area.

Using only sticks, twine, and a large leaf for a sail, build a miniature raft and test it in a puddle or tub of water. Experiment with different designs: How many sticks? How big a sail? What happens in wind? You're solving the same problems ancient shipbuilders solved!

Use the incredible Louisiana sun to melt broken crayon pieces in a solar oven — a box lined with foil. The heat trapped inside melts wax and creates brand new, beautiful rainbow-swirl crayons. It teaches solar energy, melting points, and color mixing all at once!

Plants can't walk — so they've evolved amazing tricks to spread their seeds. "Helicopters" that spin through the air, sticky hitchhikers that latch onto fur and socks, pods that explode, fruits that get eaten and then deposited elsewhere. Your challenge: collect different seeds and invent your own dispersal method using only natural materials!