Getting Started Archives

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Wildflowers and Weeds Nature Study Grid and Photo Hunt

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Use the Wildflower and Weed Grid from this month’s newsletter to get started or to continue your nature study for this week. Pick a few of the prompts to complete as you spend just a few minutes outdoors. Pick a time of day that isn’t too hot so you will enjoy your time even more.

Printable Activity: Wildflower Photo Hunt
Use the free printable to guide your wildflower and weed hunt this week…or save the photo hunt for when you visit a natural area with wildflowers.

Printable Wildflower Photo Hunt Activity

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #1. Spend your time outdoors with your children following their lead. You might tell them ahead of time that you are on the lookout for wildflowers and see if they can guide you to a spot they have observed wildflowers in the past. Keep it relaxed and fun!

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Posted on May 24, 2013 by Barb — 3 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Table Top Garden

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
A fun way to learn about plant parts is to grow a table top garden with a few root vegetables. This week I challenge you to make a table top garden with your children. Keep it simple and start with one veggie and see the way it grows roots and stem and leaves. This is an easy project for any age.

Instructions on Hearts and Trees: Indoor Nature Study Idea: Table Top Garden
These instructions include a free downloadable notebooking page to go along with your table top garden.

Add your table top garden to your nature table as an on-going nature study experience.

Activity Suggestion: Create a Garden Flowers Nature Table

Free Printable Nature Table- Garden Flowers

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #3. Use this challenge to help you draw your table top garden as you make your observations. Use the notebooking page in the ebook or the free one noted in the challenge above.

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Garden Flowers Grid Study

Garden Flowers Grid Nature Study @handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com

“The only right way to begin plant study with young children is through awakening their interest in and love for flowers.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 453

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
Use the grids in the May newsletter to get started with your Garden Flowers and Crop Plants study this month. There are lots of simple ideas for observation that all ages can use to start this month’s focus on garden flowers and crop plants. If you have the newsletter, make sure to see the garden journal ideas on page 14. There is also a flower notebooking page included in the newsletter for you to use with any garden flower you study this month.

Special Activity: Using Your Senses in the Garden

Use your senses during your Grid Study this week and record your observations on this Garden Senses Notebook Page. Use you sense of touch, smell, sight, and even taste and hearing (be careful with the tasting!) to take your Outdoor Time to the next level.
Garden Senses Notebooking Page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #8. Just remember to take a magnifying lens with you during your outdoor time this week and encourage your children to look closely at some plants or flowers in your yard. Record you observations on the notebook page in the ebook.

If you already own the Garden Flower and Plants ebook, you could combine this week’s challenge with Garden Flowers Challenge #5 – Learning Leaf Parts. This challenge also encourages you to spend some quiet time in your garden using all your senses. Complete the accompanying notebook page in the ebook if you desire.

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Barb — 1 Comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Seasonal Pond Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week you will need to find a local pond to explore. I might suggest taking a look at the Turtles and Pondweed Challenge for a few ideas. This challenge also includes a free printable Pond Study which will expand your study beyond turtles and pondweed.

Printable Activity: Seasonal Pond Study Notebook Page

Use this notebook page to record your spring pond study observations and then revisist your pond in each season to compare plants, insects, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
Printable Seasonal Pond Study Notebook Page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #10. This week take an opportunity to get outside and enjoy a picnic lunch or snack. Use the ideas in this challenge to create a fun nature study experience for your family. Complete the accompanying notebook page for your nature journal while you are outdoors!

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Frog Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
You can reference the Outdoor Hour Challenge for Frogs from the Summer Series for pages to read in the Handbook of Nature Study, observation ideas, and some follow-up activities. Pick and choose which ones are appropriate for your local area and weather. Please make sure to save this study in case you don’t have tadpoles or frogs to observe in person. This is a wonderful long-term study that your children will love.

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Frogs

Printable: Frog Field Guide Notebook Page

This week’s free printable is one that even your older students will enjoy using along with a field guide. Pick a local frog to learn more about and record your findings for your nature journal using this free printable notebook page.
Frog Field Guide Notebook Page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #7. Take time to read through this challenge and contemplate how you could use your reptile and amphibian study to make a field guide of your local subjects. This could be a long term project that you add to as you come across new things to learn about.

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Barb — 4 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Reptile and Amphibian Grid Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This month we will be using the Reptile and Amphibian Grid Study from the April Newsletter to help us learn more about this interesting topic. Feel free to cut your grid to fit your nature journal or to customize your journal to fit your interests. Don’t forget that you can save the grid study for a future date if you don’t have access to any reptiles or amphibians for this month’s nature study.

Free Printable Notebook Pages:Reptiles and Amphibians
Use these pages to help get your family started with good working definitions of both reptiles and amphibians. They also have a place to write any interesting facts you want to remember about these topics.

