Nature Study

I hosted a homeschooling mother’s night at my house last month.  A few of us enjoyed a meal of enchiladas followed by an exchange of nature study ideas.  I thought I would put together a few of our suggestions along with my favorite websites and references.

Bernadette asked what nature study is (looks like, etc). To me, nature study is anything experienced, learned, found, read about, or experimented about in regards to plants, animals, the weather, the stars, the earth, rocks, ….. You get the idea.  Here are some pictures of our family doing nature study as I see it.

Stephen and Rex in April 2008

 Chasing butterflies in May 2009.

 Cormac helping plant onions in May 2009.

 Stephen watering seeds he just planted in May 2009.

 A family of birds above our front door in July 2009.

 A cicada the boys found in July 2010.

Ice chunks the boys found in December 2010. 

 Blase's worm jar in June 2011.

 Myrtle the Turtle we studied and released in July 2011.

 Apple tasting in August 2011.

 Rex's butterfly we raised and released in August 2011.

 This is what happens when you let Stephen go exploring.  Also August 2011.

 Pumpkin messes and fun in October 2011.

 Brech Earl picking apples in September 2012.

 Cormac and Darren ice fishing excitement in December 2012.

 Sunflowers - July 2013

Stephen's carrot in August 2013.  It was quite yummy.

Some ideas for nature study include, but not are limited to:

Field trips

Nature journals

Nature walks

Nature table

Keep a weather calendar

Keep a bird list

I-Spy in the backyard

Keeping a pet

Reading a biography about a scientist

Growing a garden

Catching an insect (biggest spider I ever saw I caught for the kids)

Learn about edible plants in the wild

OR learn which ones are poisonous (those two should be taught together in my opinion)

The list goes on and on.  There are plenty of blog posts on various websites that provide a more complete list of activities.

Some of my favorite resources for Nature Study reference include:

Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock

There is a wonderful website dedicated to using this reference book to encourage nature study.  It is called Handbook of Nature Study. They have a great program called The Outdoor Hour – Nature Study Close to Home.  They offer Outdoor Hour Challenges as well as a monthly newsletter with ideas, pictures, and notebooking pages to make your job easier.  Some of the ideas they offer are Four Seasons of Tree Study, season challenges with various ideas to share with your children, nature table ideas, and e-Books with notebooking pages, tips, and simple challenges to make nature study exciting and doable.

Natural Science Through the Seasons 100 Teaching Units by James A. Partridge

This book is geared for a school setting, but could easily be implemented in a home setting.  There are 100 units on topics such as trees, animals, garden plants, seasons, weather, weeds, insects, and many more.  The book is arranged by months and follows the seasons.  It also has a monthly calendar with ideas for each day of the month.  These could easily be used as a guide to create your own personal calendar for your family.  You can find pictures of these calendars on various websites. For example – Homeschooling the Hoffmasters blog  The book gives a brief explanation for the teacher followed by a list of activities for that topic.  These include lists for teachers themselves, all grades, primary grades, junior and intermediate grades, and a list of books to read.  The current edition, published by Hillside Education, also provides a list of books published more recently.  The book itself was originally published in 1955.

The Nature Connection An Outdoor Workbook for Kids,Families, and Classrooms by Clare Walker Leslie

I just purchased this book to use as an idea book.  I am SUPER pleased with it.  The book has three parts: Part One - How to Be a Naturalist, Part Two – Learning the Sky, Part Three – Exploring Nature A Month-by-Month Guide.  There are drawing exercises, pages to fill out that help you notice the details in nature you may have overlooked, and short teaching lessons on different nature topics.  Each monthly section offers a page to keep track of nature notes, a page to record things from a nature quest, a picture of the month (could be a drawing or photograph), and topics related to that month or season with pages to draw or record information you have found based on that topic.  It is a very easy format to follow and doable for even the most inexperienced artist (me!).  There are drawing activities to help you learn to sketch and to see the colors of the different seasons.  My favorite part was the activities for the drawing lessons.  They had you draw an object without looking at the page, draw without taking your pencil off the paper, and draw an object in 5 seconds and then 10 seconds and then 20 seconds adding more detail as you went. They gave ideas of what information to include with your drawing.  It was basically an easy guide to starting a nature journal.

Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth

This book is by the author of the previous book suggestion.  This one gives beautiful nature journal entry ideas as well as practical advice to help you keep a nature journal.  They give drawing ideas, color suggestions, examples of information to record with your drawing, and many more ideas.  It is a very inspiring reference for anyone who is serious about nature journaling. It could help an older student who is just getting into nature journaling understand what they could include in their own journals.

Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola

This book reads more like a story than a reference book.  To me it was a gentle introduction for a mother to show that nature study can happen in the home, in the backyard, and various other “normal” places without much effort.  Simply hand your children pencils and paper and let them see their world, documenting it as they go.  It offers short chapters with a few points to consider afterwards or a nature study suggestion to implement in your family.

The Giant Encyclopedia of Science Activities for Children 3to 6  edited by Kathy Charner

This book contains over 600 science experiments for young children.  The sections related to nature study could be air, animals, beach, birds, day and night, environment, fall, gardening, habitats, insects, nature, oceans, seasons, spiders, summertime, trees and plants, water, weather, and winter.  There are great ideas to do that would be simple, yet educational for an easy science day.

The Burgess Animal Book, The Burgess Bird Book, TheAdventures of Johnny Chuck and others by Thornton W. Burgess

These are delightful books about animals told in story form.  Personally, we have only read The Burgess Animal Book.  It is about Peter Rabbit asking Mother Nature about different animals in his neighborhood.  Mother Nature starts a school of sorts for the animals in the forest.  In this book they learn about the mammals of North America and touches a bit on some mammals of the sea.  I found the stories to be easy to understand and read. The boys would always beg for another story.  The only thing I did not enjoy was the “do not shoot the animals” theme that sometimes presented itself.  I did locate a set of pictures on Fisher Academy International that has all the pictures in the book as a print out and other resources to use with this book.  The kids did enjoy seeing the pictures in the book and also being able to match them to our printed off copies.

Outdoor Secrets and the Companion to Outdoor Secrets

This is a small book, originally published in 1903, containing short stories about nature.  The stories always have a moral to share.   The SimplyCharlotteMason.com folks put together a companion ideas book that gives simple activities to go along with the stories.  Cormac and Rex enjoyed this book and the activities.  As a side note – simplycharlottemason.com is a treasure trove of Charlotte Mason style teaching resources.

1000 Years of Catholic Scientists by Jane Meyerhofer

This book provides a list of Catholic scientists from the eleventh century on.  Each scientist is listed with their name, birth and death information, and a brief bio.  This would be a good reference for older students who need topic ideas for reports or as a stepping stone to encourage them to read more biographies.

The Amateur Naturalist by Gerald Durrell with Lee Durrell

This book is beautiful and functioning guide for those desiring to become naturalists.  The book contains information on what you might want to take along on a field trip, equipment to keep at home, preserving plants and animals, and keeping live plants and animals.  It also has sections on what you would look for in various nature settings including grasslands, wetlands, rocky shores, smooth shores, seas and oceans, ponds, forests, both coniferous and deciduous woodlands, deserts, and more.  The pictures are beautiful and range from hand-drawn sketches to photographs of actual plants and animals.  I personally enjoy just looking through this book.  I will mention that this book does touch on Darwin and his evolution theories in one section of the book.

Nature Stories for Young Readers Book One Seaside andWayside by Julia McNair Wright

Nature Stories for Young Readers Book Two Animal Life by Florence Bass

These books contain short stories about nature.  They are easy to read and would make a simple addition to a science course. Both are published by Lepanto Press.

Fun with Nature and More Fun with Nature published by North Word Press

These two books are combined editions of smaller books.  They contain information about topics like rocks and fossils, flowers, birds, caterpillars, bugs, snakes, tracks, scat, trees, bark, and much more.

Field guides such as Peterson Field Guides and A Golden Guide series from St. Martin’s Press are always handy to have around.  These book topics can be birds, fish, trees, plants, mammals, etc.

Dover Nature Coloring Books offer a wide variety of nature related coloring pages.  Some examples of coloring books themes would be insects, butterflies, horses, wild animals, birds, flowers, etc.

The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker

This is a wonderful copywork idea for a young girl.  This sweet book contains poems and hand-drawn pictures about flowers and trees.  Each plant is assigned a fairy and the poem is a bit of information about that fairy and plant.  The book is divided into sections about spring, summer, autumn, winter, garden, tree, and wayside plants and fairies.  It also has an alphabet of flower fairies.  An example of a poem would be:

The Song of the Geranium Fairy

Red, red, vermilion red,

With buds and blooms in a glorious head!

There isn’t a flower, the wide world through,

That glows with a brighter scarlet hue.

Her name – Geranium – ev’ryone knows;

She’s just as happy wherever she grows,

In an earthen pot or a garden bed –

Red, red, vermilion red!

There is also an adorable music CD with the Flower Fairies Alphabet set to music.  This is a favorite with all my children.  I wouldn't find it unusual to hear them singing one of the songs.

