This week features an Outdoor Hour Challenge that everyone can complete no matter where you live! Take note of the weather using the suggestions in the winter weather nature study link below. This is a super easy and fun nature study topic that can be the start of a seasonal weather study.
Use the notebook page above to create a record of your observations for your nature journal.
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.
4th Quarter Updates – Including Our Amazing North American Beaver
The winter season is upon us as well as the end of another calendar year. I won’t lie. I am so ready for the change. Since the middle of October, I have been sitting and gazing out the window for the most part. After a bilateral hip replacement, for weeks I couldn’t even get in my car because my legs hardly bent.
Thankfully, the view out my window is never boring and it’s constantly changing, providing endless delight with its animals, birds, clouds, and landscape view of the mountains. But, I watch my husband as he hikes to the river each day with our dog and I’m so ready to be out there with them! I’m learning patience.
Now, as I’m writing this update, I’m a little more mobile and starting to use a cane. The trouble is the weather has descended upon us and many days the snow and icy pavement make it a challenge to walk even with help.
Being confined indoors and doing a lot of sitting was conducive to making plans and thinking of future nature study projects. I made lists of new printable notebook pages for 2019 and planned out six new ebooks full of exciting nature study topics. I’m also reading lots of nature related books and field guides. My own nature journal has received a lot of attention as I keep notes of animals we capture on our critter cam and I catch up on things I’ve wanted to learn about from previous adventures. In the end, I’m making good use of my down time as I recover from this major surgery.
Dreaming of the new trails I will explore with new hips and no pain.
Now for the results of my 4th quarter goals-
Finish up the year in my Nature Observer Guided Journal.
Successfully stuck with this journal all year! I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed this project. This pre-planned journal provided just the motivation I needed to keep a regular, almost daily, record of our nature experiences. It has inspired me to continue this routine and even improve on it with some ideas I thought of as I worked through the suggested activities.
This is the nature journal I used for the 2018 year and LOVED it! Please know this is an Amazon affiliate link to a book I purchased and used and love and highly recommend.
Accomplished this! Counting birds is just a given in our weekly routine. 10 species so far, 50 total birds counted. Walk as much as possible, allowing for healing from my hip surgery.
Accomplished! I’m back at my daily walking, even if it’s just down the driveway to look at the trees and birds. I’ve made it out the back gate a couple times, but the frozen snow and ground are a little bit difficult for me still. It will be a joy to walk freely and I’m starting to see the end of this challenging recovery.
Read at least two nature related books from my personal library.
Accomplished! I’ve been reading so much! I pulled lots more books off my own book shelves and ordered up loads of books from my local public library. I rarely get the chance to just sit and read so what a pleasure it has been to stick my nose in a book.
The most exciting nature find of the year happened during this last quarter of 2018. We finally captured a video of the beaver we’ve been chasing since last year. We used my critter cam and put it down by the river where we noticed they were gnawing on a tree. Then, after it was down on the ground, we were able to position the camera between the river and the tree. At last! We not only saw one beaver but two working together to take the limbs off the tree and then drag them down into the water. What an awesome experience!
It’s been a wonderful year of nature study for me personally. As always, I’m looking forward to setting and working on new goals in 2019.
Would you like to join me? I’ve created a planning sheet for you to use as you create your nature study goals. Please feel free to print and share as much as you like. If you post your goals somewhere on the internet, send me the link and I will pop over and read your thoughts!
Now available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships:
Under a Rock * First Day of Winter Walk * Cloud Journal
Use these new printable notebooking pages with your family this month!
Under a Rock notebooking page: This was a special request from a family with young children and I thought it was a great addition to the printable library. Take an early winter walk and look for things still to be found under a rock!
First Day of Winter NatureWalk notebooking page: It’s hard to believe that this month we will have the official first day of winter but why not take advantage of the turn of the season to get outside and see what surprises you can find with your children? I am hoping to be recovered enough from my surgery to join you in a first day of winter nature walk on December 21st.
Cloud Journal notebooking page: Print this page at the beginning of any month and keep track of your clouds with simple sketches and words. I am really looking forward to this activity! This journal can be part of your winter weather nature study. Look for the official challenge on December 28, 2018.
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.
Please note that members have access to the complete year’s plan in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships. Non-members can follow along by subscribing to this blog and each Friday the Outdoor Hour Challenge will come into your email inbox.
Nothing could be easier than creating a field notebook list for your nature journal!
This week’s challenge will help you make a list of nature study topics you observed during your outdoor time but aren’t quite ready to study in depth. As you work through this activity, you’re training your family to be more alert and giving them skills that actual naturalists use to learn more about their own habitats.
Soon, the weather and conditions may keep you indoors and this list of topics will give you inspiration to keep nature study going indoors.
Nature Study When the Weather is Too Cold or Wet to be Outdoors – Pull Out Your Field Notebook List!
Skim down your field notebook list of topics, choose one to topic to study, and then get out your Handbook of Nature Study and/or a field guide. Do a little research on your chosen topic and then create a nature journal page showing what you learned.
Archive Outdoor Hour Challenge – Click the link above to see the original challenge. Make sure to read the introductory pages in the Handbook of Nature Study to freshen up your nature study attitude!
The Field Notebook List is a tool you can use in planning your future nature study lessons!
Additional Suggestion:
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 13-15 (The Field Notebook). In this section Anna Botsford Comstock helps us with a detailed description of her idea of a field notebook or nature journal. She also states that if done properly “they represent what cannot be bought or sold, personal experience in the happy world of out-of-doors”. Make note of any suggestions you want to implement with your children.
You can print and use the field notebook page included in the free autumn notebook page download above.
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.
This Outdoor Hour Challenge is part of the 2018-2019 Plan here on the Handbook of Nature Study. We’ll be using the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock to discover new things about the world around us. Join us each Friday for a different nature study topic. Make sure to subscribe to this blog to receive the weekly challenge right in your email box.
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.
Willows in our autumn landscape are a colorful accent, lining the river’s edge and adding a rich reddish orange as you look off into the distance. There are still a few leaves left on the willows and the limbs and branches are a yellow color.
As part of our autumn study, we picked a willow to use as our subject for a year-long willow study. We tied a piece of twine on a branch to help us remember which willow we are observing.
We have done this activity before with a birch tree. Having a piece of twine on a branch really helped us focus on watching for changes from season to season. I invite you to read this entry for the specific instructions for this kind of tree study: Twigs.
If you would like to start a yearlong study of willows, you’re welcome to click over to read the challenge from last week. It’s not too late to get outside looking for willows, learning about willows, and beginning a valuable nature study of willows.
Please note there is an Autumn Willow notebooking page in the Ultimate and Journey level membership libraries. You can print it and use it for your nature journal.
Welcome to the brand new nature study featuring the willow! I’m excited to look more closely at my own autumn willows as the season changes. This should be an easy study as you look at the color changes and the dropping of leaves in your willow.
Start Here: Willow Nature Study – Handbook of Nature Study Lesson 179 (pages 651-655)
The link above takes you to a summer study of the willow using the Handbook of Nature Study. Pay particular attention to suggestions #8 and #9 in Lesson 179 for specific autumn willow study ideas.
In Addition: Year Long Tree Study in the Handbook of Nature Study Lesson 172 (pages 623-624) My favorite suggestions are to watercolor the shape of a tree with its autumn foliage and to carefully compare leaves found on your tree for any variation.
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. We’re going to be doing this on a willow behind our house along the river.
Both Ultimate and Journey level members here on the Handbook of Nature Study have access to a new autumn willow notebooking page for recording your autumn observations. Look for it in your printable library.
This Outdoor Hour Challenge is part of the 2018-2019 Plan here on the Handbook of Nature Study. We’ll be using the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock to discover new things about the world around us. Join us each Friday for a different nature study topic. Make sure to subscribe to this blog to receive the weekly challenge right in your email box.
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.
Oaks have a fragrance when the leaves are warm that conjures up memories of all the summers spent living in California. It’s an earthy smell that reminds me of hiking along trails beneath the oak forest canopy.
