Suburban Nature Walks / Journal

[djbartch]

Looking for ideas to help direct our 'nature walks'. I wasn't going to do them at all this year because of time, but since we are now walking one of the kid's I babysit to PS 3x a week, it gives us time on the way back.

I don't think it's going to be a big deal to start with, as there will be plenty of new things for a while. But it won't take too long before the neighborhood is just a neighborhood again. And also, there will be the days that something not natural (ie construction, painting, a cool car) will take over the thoughts.

Here's what we did today, and what I'd love to continue, but not sure how to keep making it work: On the way home, ds found a crow's feather. He picked it up to bring it home, and we talked about what it was. I asked him what kind of bird he thought it was from. His first guess was a goose, and we discussed where a goose lives and how we wouldn't find it's feather here. Then he came to the conclusion it was a crow feather. When we got home, I gave him a piece of paper and he drew his feather and we wrote the sentance "I found a crow feather."

In my mind, this was PERFECT. We discussed (our favorite way of learning) and he put a little bit on paper to remember our walk. (without it being too much to stress him out).

Now how do I continue?

[MgoBlue]

When I was in college ... ages ago... I took Field Biology... where we were required to keep a field journal. We met at 7:30 AM each day and traipsed through the campus Natural Area & listened to the professor as he pointed out species of trees, birds, wildflowers, grasses, insects, etc. We took notes in a tiny notebook about the things he mentioned, then homework was to make a field journal page of each species that we saw that day. I'm oversimplifying so you'll have to excuse that. I found a link to something similar: http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/journal.html

Basically, we drew a sketch...then listed the family and species, etc. We used A Field Book of Natural History..huge book, and lots of different Peterson's Guides. We listed distinguishing characteristics and other stuff...including the date, time, and location where sighted. I wish I could find my old one...I lost it --but it was so much work in there! Everything was filed by family as in the Field Book of Natural History book. family...class..genus, etc. Here is a link to a seller with the pic of the book:
http://www.daveshootsbookseller.com/si/004008.html

Note: I just googled the book title and the above link came up. I have no experience with this seller, it was just an AWESOME BOOK!

Anyway, there it is. What I remember from the stone ages about field notebooks/journals.
HTH, Paula

[laylamcb]

Do you have the Handbook of Nature Study (http://tinyurl.com/5cvlry) by Comstock? That's a great place to start. Here's (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UsingHONS/) a Yahoo group dedicated to using HONS. You can also get lots of great info on nature walks from the Ambleside Online (http://www.amblesideonline.org/index.shtml) website. And here's (http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/) a great blog.

Have fun!

[snickelfritz]

Do you have the Handbook of Nature Study by Comstock? That's a great place to start. Here's a Yahoo group dedicated to using HONS. You can also get lots of great info on nature walks from the Ambleside Online website. And here's a great blog.

Have fun!

We've JUST started going through her nature lessons, which use the Comstock book.

Do you pass any treese? You could get leaves off of the ground. Watch (draw) it through the seasons. Do bark rubbings. Leaf rubbings.

Can you put a bird feeder in the back yard? It's a great way to watch nature study from the window.

If you start running low on things in your neighborhood, the grocery store is a good place to do nature study. Ours has cheap flower arrangements. They brighten up the table and you can use the flowers for nature study. Same thing with fruit, vegetables, seeds (Lima Beans or pinto beans for dinner?....take out a few to sprout), mushrooms, etc.... It's not ideal, but it's a way to make do if you don't live in the middle of a farm.


What you described sounds great.

[Jane in NC]

A great place for information and inspiration is Jim Conrad's Backyard Nature (http://www.backyardnature.net/) site. Seasonally, he has a list of 101 things to do. This list should give you some ideas of things to look for on your walks and after returning from them. The summer list may not be completely relevant for you in September, but he'll soon change to autumn.

Have fun!
Jane

[fshinkevich]

I love our kids nature journal

http://www.amazon.com/My-Nature-Journal-Personal-People/dp/0967245915/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

It's perfect for the lower elementary ages.

We also keep a glass bowl with pretty/interesting things we find on our walks.

[djbartch]

A great place for information and inspiration is Jim Conrad's Backyard Nature (http://www.backyardnature.net/) site. Seasonally, he has a list of 101 things to do. This list should give you some ideas of things to look for on your walks and after returning from them. The summer list may not be completely relevant for you in September, but he'll soon change to autumn.

Have fun!
Jane

Thanks! This site looks great! It will definitely give me some inspiriation when I'm in need!

