Now available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships:
Tree Study Nature Study Notebooking Set
Salt Nature Study Printable Set
(See the end of this post for more information on how you can become a member.)
Tree Study Notebooking Page Set – You are going to love this set of tree nature study notebooking pages. Here are the trees included: black walnut, buckeye, catalpa, cedar, eucalyptus, Joshua tree, lodgepole pine, madrone, magnolia, palm, palo verde, ponderosa pine, redwood, smoke tree, and Western larch. 15 trees, 30 notebooking pages!
Salt Nature Study Printables – This is a set that has been shared over on my daughter’s website, Hearts and Trees. This printable set will be a great way to learn more about salt for a nature study unit.
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.
Use the discount code NATURE5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership!
This month is a fresh start to my nature journaling journey. I’m keeping several different journals as a way to become more of a naturalist specializing in my own habitat. This just feels like it’s the right time.
Although I’m still trying to keep things simple, I’ve created a new routine for recording my daily notes and statistics as a way to reach my Nature Study Goals for 2019.
Daily Notebooks
Every day I create a brief entry in the Naturalist Notebook which is really a five year record of daily details. You can see in the image how there is a very small box for each day running across the page. Then, down the column will be where I fill in information over the next four years. This way you can compare the daily events from year to year. Right now it feels very ambitious but I’ve learned that if you take it one day at a time it isn’t such a huge project.
The second place I’m recording daily information is in this planner/notebook. It has larger spaces for me to include more details or thoughts for each day. I’m still deciding if I like this particular notebook for this purpose, but time will tell if it works for me.
Note: It’s an 18-month calendar and so the first part has been unused. I’m trying to decide if I should just remove the pages or repurpose them in some way.
This entry includes affiliate links to Amazon.com.
Field Notebook
I have yet to make a single record in my field notebook. It’s super cold when I go outside and I usually wear gloves. This makes it hard to take the notebook and pencil out. That’s a pretty bad excuse for not giving this tool a try and I will be working on doing better. Maybe I should wear my fingerless gloves when I go out on my walks.
Personal Nature Journal
This is where I’ve really stepped up my nature journaling game this year. I’ve gone ahead and prepared several introductory pages for the year and then planned a few pages for January ahead of time.
If you follow me on Instagram, I’ll be sharing the month’s pages at the end of each month in a video along with an explanation.
Here’s an example of one of my January pages sharing my winter willow observations. You can see that I’ve switched to a larger size page for this year just to switch things up.
I have some of the pages planned out, but there’s still room to add in things that spring up during our nature walks like the river otter scampering across the icy river with a fresh fish in his mouth. What a great experience!
Al in all, I think I’ve been successful in getting started with my new routine of nature journaling. It takes a few minutes a day to keep up with the daily notes and maybe 30 minutes or so to create a new nature journal page in my personal journal. With this little effort, I’m loving the feeling of getting to know my habitat better with each passing week. Using the Outdoor Hour Challenges gives me a framework and inspiration to learn something new! This knowledge is not only fun to learn but very encouraging to pass along to my friends and family.
Be Inspired! Be Encouraged! Get Outdoors!
Do you want some more specific nature journal ideas? Click over to my nature journal page and scroll down for the Once-a-Month Nature Journal Project idea buttons. There’s a lot there to keep you busy!
There are many, many nature journal ideas included in the archives of the Handbook of Nature Study newsletters. If you have any level of membership, make sure to download the newsletter index to make finding a topic easy.
Winter may not seem the best time to start a small square study but it’s not impossible. Someone asked in the original challenge how to complete this study when there’s a lot of snow on the ground and here is my response:
“I know when we have snow we shovel a path from the door to the street. Perhaps extend that path a little out into an area where there is dirt underneath. I would also try to get to an area that’s under a tree, since up next to the tree there’s usually a little space between the snow and the tree trunk.”
One family commented this after completing the Winter Small Square Study:
“We had an hour that we needed to be out of the house, and this seemed like an easy way to dive back into outdoor hour challenges after hibernating most of the winter. Thanks for changing my attitude (once again) about getting outside. This is do-able!”
Make sure to click the link above to read the entire Outdoor Hour Challenge with helpful links, nature study ideas, and suggested follow-up activities.
Please note this challenge is found in the Winter Series ebook, included in the Ultimate Naturalist Library membership. Log into your membership and scroll down to the ebook download link.
Included in the ebook, there’s a custom notebook page for this challenge.
Have you ever seen the One Small Square books from Donald Silver? I own the whole series and we’ve used them numerous times in our nature study. My boys loved the illustrations and I appreciated the simple activities suggested in each book. Check them out at your local public library or online at Amazon.
