Now available in the Ultimate and Journey level memberships:
Under the Fallen Leaves and Autumn Willow notebooking pages!
I created a few more autumn themed notebooking pages for you to use with your family.
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.
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.
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.
My view from the edge of the forest looks out onto both live and dead trees. This natural cycle of life and death is fascinating and a terrific nature study for families who want to see how there is value to a dead tree long after the last leaf has fallen from its branches.
At first glance, a dead tree is just that, a lifeless object that may or may not be attractive from a human standpoint. Our family heats our home with firewood so from a completely practical and human standpoint, the dead tree is valuable as a source of life-giving heat. But, upon closer reflection and my own personal observation, I’ve started to see how a seemingly lifeless tree is far from being lifeless. These trees are actually highly beneficial to enriching a forest habitat, supporting new life and sheltering a variety of other species of creatures and plants.
Taking a closer look, I see now that a dead tree is an important piece of the complex life cycle of my local habitat.
We’ve observed the nuthatches making their nests in the cavities of a dead tree’s trunk. They create a small opening to squeeze into and make a nest deep inside the protective walls of the tree’s bark and trunk. Doing some research, we discovered that about 85 species of birds in North America nest in dying or dead trees.
Behind our house, there’s a tree stump from a long gone tree. It’s toppled over at this point but if you look closely during the summer months, you can see where the ground squirrels go into their tunnel from under the protective shelter of this dead tree stump. We’ve seen them use the stump as an observation spot after they climb up on top of it and then stand on their hind legs as they survey the land.
We have a particular standing dead tree behind our house that nearly always has a bird perched up high in its gnarly branches. I’m sure from up there they have a clear view for hunting their dinner. Or, they can just sit up there and sun themselves.
There’s a downed tree behind our house that we like to sit on and observe the sky and mountains. As we sit, we note there are many insects, including ants that are using the trunk for their home. There are birds that shelter in its branches, and small rodents that are hiding under the trunk. We’ve seen a coyote digging under the trunk and then pouncing on something before moving along. I assume he found a small rodent meal.
Look at the tree trunk and you may see lichen, mushrooms, spider webs, ferns, and new trees growing.
Last autumn we left one of our burn piles with many dead limbs and dead tree branches as a place for critters to shelter over the winter. As anticipated, we spotted birds, squirrels, and elk attracted to the pile.
Our observations have led us to rethink our view of leaving dead trees, snags, and downed limbs as a natural resource for the varied wildlife we coexist with.
Of course, these are away from our house at a safe distance because we do want a defensible space if a fire comes through. They’re at least 100 feet from our house and we have a green space between the dead trees and our backyard. We’ve cleaned up the lower limbs from the trees nearer to the house to give us a clearer view of the landscape. I like to think there’s a safe buffer but we still take into account the importance of saving some of the dying trees for the sake of creating a healthy habitat.
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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.
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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.
Years ago, I created leaf prints using ink as suggested in the Handbook of Nature Study, although using stamp pad ink and not kerosene as suggested in the book. I want to create a page in my journal using leaves from my Oregon yard and decided this is the time to update that entry with a few additional tips.
The process is simple and a lot of fun too if you combine a nature walk, collecting a variety of leaves, and then following up with some time to produce a beautiful leaf print. My children always wanted to collect leaves during your outdoor time and once we got home I wasn’t always sure how to use the leaves or display them. Making leaf prints is a great way to extend your leaf collecting activity or any tree nature study.
Put your ink on the backside of the leaf instead of the front for a more detailed print.
Making prints with ink will give you more detail than printing with paints.
Try both placing the paper over the inked leaf and pressing the leaf onto the paper. Experiment with a few leaves to see which method works best for you.
Use washable ink pads for easier clean up.
If your leaf is very dry or crumbly, you might try using paint instead of ink. Make sure not to press too hard when making the print.
Try making your prints on separate paper and then insert the paper into your nature journal. This will help resolve anxiety that you are going to mess up your nature journal if you don’t get a good print.
Additional Activity: Make a leaf print collage
Use one leaf shape with one color or a variety of colors.
Use many different shaped leaves to create a collage.
There are many trees featured in Outdoor Hour Challenges and you will find them listed under the tree tab on the website. In addition to nature study challenges, there are several of the archived newsletters listed on that page that feature trees, tree activities, and even a few free printables.
Members have access to all of the tree challenges in ebooks and the newsletters.
I hope you have some fun this summer making some leaf prints of your own as you study a tree or make sure to note on your autumn nature study calendar to create some leaf prints with colorful fall leaves.
The month of July is typically hot, sometimes too hot for a lengthy nature study session during the afternoon hours. But, using the ideas linked on the planner page, you may find a perfect summer time routine that includes fifteen minutes of nature study using the Outdoor Hour Challenges. Keep it simple and carve out the time to be with your children as you explore your yard and neighborhood during July.
In addition, I’ve created a few new printables for you to use this month as well. These are available to Ultimate and Journey level members.
Tree Study Notebook Pages: These beautiful pages are perfect for using after your study of the sequoia, aspen, birch, and spruce trees.
Note: I will be creating more tree pages in the future. If you have a particular tree you would like featured on a notebooking page, let me know in an email or comment and I will add it to my “to do list”.
