I’m excited to start a new month of nature study using the Outdoor Hour Challenges! This is really going to be a month of looking at and learning about insects using the topics in the Creepy Things ebook.
To supplement the regular activities in the scheduled challenges, I’ve wanted to do a little photo hunt idea featuring insects. So, I created a brand new printable activity for all of us to use.
This Insect Photo Hunt printable activity will be available to download for the rest of August to anyone who would like to use it for their own family. I’ll also add it to the Ultimate Naturalist Library membership printables page for members to use even after August. (See your membership page for the download link.)
I hope you enjoy getting your children out to look for insects of all kinds. This time of year is perfect for finding so many interesting and beautiful insects to view up close.
I’ll be posting my insect photos on Instagram using the hashtag #OHCinsects. Please feel free to use the hashtag too so I can see all your insect captures.
You can view the complete list of Member’s printables available by clicking the graphic above.
Now available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships:
1. Fibonacci Sequence in Plants notebook page: Research the Fibonacci sequence and apply it to your nature study. Look for examples in plants and then create a nature journal page using the new printable.
2. Patterns in Nature notebook page: Children of all ages can benefit from looking for patterns in nature. Create a nature journal page after you take a nature walk looking for patterns in nature.
(See the end of this post for more information on how you can become a member.)
Note: If you have any subjects you would like me to create nature notebook pages for, please let me know in a comment here on the blog or in an email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
Print a complete list of printables available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships by clicking the button above.
Members also have access to the Nature Planner pages in their library.
Print out this month’s page and use it to stimulate your weekly nature study time.
This week’s nature study topic is the muskrat. Muskrats get their common name from the musk or fragrance they emit to attract a mate and to mark a territory. This is just one of the interesting facts about this mammal that you can learn from your study of the muskrat. Use the links below to get started and learn alongside your child.
Research the muskrat in a field guide or a book you find at your local library. Here’s an online resource for this challenge: Common Muskrat. This one is also very informative: Common Muskrat.
Alternate study this week
You may choose to complete a related study learning more about:
See the Creepy things ebook for more muskrat nature study ideas, videos, and printables!
Please note that I will not be posting the complete challenge here on the blog. You’ll find the detailed challenge in the Creepy Things ebook that’s available both in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships. Sign into your account and download the ebook for the details, more links, and notebook pages.
If you don’t have a membership yet, click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 26 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!
Topics in this ebook include:
Banana slug
Tarantula
Black widow
Scorpion
Leech
Muskrat
Sphinx moth
Cicada
Millipede
Poison oak
Use the discount code SUMMERNATURE for $10 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.
I’ve wanted to share a little bit about the process we’ve gone through as we have designed the landscaping on our half acre plot here in Central Oregon. When we moved here 3 years ago, there was a large expanse of lawn and not much else. My husband loves green grass in the summertime but even he admitted there was way too much to mow and water.
After experiencing the process of removing lawn in our previous yard in California, he was very open to not expanding the lawn, and eventually removing quite a bit to make way for more native plants and shrubs. (You can read about our California wildside here: Keeping it on the Wildside – Part 1 and Nature Study on the Wildside – Part 2)
It really takes a change in thinking to adjust to the idea of less lawn to make room for more native plants. He still pushes back on my desire to keep the dandelions around the edges of the lawn. We have many, many dandelions here, so the compromise is to keep them to one side of the yard, in my Oregon “wildside”.
What is my “wildside”?
I define my “wildside” as a place to allow the natives to grow until we can identify them. Then we decide on a case by case basis whether to pull them out by the roots or to nurture them into beautiful plants that add such variety to our yard. This means a shift from calling a plant a “weed” to viewing them as a valued plant in our garden plan.
Restoring a wildside where we remove lawn and transplant native grasses and other flowering plants is also a part of the broad plan to create more natural habitat in our new place.