Printable Notebook Pages: Reptiles and Amphibians
Some ideas for your notebook pages:

Reptiles in your local area
Amphibians in your local area
Reptiles or amphibians you have observed in person
Your favorite reptiles and amphibians

Extra Links:
Reptile videos on National Geographic
Amphibian videos on National Geographic

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #2. Use your words to describe any reptiles or amphibians you observe this month. Learning new vocabulary is an important part of nature study and will help your children in their later study of any life science.

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Barb — 16 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary in our nature travels is something we try to do on a regular basis. In my experience, the more you examine a subject, the better you really see it and its beauty….its extraordinary-ness!

Revisit the topic of mushrooms (or fungus) this week and try to find something extraordinary to discover. Make up stories about the mushrooms, recording them in your nature journal. Make sketches or additional watercolor entries in your nature journal. Take photos and add them to your nature journal. Enjoy!

Printable Activity: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary-Mushrooms

Free Printable Notebook Page: Extraordinary in the Ordinary
This is a great activity for using your imagination and for seeing beyond the ordinary. Take some time to find a subject for this Extraordinary in the Ordinary challenge. Take a deep look at any fungus you find in your yard or local area. Try to see the beauty of the structure, the placement, the role it plays in the habitat. Perhaps it provides food for a local animal or insect. Find some aspect to really enjoy as you spend one last week exploring the fungi in your world.

If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #9 – Small Square Study. Find a spot where you have some fungus growing and mark out your small square according to the instructions in this challenge. Use you keen observation skills to find as many things as you can in your square and then record your results on the notebooking page.

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Barb — 14 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Mushroom Nature Study with Cap Printable

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
For this challenge we are going to be on the lookout for any mushroom/fungus that we spy in our backyard or local area. Be sure to check out the previous mushroom nature study challenge from the Autumn Series of 2009. There is also a suggestion from the Handbook of Nature Study to capture a series of mushrooms in watercolors (page 717). I think this is such a wonderful idea and hope to start with one mushroom watercolor this week.

You may wish to print and take the printable below with you during your outdoor time to record any mushrooms you find to observe. If you need an explanation for the vocabulary used with the printable, see the links below (also found on page 717 of the Handbook of Nature Study).

The printable grid from the newsletter and the printable from the first challenge this month are both applicable to this challenge as well.

Free Printable Activity: Sketch Mushroom Cap Shapes

Free Printable Notebook Page:
Mushroom Cap Sketches

Great Links:
How to Identify Mushrooms and Where to Find Them
Mushroom Chart with Illustrations
Cap Morphology on Wikipedia ***
Fabulous Fungi (UK website)
Advanced vocabulary and diagrams-mushrooms

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #3. Drawing mushrooms in your nature journal can be fun and interesting…a great way to really see all the parts. Include labels, the date and location you found the mushroom, and any other fun facts from your outdoor time. Make it personal and special.

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Barb — 12 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Lichen and Moss Nature Study

“The mosses are a special delight to children because they are green and beautiful before other plants have gained their greenness in the spring and after they have lost it in the fall; to the discerning eye, a mossy bank or a mossy log is a thing of beauty always.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 709

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week continue looking for lichen and moss to examine closely. Use lots of descriptive words as you observe your subjects. You can view and use the information from Outdoor Hour Challenge #42: Moss and Lichen.

Weekly Challenge Activity: Moss Observation

Free Printable Moss Observation Notebook Page

Use this notebook page to record your sketch and notes about any moss you find this month as part of your outdoor time. The Handbook of Nature Study has information about Hair-cap moss in Lesson 197.

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #2. This is the perfect challenge to put all those wonderful moss and lichen words in your nature journal records. Help your child get started by spending a few minutes discussing all the amazing things you noticed about moss and lichen while outdoors.

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Barb — 20 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Mushroom Grid Nature Study

A whole new month is ahead of us….hopefully filled with fungus, moss, and lichen! This is a topic that probably many of us won’t put at the top of our nature study favorites but it is very interesting and it can be like a treasure hunt for your kids. I strongly urge you to give it a try, even if you just use the grid study found in this month’s newsletter.

Above all, have fun outdoors!

Outdoor Hour Challenge:

Print the March Newsletter page with the Mushroom, Lichen, and Moss Study Grid (page 8). Prepare a little before your outdoor time by discussing what the month’s focus is and where you might find some subjects to study. If your children are like mine, they will have some ideas about where to look. Use the printable below to learn a little more about mushrooms and the vocabulary that goes along with your study.

If you need more help getting started, click over to my Misc/Seasonal page and find specific challenges for mushrooms, lichen, and moss which will direct to reading in the Handbook of Nature Study.

Note: We will be focusing on moss next week and mushrooms the next. You can use this week’s challenge as an introduction to the month’s study and then go deeper in the next few weeks if you want to wait.

Special Activity: Parts of Mushroom

Free Printable Mushroom Parts Notebook Page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #8. This challenge is all about looking closely at things you find during your outdoor time. Take along a magnifying glass or bring home a sample to look at under your microscope. Record your results on the accompanying notebook page or in your nature journal.

Category: Getting Started