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Watercolor Pencil Tutorial

Creating a Nature Study Journal is a beautiful opportunity to document all the wonderful things your student has learned. Especially when a student adds their own creative touches to their journal. If it’s fun lettering, doodles, sketching, or coloring in images, etc. Adding a creative touch not only enhances a science class, but includes an art lesson as well! Try this helpful Watercolor Pencil Tutorial to add some pop to your next entry.

Watercolor Pencil Tutorial

Color and then brush with a wet brush:
Use your watercolor pencil to fill in a space, then add water. You can use your pencils to blend and layer a color before or after adding water. I especially like to use this technique in my nature journal because I can do my sketching in the field and then add the water later.

Dip the watercolor pencil in water first:
Dip the tip of your pencil in water and then use it to fill in your sketch.This is a nice technique for sketching in the field since you don’t need to take along any paint brushes. You don’t even need to carry water with you if you have a source in the field like a lake or stream.

Wet the paper first:
Try wetting your paper first and then adding your watercolor pencil. This works well for filling in larger areas of your sketch like the sky. Just remember that if you are working directly in your nature journal that this technique may warp your paper when it dries.

Use a wet brush on the pencil tip:
Use the tip of your watercolor pencil like a paint palette by brushing it with a wet paint brush.

Wet brush on broken watercolor pencil pigment:
Collect all those broken tips and use them as a sort of paint palette by stroking with a wet paint brush. Use this technique if you break off a tip when sketching in the field and you don’t have a pencil sharpener to make another point on your watercolor pencil.

Pencil Practice

Once you are comfortable using watercolor pencils, encourage students to add their artistic style to all the pages in their Nature Study Journal. Remember that watercoloring on printer paper is different than using watercolor paper. Try both and have fun!

Coloring Pages

If your student is not comfortable drawing on blank paper, practice using watercolor pencils on themed coloring pages. Homeschool Nature Study Members can print our Nature Journal Flowers Coloring Pack (this includes 5 different types flowers) from their dashboard. Be sure to color and tape or glue inside your Sunflower, Lupine, or Simple Ideas for Wildflowers Nature Study notes.

Sunflower Coloring Page

Or print these lovely Bird Themed Coloring Pages at Your Best Homeschool to practice with watercolor pencils! What fun to color in these cute birds with unique designs, honestly – they are perfect for any age, so mom print one for yourself!

Become a Member!

Not yet a Member?! Spring has sprung and it’s the perfect time to incorporate Nature Study into your homeschool. We offer many tips, ideas, nature studies, worksheets & helpful downloads, plus encouragement along the way! Homeschool Nature Study is perfect for preschoolers, elementary, middle schoolers, and high schoolers! Yes – we believe Homeschool Nature Study works for ALL AGES. Join the community!

-by Barbara McCoy with updated resources by Stef Layton.

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Homeschool Nature Study Printables for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Enjoy these preschool printables alongside our Delightful Preschool Homeschool Nature Study Curriculum!

Enjoy these homeschool nature study preschool printables alongside our Delightful Preschool Homeschool Nature Study Curriculum!

Do you like the idea of involving young children in nature study but not sure how to start? Do you need a little help being intentional with your nature studies? Nature Study Printables is full of printable tools for you to use to get young children observing and talking about nature!

Nature Study Printables For Toddlers And Preschoolers: An Overview

Nature Study Printables for Toddlers and Preschoolers is a 60+ page eBook containing all of our toddler and preschool nature study printables plus 20 exclusive pages available only in this book! Use these tools to help informally introduce young children to the natural world around them.

Table of Contents:

Nature Printables for Preschoolers

*Debunking Preschool Science Myths
*Neighborhood Nature Walks with Young Children
*10 Tips for Studying Nature with Toddlers and Preschoolers
*Printable I Spy Cards

  • Animal Edition
  • Spring Edition
  • Garden Edition
  • Fall Edition
  • Winter Edition

*Printable Nature Booklets

  • Ants
  • Butterflies
  • Fish
  • Worms
  • Nature
  • Frogs
  • Ladybugs

F.A.Q.’s About Nature Study Printables For Toddlers And Preschoolers

Is this a preschool science curriculum?