Salt Nature Study – Handbook of Nature Study Lesson 212, pages 753-754
Make sure to click the link above to read the entire Outdoor Hour Challenge with helpful links, nature study ideas, and suggested follow-up activities.
In addition to the suggestions in the Handbook of Nature Study, you may wish to conduct this simple winter experiment to enhance your salt study.
If you have freezing temperatures in your area, conduct an experiment where you try to freeze salt water outdoors in your own backyard. Take two pie pans. Fill one with tap water and one with saltwater. Compare the time it takes for each to freeze.
Please note this challenge is found in the Winter Series ebook, included in the Ultimate Naturalist Library membership. Log into your membership and scroll down to the ebook download link.
Included in the ebook, there is a custom notebook page for this challenge.
Salt Experiments Printable Shown Above is Available to Members!
If your family is interested in conducting even more salt related experiments and you’re a member here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you can download the Salt printables shown above and use the pieces in your nature journal. This printable unit comes complete with instructions for four simple experiments using common household items.
Look for the printable in your Ultimate and Journey level memberships in the Misc. Category.
If you’re not currently a member, you can use the links above to learn more about the benefits of a membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
Note this is an Amazon affiliate link to a product I own and love!
Even though it’s been cold, wet, snowy, and icy, we ventured out to the local state park to walk along the river. We didn’t get very far because with my new hips, I didn’t want to take a chance of slipping on the ice. But, it felt good to be out in the fresh air looking at trees once again. I miss my long river walks!
Winter is the perfect time to focus on tree bark and see the beauty of each tree’s particular bark. It reminded me of a number of years ago when we studied trees in our family and my son and I decided that not all tree bark is brown. In fact, my son noted that most tree bark is more gray than brown. In the case of our ponderosa pines, the bark is more reddish than brown.
As we were observing the bark of this ponderosa pine, we also noted the colorful and interesting lichen growing there. The bright green lichen is my favorite!
Just a reminder: Be open to nature topics in addition to the week’s subject when you’re taking your outdoor time. We started off looking at tree bark but didn’t pass by the opportunity to enjoy the lichen.
So did your family do a bark pattern study? It’s a simple nature study activity that you can do even in the winter time.
If you’re completing the Outdoor Hour Challenge for Winter Trees, you can add a bark pattern study along with that one. See the Winter Tree challenge here: Looking at Trees in Winter.
The benefits of having a membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study make it a great value for your homeschooling, nature-loving family. There are 21 ebooks available for downloading, over 120 printable notebook pages and activities, and 76 newsletters. New printables are added every month and there are 4 new ebooks set to publish in the next year.
If you would like to have nature study ideas and printables available for immediate downloading, please consider an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.
Use the discount code NATURE5 for $5 off an Ultimate membership.
“At least one pine tree should be studied in the field. Any species will do, but the white pine is the most interesting….the leaves and cones may be studied in the schoolroom, each pupil having a specimen.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 674
The wonderful thing about a pine tree study is that you can do it at any time of the year. Since they are evergreen, you can examine the needles even when there is snow on the ground. After that, look at the bark and find some cones too! Have a great time using the suggestions in the Outdoor Hour Challenge linked below and the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study.
From the Original Challenge: Simple Suggestions for Pine Tree Study:
What is the general shape of the pine tree?
Is there one central stem running straight up through the center of the tree to the top?
What color is the bark? Is the bark ridged or in scales?
Study the pine leaves. Why are they called needles? How many needles in the bundle?
Does it have a cone?
Make sure to click the link below to read the entire Outdoor Hour Challenge with helpful links, nature study ideas, and suggested follow-up activities.
A custom notebook page for this challenge is available in the Ultimate Naturalist Library membership in the Winter Ebook. Log into your membership and scroll down to the ebook download link.
Amazon.com links to tree books I own and love!
A Walk in the Boreal Forest
My Favorite Tree- Click over to see my entry for this awesome book that also includes a free printable!
We started a yearlong study of cattails back in September and now’s the time to start thinking about making some winter observations of this interesting plant. We have a patch growing out along a pond near our home and we will be trekking over to take a look as soon as we have a sunny, warm day. We’ve had quite a bit of snow and the pond should be frozen so that should make it interesting.
Make sure to click the link below to read the entire Outdoor Hour Challenge with helpful links, nature study ideas, and suggested follow-up activities.
Please note this challenge is found in the Winter Series ebook found in the Ultimate Naturalist Library membership. Log into your membership and scroll down to the ebook download link. Included in the ebook, there is a custom notebook page for this challenge.
This was the week we made our winter willow observations. It’s been cold and snowy, but we put on our boots and hiked out to the willow we tied the string onto earlier in autumn. I’m glad we marked it with a string back in the autumn because right now all the willows look very similar.
Here’s a photo of the willow, leafless and bare except for a few straggly brown leaves.
