This summer, children in our building did something different. We organized a Living Treasure Hunt in and around the place where we stay, and wow! Did you know what they discovered?

These are just some of the living treasures discovered by our children.

We were really amazed at the amazing creatures they captured on camera, and the way they researched and presented their findings. It made us realize just how many living treasures are there around us, each made so wonderfully by God.

But first, a brief background on what this is all about.

It is summer vacations, and children are out playing almost the whole day. If it is too hot they end up consuming cool drinks, and digital audio video content, yes that means movies, games and what not.

This time we decided to do a totally immersive activity to make them engage with the world around them.

We called it the Living Treasure Hunt!

This is how I designed it:

Objective: Identify and document living creatures in and around Raj Sarovar

Skills

•    Observation

•    Photography

•    Research

•    Documentation

Conditions

•    Open to members of Raj Sarovar and their friends

•    Age limit: 4 to 19 years

•    Teams should have two or more members, atleast one of the team should be a resident of Raj Sarovar

•    Identify living creatures [Insects, animals and birds] upto gate at Link Road entrance You have to identify any living creature right from ants to birds yourselves

•    You shall not harm or kill any living creature for this competition

•    Document by Photographs taken by you, one close up and one with surroundings

•    You can use any camera or mobile phone, and use the Internet or any other resource to identify what you have captured.

•    Points will be awarded for the total number of creatures, correct identification with biological name and photograph quality

•    Winning Photographs will be put up on Facebook page and Notice board

We kept cash prizes for the top three winning teams.

The children immediately formed teams with their friends, and were up early with their cameras and notebooks. They excitedly discovered many insects, birds and small animals! After capturing the photos, the children discovered a way to identify these living creatures using Google Image search!

There were some insects which the kids could not identify even with Google, making them realize the limits of technology!

We used the help of BNHS experts and they willingly identified the pictures which I emailed to them. A big thank you to Rahul Khot and Divya from BNHS for giving your expert comments. BNHS has a very useful set of field guides which can be of use to find out more about what you discover. Kindly visit the following link to know more on field guides and other products by BNHS

http://www.bnhs.org/catalogue.html

You can buy set of six books here. http://www.bnhs.org/shop/special-offers/set-of-6-books-detail.html

There are more offers if you check through the site.

The kids got the correct Biological name and details of most of the various creatures from the Internet, and made excellent Powerpoint presentations.

Team Photogenia and their presentation

The children who took part, with a senior lady from our Building who distributed the prizes.

You are free to use this Living Treasure Hunt in your locality or building! Let me know how it goes!

Thanks for reading J