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the National AudubonSociety offer a great coloring book here.  It has over 45 pages of common birds to color.  They are birds you will most likely see in your backyard. This group also does The Great Backyard Bird Count.

Modern Woodmen of America offers a set called Partners in Ecology.

Other books that we enjoy reading are:

Pond Lake River Sea by Maryjo Koch

Nature Hide & Seek Rivers & Lakes by John Norris Wood and Kevin Dean

Nature Hide & Seek Jungles by John Norris Wood and Kevin Dean

Both of these books come with small magnifying glasses to use to find animals and plants on the pages.  There are other books in this series.

All Night Near the Water by Jim Arnosky

Raccoons and Ripe Corn by Jim Arnosky

Rabbits and Raindrops by Jim Arnosky

Crinkleroot’s 25 Birds Every Child Should Know by Jim Arnosky

All the books I have read by Jim Arnosky are great.

Mousekin’s Woodland Sleepers by Edna Miller - This book is about animals that hibernate or sleep at some point during winter.

Mousekin’s ABC by Edna Miller – This alphabet book covers a variety of flowers, insects, animals, and other nature related things.

Mousekin’s Close Call  by Edna Miller – This book is about predators and prey.  Poor Mousekin almost becomes a meal and learns a valuable lesson.

Mousekin’s Fables by Edna Miller – This book has a short story for every month.  Each story teaches a lesson in true fable style.

Mousekin’s Family by Edna Miller – This book tells how Mousekin finds a baby mouse who he thinks belongs to his family.  It does not look the same, but Mousekin tries to teach the baby how to be safe and take care of itself.  Mousekin finds out later that the baby was a jumping mouse, not a whitefoot mouse. 

All of the Mousekin books we have are delightful.  I am always keeping a look out for more Mousekin books because they are so sweet.

Let’s Read and Find Out Science books are easy to understand and jam packed with information.  A few examples of the titles in this series are:

What Color is Camouflage? By Carolyn Otto

What’s It Like to Be a Fish? By Wendy Pfeffer

What Lives in a Shell by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Switch On, Switch Off by Melvin Berger

Dinosaur Tracks by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

A Tree is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla

From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer

Clouds by Anne Rockwell

From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman

How Do Birds Find Their Way? By Roma Gans

A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz Jenkins

There is a series of books that are called One SmallSquare.  They examine the area of one square yard in different areas.  For instance, the book One Small Square Backyard gives an idea of what you might find in a square yard and 18 inches deep in your own backyard.  It gives insect and plant examples as well as ideas to include in your nature notebook.  Some of the other book titles include:

One Small Square Woods

One Small Square Seashore

One Small Square Swamp

One Small Square Cave

One Small Square Pond

We are HUGE fans of alphabet books in this household.  Here some examples of alphabet books we have enjoyed for science.

The Icky Bug Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta

The Flower Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta

The Bird Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta

The Furry Animal Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta

A Walk in the Rain Forest by Rebecca L. Johnson

Insect Detective by Steve Voake

The Life and Times of the Ant by Charles Micucci

The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci

Crawdad Creek by Scott Russell Sanders

Forest Explorer A Life-Size Field Guide by Nic Bishop  - one of our favorites.

Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling Clancy Holling

Minn of the Mississippi by Holling Clancy Holling

That is most of the books we have enjoyed and are currently sitting on our shelves.  

Other resources I have used include:

Cindy Rushton's Nature Study the Easy Way

Homeschool Freebie of the Day website offers Nature Study related resources every once in awhile.  I have gotten many, many things from their website.  In fact, today's post is nature related.

Please comment to this post with your favorite website links, book titles, and great ideas to encourage children to enjoy nature.

For those who came for supper, here is the recipe:

Enchilada Casserole

For the enchiladas:

1 1/2 pounds of hamburger

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 (15 oz.) can refried beans

8-10 flour tortillas

For the sauce:

4 Tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups milk

1 (10 oz.) can mild enchilada sauce

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Brown and drain hamburger.  Add salt, pepper, onion, and beans (I always fry the onions with the hamburger).  Place 1/3 cup of mixture on flour tortilla and roll it up.  Place it seam side down in a 9x13 inch pan.  Make sauce by melting butter, then add flour, salt, and pepper (like making a white gravy).  Slowly add milk and enchilada sauce.  Cook until boiling, stirring often.  Boil for 1 minute and remove from heat.  Add 1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese and pour over tortillas.  Sprinkle additional cheddar cheese on top of casserole if desired.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.