Observation skills are an important part of becoming a scientist. It is the first step in the scientific method. Take your class outside to observe an environment with many details. Tell the students to collect qualitative data, data that does not have numbers, and quantitative data, data that does use numbers. The students should sit quietly and write their observations in their science journal. Discuss the observations the students have made. Prompt the students to make hypothesis about the area. For example, deciding which animals may live in the area is a great starting point. Return to the same spot at a different time of year and repeat the activity noting the differences in the area.
Head outside late in the afternoon to study positive and negative spaces in shadow art. Find a place with interesting objects for the students to paint using the shadow as a guideline. Chain link fences, tall plants or bushes, tree branches or signs, make interesting shadow drawings. Each student has a clipboard, black paint, paintbrush and a piece of white art paper. Once the students have found the object to paint, they lay their paper down on the ground. The shadow is now on the paper. The students paint the positive spaces with black paint where they see the shadow of their object.
Most classrooms have a time set aside for sustained silent reading. Take your students outside during their reading time. Let them relax under the big oak tree and dive into their book. Take your book with you, too. Students learn from examples and will take their cue from you that reading outside is enjoyable.
Go for a symmetry walk with your classroom students. Your goal is to help the students find symmetry in architecture and nature. Take pictures of your symmetrical findings. A student can make a slide show presentation, as an extension to this activity. The students' goal is to find a leaf with symmetry. Upon returning to the classroom, depending on the grade level, the students trace the leaf onto grid paper to verify the symmetrical properties of their leaf. Once it is traced, they turn the leaf over and lay it down on the traced pattern, to see if it truly is symmetrical.