Short List of My Wildside Plants
Dandelions
Purple dead nettle
Mullein
Tansy Mustard
Yarrow
There are still some plants I have yet to figure out if they’re on the “pull them out” list or the “to keep” list. It’s truly a learning process as I gain knowledge and understanding of the new habitat I live in.
I have one main wildside area in the yard and then several smaller pockets of plants that I’m also allowing to grow and make decisions about as we go through another summer season.
One area of wild things is alongside the driveway and I’ve had so many friends comment on how I’m letting the “weeds” grow and I should pull them out. (They are trying to be helpful.)
Isn’t this an interesting and pretty native plant? It is called strawberry blite or strawberry spinach. I have quite a bit of it growing in our front yard.
Secondary List of Wildside Plants
Strawberry blite
False dandelion
Collomia
Silver phacelia
The past three years have been a season of observation. We take daily walks around the yard and as each new plant matures, we identify it and then decide if it’s a good fit for our garden. It involves a lot of careful weeding, but in the end I think we’ll have a variety of plants that will be beneficial to the habitat in some way.
This is one of the holes that something, probably a ground squirrel, has dug in my wildside garden. I need to put up the critter cam to see who is digging here.
What do I mean? We think about whether a particular plant is attractive to pollinators, provides food and shelter to birds or other animals, or is a showy plant that provides color for us to enjoy.
Where we are pulling out the lawn, we’re replacing it with native shrubs that will grow and thrive in Central Oregon. I’m hoping to support the birds and insects that have started to visit and reproduce here. It is so joyful to look out and see the nests being built right within sight of our back widow.
We daily see bees, moths, butterflies, and other insects visiting the flowers.
The birds are using the native grasses as nesting materials, eating the seeds and berries from the plants, and taking sips of water from the puddles left in the dirt and on the rock walls we built.
So there you have a brief overview of how we’re creating a new wildside in our Central Oregon space. There is so much more to share, so I will save that for a future post. It’s a hobby and a passion that I could work on during the time isolated at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It doesn’t look like the “staying safe at home” time is ending very soon, so I will probably update you dear readers later this fall with any changes or outstanding observations we’ve made.
Follow me on Instagram for more of our Oregon gardening and nature related posts.
Right now there is a discount code for $10 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.
Leeches are flattened, segmented worms found in a variety of freshwater aquatic environments, including lakes, ponds, marshes, springs and slow streams.
Please Note: In North America, there are probably more freshwater leeches that don’t feed on blood than there are blood-feeders.
Use these links to learn a little about the leech:
If you have an invertebrate field guide, look up leeches. Read the information to know where to look and what to look for during your Outdoor Hour Time.
Use this link to learn more about the leech: Biokids
Alternate study this week
Seasonal Pond Study: This is a great start to a pond study and it includes a printable notebook page.
See the Creepy things ebook for more leech nature study ideas, videos, and printables!
Please note that I will not be posting the complete challenge here on the blog. You’ll find the detailed challenge in the Creepy Things ebook that’s available both in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships. Sign into your account and download the ebook for the details, more links, and notebook pages.
If you don’t have a membership yet, click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 26 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!
Have you downloaded any of the sample Outdoor Hour Challenges yet?
There are many nature study lessons you can try before purchasing any of the memberships here on the Handbook of Nature Study. On the website, click the “Join Us” button. Once there, you should be able to scroll down and see all the samples for the various ebooks. (For the older ebooks you’ll need to click the ebook cover graphic and then scroll down on the ebook’s page to find the sample download link.)
I developed the Outdoor Hour Challenges to use with my sons many years ago and then started sharing our results here on the blog to inspire families who read my blog. Now that the boys are all grown up, they still remember the times we spent outdoors together looking for adventure and learning about the natural world using the Handbook of Nature Study. I know their love of nature was enhanced by learning to take time to slow down and look at things as they are out on the trail, in the garden, or traveling to new places.
Your family can experience those same benefits by getting started with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.
