America’s Prairies and Grasslands Resource is a great book for your Nature Study. Learn about the Great Plains, animals, and free worksheets.
If you live in the prairies of North America or are interested in learning more about this rich and valuable habitat, you can read all about them in America’s Prairies and Grasslands-A Guide to Plants and Animalsby Marianne D. Wallace. This book describes the unique habitat with words and beautiful pictures.
Where are America’s prairies and grasslands?
In the United States you will find prairies and grasslands in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. And the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan make up the Great Plains.
Using America’s Prairies and Grasslands in Your Nature Study Activities
I love the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock but she wrote the book featuring plants and animals of her local habitat in upstate New York. Many of us live in very different habitats and to supplement our nature study we draw on other resources that discuss plants and animals we see in our neighborhoods.
America’s Prairies and Grasslands will appeal to many families because it helps us look deeper into things we see every day and maybe don’t appreciate.
America’s Prairies and Grasslands Overview
This book uses maps to show where different prairies and grasslands are located in the United States. Visual spatial learners will benefit by looking at the maps or even recreating them in their nature journals. When I was homeschooling my boys, I always appreciated the opportunities to draw connections between different academic subjects and using geography alongside your nature study will make it more meaningful.
A great way to use this book is to go through each of the six major grasslands one at a time: tallgrass prairie, mixed-grass prairie, shortgrass prairie, Palous prairie, California Valley grassland, and semi-desert grassland.
For each of the six grasslands, you can do the following steps.
Read the narrative.
Look at the map.
Look at the two page colored illustration.
Pick a plant or animal to learn more about using information in the back of the book, your own nature library, or online resources.
Wrap up your study with a nature journal page.
Take a week for each grassland or if you live in a particular grassland, why not stretch it to an entire school year by taking a plant or animal each week? Use the index in the back of the book to see just how many topics you find of interest to your family. Check the Homeschool Nature Study websiteusing the tabs at the top to find any Outdoor Hour Challenges for selected topics to use alongside the America’s Prairies and Grasslands book.
Learning About The Animals of the Great Plains
The Great Plains is home to numerous interesting animals including: bison, black-footed ferrets, pronghorn, grouse, prairie dogs, elk, big horn sheep, bears, turkeys, and mountain lions – just to name a few!
Learn About Other Habitats and Biomes
Use these resources to learn about the various habitats and biomes!
Homeschool Nature Study Members have unlimited access to the printable library. You can download the Habitats and Comparing Habitats worksheets to learn about other habitats around the world.
Seashore Activities and Worksheets – A trip to the beach can be a fun family time experience. When you add a few purposeful seashore observations, the trip can transform into beautiful long lasting memories.
Our High Desert course is included in membership and gives you a deep dive into the animals, plants and the vast variety of this habitat. It also includes advanced studies options for high school students. Here are some topics included:
Bitterbrush
Sagebrush
Greater sage
Grouse
Succulents
Mountain Lion
Coyote
Pocket Gopher
Bristlecone Pine
Elk
Turkey Vulture
Juniper
Snowberry
Golden Mantled ground squirrel
River Otter
Join the Homeschool Nature Study Membership
There are so many benefits to joining. You will access our full range of curriculum, our interactive learning calendar as well as a homeschool nature study challenge for each week!
Autumn is a wonderful time of year for discovery, picnics, and tree studies! We created an Autumn Willow Tree Printable for you to enjoy before winter settles.
What is a Willow Tree?
Did you know there are more than 200 different species of willow trees? But all willows have a few things in common: abundant watery bark sap, which is heavily charged with salicylic acid, soft, usually pliant tough wood, slender branches, and large fibrous often stoloniferous roots – which means they grow along the ground.
Willow wood is used to make baskets, furniture, toys, and fishing nets. The wood is too soft for lumber, but it is popular for wickerwork. In ancient times, people chewed willow bark to treat fevers and rheumatic pains. The bark contains salicylic acid, which is the basis for modern aspirin.
Autumn Willow Nature Study and Printable for Members
If you do not live near Willow Trees, print the Under the Fallen Leaves worksheet.
Autumn Willow Tree notebooking page: Use this page to record your autumn willow observations. This can be the start of a year long/four seasons study of willows for your family. I will be reminding you each season to make some notes about your willow tree.
Under the Fallen Leaves notebooking page: Take a few minutes to look under the leaves in your yard or a near-by park. What do you see there? Create a sketch and describe what you saw, felt, and smelled during your outdoor time.
There are so many benefits to joining. You will access our full range of curriculum, our interactive learning calendar as well as a brand new homeschool nature study challenge post each week!
Kids and cattails are a great combination for a fun autumn nature study and your autumn search for cattails can begin this week! When the original autumn cattail Outdoor Hour Challenge was posted years ago, I asked my boys if they knew where any cattails were growing. Amazingly, they knew a couple places around town where they were growing so we were off on a cattail adventure.
Cattails Year-Long Nature Study
This could be the start of a year-long study of cattails in which you observe a designated patch of cattails once each season to watch the changes. As the year progresses, the complete life cycle story of not only the cattails but the rest of the critters that live around them begins to emerge. Such a valuable nature study lesson!
Archive Outdoor Hour Challenge – Click the link above to take you to the original challenge and a free printable notebook page for your family to use each season for your cattail study.
“The cattail is adapted for living in swamps where the soil is wet but not under water all the time….They usually occur in marshy zones along lakes or streams; and such a zone is always sharply defined by dry land on one side and water on the other.”
Handbook of Nature Study, Page 502
Make sure to click the link below to read the entire Outdoor Hour Challenge with helpful links, nature study ideas, printable notebooking pages, and suggested follow-up activities.
It’s a great time to join Homeschool Nature Study! We offer a multitude of science activities, hands-on learning ideas, seasonal nature studies, crafts, free resources for all ages – join the #outdoorhourchallenge community and enhance your homeschool science lessons!
Our family loves going on a good mushroom hunt! You can read in the Handbook of Nature Study about this fascinating nature study topic and then set off on your own fungi hunt. Remember to create a sense of adventure as you set out to look for mushrooms, building anticipation for finding even just one mushroom to observe.
Did you know, mushrooms are grown in all 50 states? The majority of commercial mushroom growers are located in Pennsylvania. 63% of all white mushrooms are grown in Pennsylvania. Mushrooms require less water than other crops which makes them “energy efficient”.
Tip for Finding Mushrooms
My original mushroom challenge suggested that you let your friends and family know that you are looking for mushrooms and they can let you know if they come across any in their travels. Some of our best mushroom studies came from tips I got from my dad who found several interesting species of mushrooms on his property.
Archive Outdoor Hour Challenge – Click the link above to see the mushroom study suggestions in the original challenge.
“Fungi, as a whole, are a great boon to the world. Without them our forests would be choked out with dead wood. Decay is simply the process by which fungi and other organisms break down dead material, so that the major part of it returns to the air in gaseous form, and the remainder, now mostly humus, mingles with the soil.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 715
More Facts About Mushrooms
Mushrooms are a good source of Vitamin E as well as protein.
Most children recognize the red cap mushroom with white spots in Super Mario, the Fly agaric. However this mushroom is not safe to eat. It is highly toxic.
Cook with Mushrooms
Bring the Autumn Mushroom Nature Study into your kitchen for a fun night of cooking! Try out different mushrooms from your farmer’s market or local grocery store. Mushrooms are great in spaghetti sauce, soups, scrambled eggs, and stir fry. Try adding them on hamburgers and pizza! This Whole Foods graphic is helpful if you’re not familiar with cooking mushrooms.
Watercolor Mushrooms
“Since mushrooms are especially good subjects for watercolor and pencil studies, it would add much to the interest of the work if each pupil, or the school as a whole, should make a portfolio of sketches of all the species found. With each drawing there should be made on a supplementary sheet a spore print of the species.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 718
Homeschool Nature Study Members can print the Mushroom Coloring Page from their dashboard.
Mushroom Nature Craft
Victoria shares, “It is time to brighten up our spirits as well as our gardens with these brightly coloured plant pot mushrooms. With only a handful of supplies you can create something to beautify either your outside or inside plant pots. So get outside, hunt down the perfect twigs and lets get crafting.”
This season plan some outdoor time to enjoy studying feathered creatures in your neighborhood. We have provided a Bird Feet Observation Worksheet to go along with your Autumn Bird Nature Study. Also you will learn more about woodpeckers. Take some time to follow the links in the archived challenge to view a variety of woodpeckers and determine which ones live in your neighborhood.
After your outdoor time, no matter which feathered friend you found to study, follow up with the Bird Nature Study notebook page found in the Autumn Notebook Bundle.
Make sure to click the link below to read the entire Outdoor Hour Challenge with helpful links, nature study ideas, printable notebooking pages, and suggested follow-up activities.
Homeschool Natures Study Members can download the Bird Feet Observations Worksheet and the Autumn Bundle which includes many pages to incorporate fall learning all season!
Watch Live Bird Cams
If you live in a city or find it hard to observe birds, try watching live cams. Cornell Lab offers a great variety of Live Bird Cams! From ospreys, owls, condors, hawks, to regular videos at bird feeders, you can watch many different types of birds. The National Audubon Society also offers free live cams, however you do watch them on YouTube.
Paint Autumn Birds
We love when Nana paints birds! You can paint these wonderful creatures to continue your Autumn Bird Study! Be sure to read: Fall Bird Study for Your Homeschool.
Even More Bird Nature Study Opportunities!
Finding more time to admire the avians? We have a variety of helpful resources to add to your bird study. Click on one of the images below.
Tree squirrels are some of the most entertaining critters to inhabit our neighborhoods. This Outdoor Hour Challenge will help you and your little squirrel hunters observe local squirrels more closely as you note their behavior and features. Squirrels are not shy so you should be able to spot them and make some observations with ease. Enjoy this Squirrel Nature Study by taking along a pair of binoculars to get a closer look!
Archive Outdoor Hour Challenge – Click the link above to take you to the original challenge.
“The squirrel’s legs are short because he is essentially a climber rather than a runner; the hips are very strong, which insures his power as a jumper, and his leaps are truly remarkable.”
“The squirrel has two pairs of gnawing teeth which are very long and strong, as in all rodents, and he needs to keep busy gnawing hard things with them, or they will grow so long that he cannot use them at all and will starve to death.”
“During the winter, the red squirrel does not remain at home except in the coldest weather, when he lies cozily with his tail wrapped around him like a fur neck-piece to keep him warm.”
Handbook of Nature Study, pages 234 and 235
Make sure to click the link below to read the entire Outdoor Hour Challenge with helpful links, nature study ideas, printable notebooking pages, and suggested follow-up activities.
Squirrel Nature Study – Handbook of Nature Study Lesson #57
Homeschool Nature Study Membership
It’s a great time to join Homeschool Nature Study! We offer a multitude of science activities, hands-on learning ideas, seasonal nature studies, crafts, free resources for all ages – join the #outdoorhourchallenge community and enhance your homeschool science lessons!
By Barb McCoy, founder of the Outdoor Hour Challenges with The Handbook of Nature Study. Updated and new resources added byStef Layton.
A trip to the beach can be a fun family time experience. When you add a few purposeful seashore observations, the trip can transform into beautiful long lasting memories. One summer we headed to the beach in Naples Florida. It wasn’t long snorkeling before many starfish suddenly started to make themselves known to us. A few of these creatures even swimming right into my husband’s gloved-hand. The boys were absolutely thrilled and it’s a memory they still bring up almost 10 years later.
That evening we discovered there are over 2,000 different species of starfish! All because we were on the look to discover something unique and different. I’m not against building sand castles and even taking a nap in the shade. I am pro-nap! But when we went on these excursions with purpose, eyes open, ready to observe the world around us – it made such a difference!
Seashore Observations for Nature Study Activities
Here are a few helpful tips to turn a beach trip into a Nature Study.
Go with an intention. Are you looking for shells? Animals? Crab hunting? Trash pick up? Have a purpose, but also be flexible. There were days when the boys only wanted to find a sand dollar. That’s a big ask on the east coast of Florida. Maybe instead of a specific shell, decide on a size or color. Maybe something living inside the shells.
Set Perimeters. The beach is a big place. Square off an area to observe. You can even assign each student a square area (usually drawn by my big toe), to dig, notice, and report any findings.
Use Back Up Help (curriculum!). It’s always helpful to have some back-up help with curriculum, field guides, books, etc. When we were using Apologia’s Swimming Creatures – there was always a purpose to go to the seashore.
