Thirty items to see and photograph! For each item, unless otherwise specified, you'll be required to take a photo (along with your username/number for verification), then upload it to a free image hosting site like Imgur and submit here. For the sake of loading times, please don't actually post each image - a link is best! For each photo, please include the item number when you post.
Here's a sample submission:
Quote:
Item: 13 (mammal)
Photo:
Here
(Please do not actually use pets for your items - the cutiepie here is just serving as an example!)
You can either do a new post for each photo or set of photos, or you can use one post and edit to add new entries. I'll be tallying everything up at the end of the competition, so it's up to you how you post.
Plantae
Search out plants and other things that grow!
1. Tree. Reach for the sky! (5 points)
2. Flower. Don't forget to take a sniff! (5 points)
3. Grass. Manicured or wild, backyard or bamboo... (5 points)
4. Leaves. Try finding ones in unusual shapes and sizes! (5 points)
5. Lichen or moss. Technically, lichens are symbiotes between algae and fungi! (10 points)
6. Mushroom. Shhh, we'll ignore it's not actually a plant... (10 points)
7. Fruit. No, your home fruit basket doesn't count, sorry. (10 points)
8. Creative challenge: grow something. Get your green thumb out! Grow some herbs, flowers, food scraps... anything that will grow! (Try something quick-growing, which will show some visible change over the span of the hunt.) For this challenge, it's okay to use a plant you already have. This category will require two photos - a before and after photo - with the dates recorded on both. (30 points)
Animalia
Things that scurry, crawl, swim, and fly!
9. Bird. Things that fly (and some that don't). (5 points)
10. Butterfly or moth. Day or night, butterflies and moths are a sight to behold! (5 points)
11. Bee. Better
bee quick - these guys move fast! Wasps and hornets are fine, too, just be careful! (10 points)
12. Insect or arachnid (not included above). Creepy crawlies! (10 points)
13. Mammal. Alas, pets do not count here. (15 points)
14. Reptile or amphibian. Lizards, frogs... snakes? Oh my! (10 points)
15. Animal traces, tracks, or nests. You don't need to see an animal to know that it's there, sometimes! (20 points)
16. Creative challenge: feeder. Make a bird feeder, bird bath, butterfly feeder, or something else to help nourish or hydrate animals in your area! Please check first to see if this is allowed in your local area - in Australia, for example, it's discouraged to feed birds (but definitely encouraged to leave water out for them!). (30 points)
Monera
Check out the details of the natural world around you!
17. Clouds. "We lived in Arizona, and the skies always had little fluffy clouds in 'em..." (5 points)
18. Sunrise or sunset. Strictly speaking, the sun doesn't 'rise' or 'set', but rather the Earth rotates and moves your viewpoint towards or away from the direction of the sun. Also strictly speaking, this knowledge isn't necessary to take a snap of it. (5 points)
19. Water. A stream, a pond, the ocean, a puddle. There is a microcosm in a drop of water. (5 points)
20. Rocks. The forces that shape the Earth are written in the rocks. (5 points)
21. Creative challenge: weather station. There's a myriad of ways to record the weather. Make something that will tell you something about the weather in your local area. Some examples could be a rain gauge, sundial, or wind sock, or even a journal recording weather changes over time. (30 points)
Fungi
Cultivate some creativity!
22. Short story. Write a short story of at least 100 words, using the following words: 'nature', 'grow', a kind of plant, a kind of animal, and a colour. Bold your choices! (10 points)
23. Describe a natural environment. This is a chance to be creative - it can be anything from your backyard to a fantastical environment! (10 points)
24. Homework. Research your favourite animal, and write a paragraph about your favourite fact about it. (10 points)
25. Draw a plant or animal. This doesn't have to be a work of art, just so long as it's vaguely recognisable as a Thing. (15 points)
26. Design a nature-inspired outfit. This can be drawn, as a collage (like on Polyvore), or even on a doll maker (please link to the doll maker if using!). (15 points)
27. Make a collage with a nature theme. Bust out the glue stick, the Photoshop, or the MS Paint! This theme can be as broad as 'nature in general' or as specific as one focusing on a specific plant or animal species. (20 points)
28. Make plant-based foods. Anything from a fancy roasted vegetable dish to a nicely-sliced apple. Please don't just take a photo of a piece of fruit and call it good, I'd like to see some presentation here! (10 points)
29. Make something crafty with natural products. Twigs, rocks, seed pods; glue, blutak, string. The only limit is your imagination! Please don't pick anything living for this category. (25 points)
30. Free photography! Take a photo of something natural that you find beautiful. While the earlier categories should have the subject as the most important part and the composition doesn't matter as much, this should be all about the image itself. You can include your number in a creative way, or take another quick snap including the number just to verify that it's yours. (20 points)