Nut Study Notebook Page: This is a simple and fun way to pull some nature study into your daily life. Take the time to research your favorite nuts and then make a record of it for your nature journal.
I’m excited to participate again this month with the Nature Book Club group! I love trees and this month’s book selection is one that we have used in our family over the years. I still like to page through it and learn little tidbits about each of the trees.
This is an opportunity for you to join in with the club your own tree book entries by using the linky tool below to share your own tree related links this month too!
My Favorite Tree-Terrific Trees of North Americaby Diane Iverson is one of my all time favorite tree picture books for children of all ages. (Note this book is only available used on Amazon and this is my affiliate link) This book features trees native to Canada, Mexico, and the United States (including Hawaii). This is not a comprehensive field guide sort of book but it introduces a variety of trees from around North America along with interesting facts and much more.
¨ Tree Traits-excellent concise information on habitat, height, bark, leaves, flowers and seeds.
¨ Wild Companions-features a bird, mammal, or insect that makes use of the tree
¨ It’s a Fact-beyond the basic facts, this section shares fascinating historical and practical facts
¨ Hall of Fame-Location of the tallest or biggest specimen, state tree information and other “champion” information.
This is a book that would be a terrific addition to your nature study library if you live in North America.
I have created a printable chart that coordinates the trees in the My Favorite Tree book with the Handbook of Nature Study lessons and then the corresponding Outdoor Hour Challenge. You can use this information to help you provide a more thorough tree study for many of the trees covered in the My Favorite Tree book.
There is also a custom designed notebooking page to use with each tree you learn about from the My Favorite Tree book. You can print this out as many times as you need to create a lovely record of your tree studies.
Additional Tree Study Idea
You may wish to start a year-long tree study, viewing a tree in all four seasons. Click over and read this blog entry for some simple ideas to get you started: For the Love of Trees.
Make sure to subscribe to my blog to follow along with all of the nature study ideas offered every week.
Link Up Guidelines
Choose an engaging nature book, do a craft or activity, and add your post to our monthly link up.
The link up party goes live at 9:00 a.m. EST on the 20th of each month and stays open until the last day of the month. Hurry to add your links!
You can link up to 3 posts. Please do not link up advertising posts, advertise other link up parties, your store, or non-related blog posts. They will be removed.
By linking up with us, you agree for us to share your images and give you credit of course if we feature posts.
See all the great posts from The Nature Book Club’s co-hosts in March:
It’s been unusually warm here in Central Oregon; some days the thermometer rises up to temperatures that are to be expected in spring. Well, you know that just makes me want to be outside and continue exploring!
During our outdoor time this month we went….looking at tree silhouettes.
We don’t have a huge variety of trees in our area, mostly pines and a few aspens. I absolutely love the aspens and the big gorgeous ponderosa pines. The Outdoor Hour Challenge for winter trees helped us get to know our new habitat better.
Side note: It’s hard to take a good tree silhouette photo.
I’m dreaming about….the green grasses and plants of summer.
The Outdoor Hour Challenge for winter weeds focused our attention on the plants we see during our river walks. Mostly dried and packed down by the winter snow, the winter weeds we observed are pretty much done for the season. But, on closer inspection, we can see new green growth starting to sprout underneath….that is exciting.
Our outdoor time made us ask….who made the trails in the weeds?
I noticed last month there appear to be “trails” under the weeds where small animals are moving around beneath the matted grasses. Some of the trails lead to holes and have fresh dirt at the openings. Could these be the subnivean zone trails of our local rodents?
I even found a spot that has a pile of scat, small little droppings sort of like mouse scat but much lighter in color. Fascinating!
The most inspiring thing we experienced…seeing beaver bank dens.
The ongoing hunt to actually see our beavers down at the river continued this month as we took to our kayaks and floated over to the opposite side of the river to check out some activity we could see going on over there.
On this warm afternoon, we spotted lots of signs of beaver activity like gnawed willow branches, beaver “slides” where they enter and exit the water, and trees that the beavers cut down.
We spent an hour or so traipsing around the willows and trees and along the river bank trying to see where they are living. We found a spot on the bank that looked like it was a possibility so we got back into the kayaks and checked it out from the water side.
Could this be it? When we got back home, we researched bank dens of beavers and discovered this is exactly the kind of place they create for shelter. We’ve been looking for the typical beaver lodge with its big mound of branches and a dam. But, we have learned that they will create hollows in the river bank to make a series of dens for living space.
Now we need to get out there at a time they’re active which is typically an hour before darkness or at sunrise. I have a friend who lives down river from us and he says he has seen the beavers out in the late afternoon and he’s heard their tails slapping on the water so that gives me a glimmer of hope that we may see our beavers if we’re persistent.
One more image….our elk!
Finally, the elk have returned to our neighborhood. We had visitors from California that were keen to see them and we spotted them not too far from the house. Then the next week, we had four elk right behind our fence in the early morning hours. It was barely light enough to spot them but they stuck around for a little while and I was able to get an image. They are such beautiful animals, much larger than expected, and so agile as they move along. I’m looking forward to observing them until the late spring when they return to the mountains.
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Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?
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 month 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….