Observe with Eyes Only. As pretty as some things are at the seashore, not everything should be touched. We learned this the hard way one trip when my youngest decided to step on a “squishy” jellyfish. As for that old myth, it’s a myth. Only rubbing alcohol got the sting out of those poor piggies.
Visit the Aquarium. Your local Aquarium offers vast amounts of seashore information! From plants, bugs, and animals you might not even notice at first glance. It’s great to see them at the aquarium and then be on the hunt for them in the wild!
Visit Different Seashores! We lived in Florida for 30 years, the east coast is much different than the west coast. I can also say upon our travels: Florida beaches are different from Cape Cod beaches. Florida beaches are much different from Costa Rica beaches. And Florida beaches definitely do not offer the monkey business like a Thailand beach!
Please pick up your trash – whichever beach you visit! The monkeys in Phuket are now becoming aggressive. We watched a group steal a woman’s bag off her back and rip open a can of Pringles.
Nature Study Member Worksheets: Ocean Study
We love to offer helpful free downloads to add to your nature studies. Here are a few new resources for your Seashore and Ocean Study.
Members can head over to their dashboard to print the SeaShells Coloring Page, Ocean Animals Matching Page, and older students can use the Ocean FoodChain Worksheet.
Ocean and Shell Nature Craft Activities
We are loving this cute Ocean Nature Craft. A great craft when learning about the Ocean Biome.
Ocean Biome Nature Craft
Seashell Nature Craft
Hot, summer weather means the bugs are all out busy pollinating, so let’s create some seashell watering stands to help cool them down. This craft only needs a few supplies and a little supervision for the little ones but overall it is an unbelievably simple craft to make. So head down to the beach and hunt for mussels and other pretty shells and let’s get crafting!
Perfect to go with the Seashells Coloring Page! Members, log in and head to your Nature Crafts course!
Homeschool Nature Study Membership
It’s a great time to join Homeschool Nature Study! We offer a multitude of science activities, hands-on learning ideas, seasonal nature studies, crafts, free resources for all ages – join the #outdoorhourchallenge community and enhance your homeschool science lessons!
Stef started homeschooling her boys in 2008. She quickly adopted a hands-on learning homeschool style and graduated her oldest tactile learner in 2021. Stef started the Hands-On Learning column in Homeschooling Today magazine. The Laytons currently reside in the foothills of Colorado where Stef also teaches yoga. The family loves to hike trails, stand-up paddle board, and chase sunsets. Stef shares travel and homeschool tips on IG at @LaytonAdventures.
There are so many simple ways to study nature in your homeschool this winter! From nature walks to indoor studies, use this guide as a starting point for making memories together.
Simple Ways to Study Nature in Your Homeschool This Winter
Getting outside for a walk on the first day of winter may be one of the most refreshing activities you could do with your children. The temperatures drop and we huddle inside more and more, especially on the shortest day of the year!
“The most obvious work of nature has been the preparation for winter. A wide range of observation should be used to impress the truth: the trees and shrubs have lost their leaves, and stored the provisions for spring in the buds and branches; many softer plants die down to the ground, storing the food in roots, others in bulbs, and still others in tubers. The question may be asked for each plant that comes up for observation – How did it get ready for winter?”
1. Take a walk this week and spend a few minutes looking at the plants in your yard and neighborhood. Look for bushes and trees without leaves, stopping to note that these plants are many times not dead but just waiting for spring to begin a new growth cycle. Don’t go into too much detail but allow time for quiet observation.
2. After your outdoor time, spend a few minutes discussing how plants get ready for winter. You can bring out the following points:
Some plants (Annuals) have seeds that survive the winter even when the plant does not.
Other plants (Perennials) have roots that survive the winter and start to grow again in the spring.
Deciduous trees shed their leaves, conserve food, and have buds that are waiting until spring to open and grow.
3. Make a nature journal entry recording anything of interest from your outdoor time.
Alternately, make plans to get outside for a brisk nature walk and then to follow up with a nature journal page recording all of the interesting things you found while outside.
