Wonder Y Stick
The perfect hiking companion for wonder-filled people of all ages!
Easy to Make!
Easily make your own Wonder Y Stick:
Find a ‘Y’ shaped stick in nature
Wrap a string-like material around the fork in the ‘Y’ (you can use twine, rubber bands, yarn, hemp, etc.)
Double check that the string-like material is secured tightly to your stick to avoid frustrations during the hike
Take your Wonder Y Stick out for a spin in the outdoors to see what catches your children’s eye on the walk!
Fun to Carry!
Children love picking up items and collecting on their hikes; however, kids do not love holding these items. Children often ask adults to hold the colorful leaf or spiky seed they found, but now they can happily hold their nature collection in their hands. Backpacks/hiking bags can sometimes become cumbersome or uncomfortable for a child exploring on an outdoor adventure, but a Wonder Y Stick can be a fun toy/tool to carry as they hike.
Ways to extend learning using the Wonder Y Stick:
The ‘Wonder Y Stick’ is wonderful for collecting natural items as you hike, but it can also be used to build:
communication skills, cognitive skills, and literacy skills.
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Improving communication skills-
Have the children write/draw/verbally explain what they collected and why. Having children orally share their thoughts helps them practice their speech and communication skills.
Enriching cognitive skills-
Utilizing the Y stick as a collecting tool on a hike helps children focus on their surroundings during a hike, makes them think about the natural area, and can be used to recall their hiking experience. After the hike, have the children recall the items they collected in sequential order. Recording their items, the children can have others guess where they hiked by their list.
Boosting literacy skills-
As you are hiking and collecting, think about what the natural items remind you of and create a fictional story from these ideas. With young children, you can do the collecting with the child and have the child share what natural items remind them of (for example- a spiky seed may resemble a porcupine) and then include the child’s ideas into a story that you create together. Children of all ages love to have their ideas included into a story. Older kids can create their own fantastical stories from their Wonder Y Stick. Below you will see an example of a fictional story based on collections from our hike.
WARNING:
Please discuss what is appropriate to pick up/ collect with your children before hiking:
Avoid dangerous natural items native to the area you are hiking in (ex. poison ivy, poison sumac, etc.)
Only pick up items already fallen to the ground, let the other natural items continue to grow
However, if you are aware of invasive species on your hike (ex. stiltgrass) you can explain the concept of invasive species and allow the picking/pulling of these