[djbartch]

Do you have the Handbook of Nature Study (http://tinyurl.com/5cvlry) by Comstock? That's a great place to start. Here's (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UsingHONS/) a Yahoo group dedicated to using HONS. You can also get lots of great info on nature walks from the Ambleside Online (http://www.amblesideonline.org/index.shtml) website. And here's (http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/) a great blog.

Have fun!

I like the look of the handbook, I'll have to look into buying it. :-) Getting a book on nature studies was not something I even thought about. Even doing a nature study this year just kind of happened. :) I was going to wait until next year to start!

[Jill, OK]

We take our bike rides/walks in a neighborhood across the road from us, but we also have enough on our own property to fill nature journals. We we/they find/see something, we draw it in their journals (blank books I got for a couple of bucks), print the common name, and write the scientific name in cursive (you could wait to do that until he starts cursive, of course).

We've done a leaf rubbing, and we've also pressed flowers, too (which reminds me...need to put those between laminating sheets!); the pressed flowers can be stuck to a journal page with photo corners. (This is also good if you want to use the journal to experiment with different mediums, too; doing a watercolor on watercolor paper and then cutting it out and mounting it in the journal works better than simply painting directly on the page. Thank an old friend of mine for that idea!)

We have several field guides for various things, and Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study to look things up.

Also, we don't feel compelled to do it right away; we might wait to make an entry until the next day, if our walk/bike ride was in the evening, and I need them to clean up and get ready for bed.

Nature journals are great fun, and I believe they're a great tool for teaching young kids about their world!

[Jill, OK]

I love MgoBlue's description of more detailed pages, and I'd like to work into doing that, incrementally.

But those simple, first pages are precious. I still have some of my oldest son's nature journaling...and it's beyond adorable, misspelled words and all. (Okay...::sniff::...especially the misspelled words!).

So, I like guiding, and I like seeing them improve in detail and technical ability as the kids get older, but...there are great reasons for letting them do their own thing a lot when they're little. Not only do they own more of the process...you have a great little snapshot of how they saw their world 'back then', too.

[Jennifer3141]

Do you have the Handbook of Nature Study (http://tinyurl.com/5cvlry) by Comstock? That's a great place to start. Here's (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UsingHONS/) a Yahoo group dedicated to using HONS. You can also get lots of great info on nature walks from the Ambleside Online (http://www.amblesideonline.org/index.shtml) website. And here's (http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/) a great blog.

Have fun!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that book!! We now take it on every walk and I have stopped saying, "I don't know. Mommy will google it when we get home." There's so much good, basic, and interesting knowledge in that book.

Jen

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Do you have the Handbook of Nature Study (http://tinyurl.com/5cvlry) by Comstock? That's a great place to start. Here's (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UsingHONS/) a Yahoo group dedicated to using HONS. You can also get lots of great info on nature walks from the Ambleside Online (http://www.amblesideonline.org/index.shtml) website. And here's (http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/) a great blog.

Have fun!

The Handbook of Nature Study (http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/) blog and the other blogs from Barb and her family are some of my favorite blogs. Barb has regular Outdoor Challenges to get you outside, looking around and thinking about what you are seeing.

[elegantlion]

The Handbook of Nature Study (http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/) blog and the other blogs from Barb and her family are some of my favorite blogs. Barb has regular Outdoor Challenges to get you outside, looking around and thinking about what you are seeing.

I 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Barb's blog. We did them all summer and she really helps you dig in the Handbook of Nature Study. Her directions are clear and even give you page numbers to reference.

[magistramom]

You can collect space dust (meteor stuff) with a magnet. Skim the magnet in the area where the curb meets the street. You will pick up magnetic material which are actually tiny particles of space dust and environmental pollution (spin the lesson the way you'd like).

The "fancy" way to do this is to put a magnet in the bottom of a Dixie cup. String yarn through the lip of the cup making a "handle" long enough to skim the cup near the curb/street edge.

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If you start your walk at the same time every day, you can track the movement of the sun. This is especially great to do now that we are nearing DST (if you have it in your area - we don't:bored: ). To do this, get a large piece of paper (poster board works best). Draw a landmark on the poster (a tree across the street, a light pole, etc.). Put a dot each day where you see the sun. You will eventually see the dot "move". The dot really moves at DST.

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If you are walking down a long straight sidewalk, take a photo of your kids at the beginning, and one of them at the end. Use these two photos in art to teach perspective (they will be big near you, and small in the photo when they are far from you). You will also be able to see the sidewalk diverge intoa point if it is long enough.

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Start a collection table at home - a place where you can strew all of your findings and use them later for reports.

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If you catch big bugs in a plastic baggie, you can bring them home alive, and freeze them. Then you can examine them without any squished parts. (I know, I know, PETA just flagged this one...)

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I'm tapped out. Enjoy all the great ideas everyone has posted:)