Read the Tracks in the Snow
Fresh snow keeps a record of everyone who passed: birds, a cat, a dog, a cyclist. Your child learns to tell which way each of them was going and who came last.
What you need
- Fresh snow
- A stick for measuring
- Warm gloves
How to play
- Go out the morning after a snowfall, before the paths are trampled.
- Find the first line of tracks and work out which way it was heading.
- Measure the gap between two prints with the stick and mark the length with a notch.
- Compare a bird's track with a dog's and count the toes in each.
- Look for a place where two sets of tracks cross and decide which one is on top.
- Leave your own tracks: walk normally, then backwards, and compare the two lines.