Animals in Winter Homeschool Nature Study
“The same thought should be applied to the animals. Most of the birds have gone south because of the cold, and also because their food is gone; the frogs, turtles, and toads are going to sleep all winter down in the mud or earth below the frost; the caterpillars are waiting in their cocoons for the warm spring sunshine; most of the other insects have laid their eggs for the next season, while a few of them have crawled into warm places to wait; the squirrels have gathered a store of nuts, and will soon be asleep in the old tree-trunks; the cats dogs, horses, and cows have grown a fresh coat of hair and fur. Nothing is forgotten; each is ready in its own best way.”
This will be another easy week of nature study that will blend easily with other Outdoor Hour Challenges. Take the opportunity to spend some time outdoors noticing the way that animals prepare for winter. Make this one an investigation!
You might prepare with a little discussion about the various animals and birds that live in your local area. Some ideas to get you started:
migrating or visiting birds
squirrels gathering nuts
insects in cocoons
changes in color of various animals as they prepare for the white of the snow time
Bundle up and spend fifteen minutes outdoors enjoying the December world. A good nature walk is pleasurable for everyone and allows you and your children to appreciate God’s beautiful creation. The best times I can remember with my children are the times we just took it slow and easy, looking for the little things that most people pass by.
Look for signs of animals and think about ways they prepare for winter. You can also make bird and animal observations, noting their behavior. How are they staying warm? finding food? sheltering from the weather?
Encourage everyone to use all of their senses on this walk:
Did they see something colorful or unusual?
How does the air feel on your skin?
Is there a particular fragrance to the air?
Can you listen carefully for a minute or two to distinguish any particular sounds?
Another idea is to ask your children to find differences in the landscape, comparing your neighborhood habitat on this winter day to what they remember about the first day of summer. This is a little harder and you may need to help them get started with a few of your own observations.
More Outdoor Hour Challenge Ideas:
Turn over a rock and see what’s underneath.
Look up in the branches of the trees and see if you can find any birds or other critters.
Sit quietly by the edge of a pond or stream and see what comes along.
Breathe the air and enjoy the day.
Follow Up Indoor Winter Nature Study Activities:
After your outdoor time allow time for a nature journal entry. Use the notebook page or the journal idea from the December Newsletter to record your observations of anything that your child finds interesting. I also have a December World Notebook Page included Homechool Nature Study Membership or you can use one of the journaling pages included in the free membership sample, below.
Maybe this week you could use a different art medium in your journal…many of us get stuck in a rut. Offer colored pencils, thin markers, watercolors, or pastels.
You could also try offering modeling clay as an alternative to drawing the subject this week and then take a photo of the finished product to include in the nature journal.
In Homeschool Nature Study membership, each challenge gives you step by step instructions to get started with simple weekly nature study ideas…even in the middle of winter! This may just be what your homeschool week needs to get you through the cold winter days of January, February, and March.
Each challenge is written for you to complete in your own neighborhood or backyard and you can adapt each challenge to fit your local area with suggestions I offer with each topic. Don’t be discouraged if you look at the list of topics and think you don’t have that particular subject close at hand. I will guide you through finding a replacement to still offer you a weekly dose of nature study.
The winter homeschool nature study challenges were written for families with children of all ages. In addition to the regular challenge, I have bumped up the nature study for older or more experienced children, complete with their own set of notebooking pages. You will be able to use these studies with your whole family and pull it out from year to year and have a nature study resource for all levels.
Outdoor Hour Challenges for Winter – Bring the Handbook of Nature Study to Life in Your Homeschool!
Membership includes all you need for using the Handbook of Nature Study and enjoying learning together as a family. See a sample membership Winter Homeschool Nature Study by signing up with the form, below.
Membership includes all of this plus MORE!
notebook pages and coloring pages
Upper Level notebook pages for advanced or experienced students
Charlotte Mason style exam questions
Complete list of supplies needed
Detailed instructions for each challenge, including links and printables
Nature journal suggestions
Alternate ideas to adapt the challenges to your local area
Members also enjoy:
Bird in Snow video art lesson
First Day of Winter Walk and Observations Page
December World Notebook Page
Winter Weather Observations Journal Page
Window Observations Journal Page
December Words and Poem Journal Page
Special Outdoor Hour Challenges
Snow Study!
Red and Green Outdoor Hour Challenge
Moon and Moon Names
Study on Magnets and the Compass
And more challenges from all of the courses pictured above!