Walking with my son – 2012
Oaks can create a wonderful protective archway and I love to stand underneath and peek up through the leaves to the sky. Along a familiar trail, the oaks create an arching leafy roof that filters the sunlight and I remember watching my boys run ahead of me on this trail, blond heads disappearing around the corner.
This week we camped under the oaks at a friend’s house in California. I relished the time to wander the property to see his magnificent oak trees.
The crunching of dried oak leaves was a familiar trail sound as we walk along looking for acorns, none to be found this day. Perhaps it’s early in the season or maybe this year won’t be a “good” year for an acorn crop. Hint: If you dig around in the leaf litter under the tree, you may find a few of last year’s acorns not gathered by the squirrels or scrub jays.
We compared two different oaks growing at our campsite, the California black oak and the interior live oak. The leaves are very different in size and shape. The California black oak is a large tree with fairly good size leaves. The interior live oak has small, sharply toothed leaves.
This entry includes Amazon affiliate links to products I own and love!
I used the Peterson field guide to trees to figure out what kind of oak trees created each type of leaf. This guide is one of my favorites because of the detailed illustrations of not only the leaf, but also the bud and acorn. This makes it easier to distinguish which oak we are studying. Look for it on Amazon and note there is an eastern and western version for trees.
This day I was reminded that when you study oaks there are many other related studies you could work on at the same time: lichen, moss, mistletoe, woodpeckers, squirrels, and even lizards. Try to take it all in and see your tree as a living world.
The change of the season from summer to autumn is noticed by the changing of the air and the bursting forth of colors in the deciduous trees. You can’t help but revel in the oranges, burgundies, and yellows of autumn leaves!
Did you get outside and take note of your neighborhood trees?
Our road is lined by mostly evergreens but a few of us are lucky enough to have aspens on our property to enjoy. We’ve been watching our trees, anticipating a change in color as the nights have turned colder, hoping the cold snap will give us a colorful display.
Aside from the leaves, I really love the bark on the trunks of the aspens. But, for autumn we will focus on the leaves and then take a look at the trunks in the winter.
There’s no better way to begin your autumn nature study than with a look at the deciduous trees in your neighborhood. This week, read in the Handbook of Nature Study about autumn trees and then use the suggestions in the lesson to help your family take a good look at a tree.
Archive Outdoor Hour Challenge – Click the link above to take you to the original challenge.
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.
Use this printable notebook pageto record your seasonal tree notes and a sketch. Be sure to note on your planning calendar a reminder to create a page in each of the seasons!
Four Seasons Tree Photo Project – This is another awesome tree entry with loads of ideas for a yearlong study of trees along with a printable activity.
This Outdoor Hour Challenge is part of the 2018-2019 Plan here on the Handbook of Nature Study. We’ll be using the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock to discover new things about the world around us. Join us each Friday for a different nature study topic. Make sure to subscribe to this blog to receive the weekly challenge right in your email box.
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.
Additional Autumn Tree Ideas
Watercolor Leaf Tutorial and Video – In this post from the archives, I share how to use watercolor crayons to create a beautiful autumn leaf painting.
I’m excited to share some new printable pages with you!
Prairie Wildflowers and Animals Clipart and Coloring Pages: This set of five pages can be used in many ways. There is a page of clipart that you can use to decorate a prairie nature study page, three pages of various subjects for prairie nature study that can be used as coloring pages or printed on cardstock to create small cards for your nature table, and a page that explains how to use the pocket printable in a lapbook or in a nature journal.
Sea Star, Newt, and Jelly Fish Nature Notebook Pages: These three pages have been requested by families and I had time to create them this month. I hope they help make your study of these topics a little easier.
Deciduous Trees in my Yard Notebook Page- This fun page has a space for you to draw a map of your yard and then mark where you have deciduous trees growing.
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.
FYI: There will no longer be a monthly printable planning page. Please note that members have access to the complete year’s plan in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships. Non-members can follow along by subscribing to this blog and each Friday the Outdoor Hour Challenge will come into your email inbox.
Do Some Comparisons
Participate in 