Isn’t this color amazing? From a distance the willows are a rusty red but up close they are a bright orange. There are small buds just waiting to burst open once the season turns warmer.
It was exciting to find a rose shaped insect gall on a branch. I learned all about this interesting creation last year and it’s still thrilling to discover another one this season.
It looks like a wooden rose on the willow…so pretty.
It’s no surprise to us that the beavers have been harvesting branches from the willows since the autumn season. You can see the evidence of their work in the image above. This is just another chapter in our beaver story…I’ve grown to appreciate their part of the habitat and its changing development.
It’s never too late to start your own year-long willow study, even if you didn’t start it back in autumn. Pick up here and join us! Click the graphic below to go to the original winter study challenge here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
Perhaps you don’t have any willows to study in your neighborhood, but I invite you to take a look at the winter seasonal nature study ideas I’ve collected over the years. You may just find a topic that interests your family and you can get started with your own year-long study. Click the graphic below and see the complete list.
As the new year begins and I start to think about what direction I want my nature study to take me, it’s clear to me that I still have so much to learn about my new home here in Central Oregon. So, why not continue to soak in the things in my local habitat once again?
I want to keep in mind that learning about the ordinary and everyday things in my habitat allows me to notice the extraordinary or unusual things that appear.
Plus, a new goal for me this year is to show that no matter where you live or what your age is, you can always find something of interest to learn about close to home. Nature study doesn’t need to be a big commitment of time or involve a lot of travel. The best and most meaningful nature study topics are those that your family comes into contact with during your everyday activities.
We can use fresh eyes and an open heart to make this the best year of nature study ever!
Nature Study Goals 2019
1. Use the Outdoor Hour Challenge topics to stimulate my interest in my local habitat and help to build my skills as a naturalist.
Use the information in the Outdoor Hour Challenge and the lesson suggestions in the Handbook of Nature Study as they apply in my area or find something closely related to learn about and record in my nature journal.
2. Keep a detailed record of my nature observations.
Daily journal and a 5-year journal – Start a new daily journal and useThe Naturalist’s Notebookduring 2019.
Field notebook – Carry a small notebook with me at all times to make notes of important things.
Personal nature journal– I will continue using my spiral bound sketchbook for my detailed nature journal.
I just keep envisioning myself outside hiking and exploring again with no pain. Overall, that is my biggest goal for 2019!
3. Hiking and Kayaking
Use local maps and books to find places to get outside and hike on a regular basis. I’m thinking of marking a twenty mile radius from my house on the map to see if I can really get to know my local area.
Kayak during the warmer seasons, completing two new local kayak trips already requested by my husband.
4. Read nature related books this year.
Narrow down my list to four official books but also use books to learn about things that I become interested in during my travels. I haven’t picked a list of books like I’ve done in the past; rather I’m on the lookout for particular topics.
This year isn’t as ambitious as many years in the past. I have a lot of writing I want to accomplish, so I’m trying to temper my goals with the limitation that there are only so many hours in the day. Plus, I’m still on the path to recovery from my hip surgery and that will be the focus during the first quarter of the year as I regain my strength and flexibility.
If you would like to join me by making your own nature study goals, I’ve included a free printable goal planning page below. Use it to make a few goals for you and your family. Keep it simple and then create a plan for accomplishing your goals. Make steps now to help create a fantastic year of getting outside and learning more about your local habitat!
You can join as an Ultimate Naturalist Library member and immediately have access to hundreds of nature study ideas and printables. The library is growing every month and there are plans for publishing 4 new ebooks in 2019! If you join now, you’ll have access to those ebooks as soon as they publish!
Click the graphic above to see the complete benefits of a membership. Join and make 2019 the best year of nature study ever for your family!
Use the discount code NATURE5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership!
This is the second in a series of willow studies that will guide you through a complete year of observing a local willow. The Autumn Willow Study featured the changing color of the foliage and the willow’s shape. Now, in the winter season, we will look at its twigs and buds.
Start Here: Willow Nature Study – Handbook of Nature Study Lesson 179 (pages 651-655)
Pay particular attention to suggestions #2 and #12 in Lesson 179 for specific winter-related willow study ideas.
You may also wish to look for galls on your willow. They are shaped like little wooden roses and are created by an insect during the summer.
Activity: Tie a string on a twig attached to your willow. Observe and record in your nature journal the twig’s changes for a few months. You can see our autumn willow study here in this entry: Beginning a Year Long Willow Study.
Both Ultimate and Journey level members here on the Handbook of Nature Study have access to a new winter willow notebooking page for recording your winter observations. Look for it in your printable library.
If you want to become a member here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you can click the Join Us button for more details. Benefits include those shown above including access to ebooks, notebooking pages, archived newsletters, and new ebooks and printables published during your membership.