Get Your Free Sample Of Membership: Winter Homeschool Nature Study Download
Most importantly, when you get outside for your winter homeschool nature study, take along a good attitude and leave yourself open to whatever the experience brings. Allow your children to direct you to things they find interesting and then share in their excitement.
When the calendar flips to September you might be ready for an autumn or fall homeschool nature study in your own backyard. How about your part of the world? Are you feeling like autumn or is it lingering summer? Whatever your world looks like you can take a fall walk and discover some fall color…maybe not your leaves but look for berries, nuts, and weeds that are changing color.
The Benefits of Nature Study in the Fall
The benefits of fall nature study seem to be endless! The most important of all is making memories together as a family. The crisp, cooler air and the brilliant blue sky (on sunny days) highlight all of the fall leaf color for us. Being outside does wonders for moods. And having an outdoor ‘laboratory’ for discovery is as simple as swinging open your backdoor.
The fall Outdoor Hour Challenges are among our very favorites. My children and I have wonderful memories of looking for not only different leaf color but leaf shapes. With the cooler weather, we tend to take nature walks even more.
Plus, a fall homeschool nature study gives an opportunity for all ages to learn as little or as much as they would like to.
Fall Nature Study Lesson Plans
We have Outdoor Hour Challenge Homeschool Nature Study Curriculum filled with weeks of fall nature study plans! You can also take a look at this sampling of the resources we have for you to enjoy simple, fall homeschool nature study in your own backyard.
Seasonal Tree Observations Outdoor Hour Challenge
Fall Color Walk with Printable Color Cards in membership (great for your youngest adventurers)
Access to a Fall Leaf Nature Study Grid for printing (you can place in your journal and ‘check off’ scavenger hunt style. Includes a bookmark for coloring in the colors of the fall leaves near you)
Autumn nature study journal pages for each Outdoor Hour Challenge
Autumn coloring pages
Under the Fallen Leaves notebooking page
Autumn Changes in Your Own Backyard
Learning About Leaves – with journal page
Autumn Weather Tracking chart printable
Signs of Autumn Notebook Page
Printable Fall Series Field Notebook
And SO much more! (with more topics coming!)
Fall Forest Biome Nature Craft Activity
Our resident illustrator, Victoria Vels, shares, “Autumn is on the horizon with the yellowing of leaves signalling chilly weather to come, so lets create this forest floor biome to celebrate. In this tutorial I will show you how to layer watercolours to create depth as well as texture using a stippling technique. So grab your paints, download the free printable I have created and let’s get crafting!”
Fall Garland Craft Activity
Autumn is in full swing with rusty leaves and seeds galore, so let us bring in some of the season’s beauty with this Autumn garland.
We’ve heard from families that they were reluctant to start a nature study plan, stating that they thought it would restrict their freedom to focus on one topic. But, they found that having a focus each week actually helped them to stay regular at getting outside and it helped them be better at taking a few minutes to learn about an object they encountered, even if it wasn’t the original aim for getting outdoors.
We make it easy with resources you can use at your own pace and on your own schedule. Or, you may choose to follow our annual nature study plans closely and have everything at your fingertips.
Enjoy a last days of summer homeschool nature study free notebook page. Let’s soak up these last sunny and glorious days, have fun and make memories together as a family.
I am still working in the garden…picking beans and watering.
Many of you have gone back to school already but we need to remember that it is still officially summer until September 23. There is still time to get outside and do a few more summer activities, making some family memories.
I made up a notebook page for you to download to remember to have some fun while the summer weather is still around.
The boys have convinced us to go to the lake a few more times to wakeboard.
I am not ready to give up on summer yet! My boys are ready to hit the lake a few more times and we are going camping and hiking too.
Last Days of Summer Homeschool Nature Study Free Notebook Page
Homeschool Nature Study members already have this page in your Summer Outdoor Hour Curriculum course. Not yet a member? You can download the notebook page, below and sample the Outdoor Hour Challenges:
Have fun!
More Family-Style Summer Homeschool Nature Study
You might also like these fun ways to enjoy summer homeschool nature study:
For even more homeschool nature study ideas for all seasons, join us in Homeschool Nature Study membership! You’ll receive new ideas each and every week that require little or no prep – all bringing the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool!