If you’re interested in starting with a more basic nature study idea, click the link above to download the very first Outdoor Hour Challenge. This is where it all started with our family and you may wish to work your way through the Getting Started ebook with your family. The challenges found in the Getting Started ebook are more general in nature and you can adapt them to fit your family’s habitat and interests.
If you’re ready to purchase your own family membership, please use the discount code SAMPLE for $10 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership. Code will expire on 7/31/2020.
I hope I don’t encounter a scorpion this month! But after using the links, videos, and information in this week’s challenge, I’ll be ready to look for the interesting and amazing traits of a scorpion.
Use these links to learn a little about the scorpion:
If you have an insect/spider field guide, look up scorpions to learn some facts for identification. Use this link to learn more about the desert scorpion: Desert USA.
Here are some images to view with your children: Bugguide.com.
See the Creepy Things ebook for more scorpion nature study ideas, videos, and printables!
Please note that I will not be posting the complete challenge here on the blog, but you will find the detailed challenge in the Creepy Things ebook. It’s available both in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships. Sign into your account and download the ebook for the details, more links, and notebook pages.
If you don’t have a membership yet, click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 26 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!
There are many ways to go about planning a more formal schedule for nature study. Typically, families plan their nature study either by the month or by the school term (usually 4 terms per year). Either way is easy to do using the nature study planning pages available in the Member’s Library here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
You can read how to use these printable planning pages by reading the entry in the archives:
Members also have access to the nature planner pages that I have created especially to go along with the 2020-2021 Outdoor Hour Challenges. These pages will give you a variety of things to use in your nature study plans.
Highlighted on the nature planner pages are simple nature study ideas that you can include in your weekly outdoor time. These ideas include nature table ideas, seasonal ideas, suggestions for member’s library printables that complement the Outdoor Hour challenge topics, nature photo ideas, field trip ideas, and alternate study suggestions.
We are continuing our summer of “creepy things” nature study by studying the black widow spider. Use this lesson to learn in detail about the black widow spider. I’ve included information for both younger and more advanced students to capture your whole family’s attention with this nature study lesson.
This spider is venomous and will be painful if you handle it and get a bite! Watch this video to see a black widow up close and listen to the warnings and the advice given: Will It Bite?
See the Creepy Things ebook for more black widow nature study ideas and printables!
Please note that I will not be posting the complete challenge here on the blog, but you will find the detailed challenge in the Creepy Things ebook. It’s available both in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships. Sign into your account and download the ebook for the details, more links, and notebook pages.
If you don’t have a membership yet, click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 26 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!
This week’s brand new challenge is to learn more about the tarantula! It’s one mighty big spider that you may never encounter in person, but it is worth knowing a little about its features and habitat. There are plenty of complementary nature study ideas presented in the ebook challenge, so take a look at ways to include a few in your weekly nature study time.
Alternative nature study ideas include: spider webs, nighttime flashlight walk, field trip to a nature center, or researching the tarantula hawk.
Use these links to learn a little about the tarantula:
If you have an insect field guide, look up the tarantula to learn some facts for identifying this hairy spider. Use this link to learn more about the desert tarantula: Animal Diversity Web.
I love this YouTube video from Brave Wilderness that features the desert tarantula. He has such an appreciation for the beauty of this huge spider that I was able to watch the whole thing even though I have a little bit of arachnophobia. Giant Tarantula Shows Its Fangs.
See the Creepy things ebook for more tarantula nature study ideas and printables!
Please note that I will not be posting the complete challenge here on the blog, but you will find the detailed challenge in the Creepy Things ebook that’s available both in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships. Sign into your account and download the ebook for the details, more links, more videos, and notebook pages.
Would you like to see a sample challenge from the Creepy Things ebook? Here is a link to the complete banana slug nature study challenge for you to download: Creepy Things ebook sample-Banana Slugs.
If you don’t have a membership yet, you can click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 26 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!
You can read how to use these printable planning pages by reading the entry in the archives:
