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Entries about notebooking for your nature journal you may want to read:
Want to see what they look like from our nature journals? Here are a couple of examples.
Please note I am a sponsor and affiliate for NotebookingPages.com. I love this product and I have used with my family and in my personal nature journal for many years.
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It doesn’t get much better than this on a hot summer July day in my neck of the woods. It is times like this that I count my blessings.
We had a glorious day up at the lake….a short last minute idea to go for a hike and then have a picnic dinner. This lake was the bluest I have seen in a very long time….three shades of blue-turquoise, blue-gray, and deep blue.
We hiked a new trail for us and it was surprising that we had it all to ourselves. We had planned to hike from a popular trailhead but there were no parking spots left, which is what happens when you show up at around 2 PM. We decided to park on the highway, walk down the road leading to a closed campground, and then see what adventure would come our way. It was far better than expected!
The trail we found wandered around and out onto a peninsula overlooking Lake Tahoe and Emerald Bay. The sun was hot but there was a breeze and in the shade it was comfortable. We sat out at the point for a long time just drinking in the views. There were several birds flying overhead and I could identify the call of the osprey and the song of the chickadee.
After that hike, we drove back down to Taylor Creek and hiked down to the water. This is my favorite little aspen grove and right now it is very green and filled with wildflowers. The cow parsnip is thick and smells fragrant…giving the hike a wonderful smell to remember. The insects were busy working in the flowers…mostly bees.
Play I Spyand you will see the crayfish that was scuttling along the creek bed. The water wasn’t very deep or moving very fast and we actually saw five different crayfish on this trip. They are strange creatures!
Here is another little wild friend that we stopped to watch along the trail. This squirrel (actually a chickaree) actually climbed up the tree with that cone in his mouth and then he sat eating the seeds up on the branch. Adorable!
Then we found a whole patch of Ranger buttons.…the insects were loving this flower!
Down on the beach it was covered in Hooker’s primrose and lupine….almost unreal how beautiful it was in the fading light. We walked and found a place to sit as the sun was setting…watching the shadows getting longer and longer.
This shows the lupine better….maybe this one will need to get printed out and put up on my wall. I love this place, feels like home. Do you know what I mean? Do you have a place that just feels like it was meant for you?
One last wildflower, this time a pink one, Checkermallow
So ends our most excellent summer day at the lake up in the mountains….sigh. Can’t wait to do it all again sometime!
I managed to create a Five Senses Nature Journal page as part of my Once a Month Nature Journal Project. This is a super simple idea for a quick nature journal page that you and your children can do very easily this month!
Go create your own summer day filled with goodness….enjoy!
Read pages 356-358(Lesson #86) in the Handbook of Nature Study. You may wish to also read about aphids as part of this study which is Lesson #84 in the Handbook of Nature Study.
Lacewing Life Cycle: Read about and then draw the life cycle of the green lacewing in your nature journal. This will help you prepare for your insect hunt when you go outdoors. The images at this link are clickable and will enlarge for you to see better. This link has amazing images: Green Lacewing.
Advanced study: Learn about the beneficial aspects of having lacewings in your garden: Youtube-Lacewings. Here is a printable information sheet about lacewings: Beneficial Insects-Lacewings.
Outdoor Hour Time:
One way to attract these insects is to leave your porch light on and watch for visitors. Lacewings are slow flyers so it may be possible to catch one with your hands if you do it carefully. Place the insect in a viewing jar. If you observe a lacewing, use the ideas from the Handbook of Nature Study to take a closer look.
Go on an insect hunt! Use the ideas from the Insect Study Grid found in the ebook or in the September 2012 Newsletter to create some excitement about your nature study this week. Print out the grid and take it with you! Mark off the squares as you complete them. This can also be a more long term project, finishing the grid during subsequent nature walks.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create a nature journal entry for the lacewing or any other insect you found interesting this week. Keep it simple: sketch, date, caption. There is a notebook page in the ebook for you to use.
Advanced study: Conduct additional research on the insect order– neuroptera. Use a field guide and complete two additional nature journal entries for insects in this order found in your local area. You can use this notebook page for your information.
Advanced study: If you are interested in learning to draw insects like a true naturalist, you will want to watch this YouTube Video: John Muir Laws – Drawing Insects.
If you want to purchase the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Summer Nature Study Continues – New Ebookannouncement page for more details.
It is that time of year again! Time to plan a few seasonal observations….and get outdoors with your family! I make it easy with the printable notebook pages that go along with these year long nature study ideas. Pick one and get started or take a few minutes to make the summer observations happen before we run out of summer.
I hope you can make use of these two new printables that we created for some summer time nature study.
What Does the Moon Look Like?– Make observations several times during the month to note the changes in the moon’s shape.
Butterfly Journal– Use this notebook page to document a butterfly sighting from your outdoor time.
