New Printables in the Member’s Library!
There are new printables for you to use with your family 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 as you observe trees in your neighborhood.
September 2014 – Fall Flowers
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Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
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.
This week we are going to use our senses and do a little cattail observation! Make sure to click over to the original challenge to see the list in the Train Your Senses section to get some ideas for your family to try. Also in the challenge, make sure to read the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study. If you already started a year-long cattail study, revisit your spring spot and note the changes.
Outdoor Hour Challenge Summer Series: Cattail Observations
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #3. This week you should take a trip to your cattail patch and make some drawings. You can use a blank page in your nature journal or use the notebook page included in the ebook.
Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week we are going to do a summer frog study using the Outdoor Hour Challenge. Here is a link to the original challenge for you to use for ideas and suggestions for your family’s frog study:
Use the activities in Lesson 47 in the Handbook of Nature Study to learn more about frogs.
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. Take a picnic lunch to a near-by pond and combine your frog study and a little pond study after you have a little something to eat. Food always tastes better when you eat it outdoors! Use the notebooking page in the ebook as a follow up to your outdoor time if you wish.
Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This may be a challenging study for many of you but from my experience I can tell you that you may be surprised when an opportunity to view a snake up close comes along. In any account, you can use this snake nature study to prepare for a future snake sighting.
Special Activity: Field Trip-Amphibians and Reptiles
Use this free printable activity while on a field trip to a place in your local area that has reptiles and/or amphibians. This could be a zoo, pet store, nature center, or local park. Instructions are included on the bottom to create a mini-book to complete and then to attach in your nature journal.
Free Printable Amphibian and Reptile Field Trip Mini-Book
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #2. Make sure to take your 10-15 minute outdoor excursion to spend some time outdoors this week. After you walk, help your child with finding words to describe their experience, whether they observed a snake or not. Use the accompanying notebook page to record your outdoor time.
Note: You can find the Getting Started ebook in all levels of membership here at the Handbook of Nature Study.
Outdoor Hour Challenge:
We are going to have some fun with cats this week! Make sure to read the section in the Handbook of Nature Study for loads of ideas to try with your family cat or a neighborhood cat.
Printable Notebook Pages
Printable Notebook Pages
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #8. Use a magnifying lens to example your cat. Look at the various parts suggested in the Handbook of Nature Study and then record your observations in your nature journal or on the accompanying notebook page.
Note: You can find the Getting Started ebook in all levels of membership here at the Handbook of Nature Study.
Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week we are going to get started with a spring wildflower or dandelion nature study challenge! This is always a favorite study and I look forward to seeing how your family completes some of the ideas in the following challenges. As always, if you don’t have any wildflowers or dandelions, take a walk anyway and see what you can find or talk about the up-coming wildflower season to create some enthusiasm. See the ideas below for a dandelion hunt.
Printable Wildflower Photo Hunt Activity
This month’s newsletter includes a page of Nature Journal Toppers. One of the suggested activities outlines some ideas for observing a dandelion that you may find during your outdoor time and then creating a nature journal page with all your measurements and comparisons.
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #6. You can work on your nature table collection or pressed flower collection this week as part of your follow-up time. See the ideas in this challenge from the Getting Started ebook for more ideas and a custom notebooking page.
Note: You can find the Getting Started ebook in all levels of membership here at the Handbook of Nature Study.
Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week we can start a spring season of bird watching, recording our observations in our nature journals. Keep it simple and light by taking some time to go outdoors and observing the birds in your neighborhood.
Here is the link to the challenge from the archives:
Spring Birds Observations: This entry includes a wonderful link to All About Birds which will show you four keys to identifying birds. I think you will find it helpful.
You might like to also have this awesome link: Feeder Birds Coloring Book-Make sure to download and save the PDF so you will have it when you need it!
Special Activity: Life List Printable
Bird Life List Printable
Here is a simple printable to use in your nature journal to keep an on-going list of birds you observe and identify.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #4. If you own the ebook, you can use the printable to record your bird focus.
Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week use the ideas in the challenges listed to make some simple Spring Weather Observations.
Printable Notebook Page:
During your seasonal weather observations, take a photo of something that shows your current weather conditions. Better yet, let your children take the images and then print them out for a personalized nature journal entry. This can be done in each season and recorded in your nature journal’s seasonal section.
Printable Notebook Page:My Seasonal Weather.
Nature in Verse by Mary Lovejoy is a whole year’s worth of poetry organized by seasons. You can click the link and scroll to the table of contents. Look for any poems that relate to spring. Read some aloud to your children and perhaps pick a line or two to copy onto a nature journal page.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #3. Make sure to read the pages in the Handbook of Nature Study for this challenge. We all need reminders about how to encourage our children in their nature journals. Along with a sketch, your child can add a verse or two of spring poetry to their nature journal. Keep it simple and light…
Outdoor Hour Challenge:
Apple Trees in Spring –See some of the ideas below or click over to the original Outdoor Hour Challenge for more in-depth ideas for a study of an apple tree.
Spring (Spring 2010 Ebook) You can use the ideas in this challenge to start or continue a year-long tree study of your choice.
You may also like to read this entry for additional simple ideas to get you started:
For the Love of Trees
Special Activity:
Four Seasons Tree Photo Project:
To accompany this challenge, print these notebook page for your nature journal and attach a photo of your tree in each season.
Four Seasons Tree Photo Project Notebook Page: One page for each season’s observations and a photo or sketch.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #10. I hope everyone is starting to see some signs of spring this week. Perhaps a simple picnic during the day during your tree study time might be nice. Use the accompanying notebook page to record your picnic time observations.