These new printables are free if you are a member of the Ultimate Naturalist or Journey level memberships. You need to log into your account and then check the “Other Releases” section for brand new printables to enjoy along with the Outdoor Hour Challenges in 2015.
Enjoy!
Please note that I am in the process of updating and indexing the tabs found at the top of the website. Take a look at the Summer tab and the Garden tabto see how I have added more challenges, alphabatized the topics, and tried to include more links for you to try with your family! I will be working on these tabs over the next few weeks so that finding a particular challenge will be easier to find both here on the blog but also in the ebooks.
Sometimes when I think of Yosemite my heart skips a beat. What place on earth is like it? For our family it holds so many memories and has created a heart in each of us for being outside and feeling connected to the living and growing things found there.
It is the stuff of dreams.
This trip we shared the experience with a couple of our family friends….both of them first time visitors to Yosemite National Park!
Maybe it is in my very make-up. My family has been visiting Yosemite National Park for three generations. The back of this family photo says it is from August 31, 1941. I wonder how their experiences compare to ours today. They certainly dressed differently than we did for our visit and they don’t look as happy and relaxed as we do….maybe it was just for the photo.
Sometimes sitting high on a mountain or at the crest of a waterfall, I still gasp at the beauty that is found there. The music of the wind blowing sweetly or the water spilling on the rocks below is so beautiful you wish it would never end. I would go there every day if I could.
The incredible feel of being on a trail in Yosemite is beyond words, an experience so special and sacred. At times it feels like you are close to God and can feel his power and qualities.
Create a lifelong desire in your children to visit the various national parks… this is just what happened when my daughter was home for a visit from New York. She wanted to go to Yosemite and to Lake Tahoe. We did both!
So, that is one happy mama in the photo! I was able to make both outdoor experiences happen for her during her stay with us….we savored every moment together…pure joy.
Outdoor Mom’s Journal
Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world.
How Do You Join?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this week we went….
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting….
I added nature journal pages about….
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
A photo I would like to share…
I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.
Read pages 578-579 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #160). This is a short lesson but still full of interesting tidbits about bachelor’s buttons, or cornflower.
Please note that this lesson refers you to Lesson #131 on composite flowers. You will be using the ideas in Lesson #131 to complete your Bachelor’s buttons study.
This is a perfect time of year to take a garden walk.
If you have your own flower garden, make a special point to prepare your child for a garden nature study by explaining what you will be looking for during your fifteen minutes outdoors.
If you need to visit a local flower garden, make sure to explain that you can’t always pick flowers if they belong to someone else without their permission.
Look for this week’s flower or look for plants at your garden nursery to observe.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create your nature journal entry featuring a Bachelor’s button or another garden flower you observed for this challenge. There are notebook pages in the ebook for you to use.
Advanced Study: Research the difference between annual flowers and perennials.
If you want to purchase the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Summer Nature Study Continues – New Ebookannouncement page for more details.
Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.
The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately. There may be a delay in your receiving the email so please don’t email me until the second day of the month if you haven’t received the link on the first. For some reason, some email providers take longer to receive the newsletter email.
If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.
If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.
If you need to subscribe:
You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link.
This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of July so be sure to download it before 7/31/15.
Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
Three articles encouraging twilight nature study during the summer months
July planning page (five challenges to schedule for each Friday in July)
July Nature Journal Toppers, grid, Animals at Night notebook page
August preschool nature table ideas, printables, and activities (so you can plan ahead of time!) Check out the Amazon Store for this month’s topics: August 2015 Preschool Nature Table Ideas.(my affiliate link)
Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.
Need help getting started with your nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study? Check out the fresh “Getting Started” page here on the website!
What happens when you discover something new? How do you learn about a bird that you don’t recognize?
On the third day of our visit to the Grand Canyon, we rode the Orange shuttle all the way out to Yaki point, the last stop on the route. We were only trying to find a bit of solitude to hike in away from the crowds at the rim and the chatter of groups of hikers. Maybe they don’t realize what they are missing by endlessly talking as they walk or they just don’t know how to experience the beauty of a national park. Anyway, we achieved what we were looking for and set out along the rim to the east of the shuttle stop.
We walked and stopped occasionally to scramble out to a rock on the edge so we could view the vista and take a photo or two. At some point, we became aware of some birds chattering from the tree tops. Lots of birds! The sound was unfamiliar and loud.
We chased them down and observed a large flock of the birds chattering in the trees. They flew overhead once and we were able to take a closer look. We could tell they were about the size of a robin, they were bluish gray, and had a large black beak. This helped us later to figure out which bird it was.
After we returned to our campsite, I looked the bird up in my field guide. It was a pinyon jay!
You can read more about the pinyon jay here: All About Birds – Pinyon Jay.