No. This eBook provides printables to use alongside Homeschool Nature Study’s Preschool Curriculum on nature walks and nature studies.

What tools will I need to use these printables?

Copypaper and cardstock. Basic supplies such as binoculars and a magnifying glass are fun tools to have on hand but are not necessary. If you don’t have frogs, butterflies, ants, worms, or ladybugs on hand to observe there are kits available for purchase.

How do you make the preschool nature journals?

How to make easy preschool science nature journals.

Fun Preschool Learning in Homeschool Nature Study Membership

These wonderful preschool printables are included in our Delightful Preschool Homeschool Nature Study Plans in Homeschool Nature Study membership!

Don’t miss the free sample of preschool curriculum in this post!

Delightful Homeschool Nature Study Preschool Curriculum

Enjoy relaxed preschool nature study plans for your homeschool with nature table suggestions, simple nature study activities, field trip ideas, images to print, coloring pages, and so much more. What a privilege to introduce children to the glorious world God created!

Have children eager to be outside? You can think of the earliest years outdoors with your children as the way to grow a love and curiosity about the natural world. This habit develops gradually over their childhood. The earlier you start building a habit of nature study in your family, the easier it will be to encourage children to be engaged in nature study.

Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

By Maureen Spell, a long-time contributor to the Outdoor Hour Challenges. Maureen helps Christian mompreneurs operate their business from a place of joy, purpose, and excellence because they are clear on how their business is serving their family and others. As a homeschool mom, she believes success at home AND business without the mom-guilt, stress and burn-out is possible! Outside of work, she loves having good conversations over a hot chai or GT Gingerberry kombucha and spending time with her husband and seven children. Visit her at MaureenSpell.com

Enjoy these homeschool nature study preschool printables alongside our Delightful Preschool Homeschool Nature Study Curriculum!
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Bats Homeschool Nature Study: Mammals

Bats are fascinating and wonderful creatures. They are important for pollination of plants, they eat mosquitoes and other pests and are beneficial in many more ways. Enjoy this bats homeschool nature study on mammals that fly and have echolocation!

Bats are fascinating and wonderful creatures. Enjoy this bats homeschool nature study on mammals that fly and have echolocation!

You will enjoy a bat study if you are interested in learning about different kinds of flying creatures.

“Although the bat’s wings are very different from those of the bird, yet it is a rapid and agile flier. It flies in the dusk and catches great numbers of mosquitoes and other troublesome insects, upon which it feeds.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 243

If you ever get a chance to watch a bat fly, you will be amazed at their flying ability.

Getting Started In Homeschool Nature Study

If you do not already own the Getting Started in Homeschool Nature Study ebook, be sure to download it for free. Next, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #2.

Try to take your fifteen minute nature walk at sunset or just when it turns dark. You can walk or sit quietly in a familiar place, using your senses to really get to know this time of day. After you go inside, make sure to help your child record a few words in their nature journal or use the notebook page that is provided in the ebook.

For further bat study, here is a general video about bats. Please preview the video because parts of it may make your children a little squeamish. There is also a reference to evolution.

Bats Homeschool Nature Study: Books To Read

1. Read pages 241-245 in the Handbook of Nature Study. Although the lesson for bats states that it should not be given unless you can directly observe bats in person, I think this interesting creature deserves his own Outdoor Hour Challenge. Make sure to watch the video about bats and then proceed with the lesson suggestions. If you need additional information, use the resources at the end of this challenge.

 

2. Supplemental reading in The Burgess Animal Book for Children: Read Story 21. Use the illustration on page 128 to prompt a narration after reading the story about the Little Brown Bat.

Bats Study: Mammal Outdoor Hour Challenge


This week during your 10-15 minutes of outdoor time, look for any mammals in your neighborhood or in a near-by park. Many of us will not find any mammals to observe or signs of mammals like scat or tracks. This should not discourage us from taking the time to be outdoors with our children. More ideas in the Ultimate List of Mammals Study with the Outdoor Hour Challenges and Animal Tracks Nature Hunt.

Bats are fascinating and wonderful creatures. Enjoy this bats homeschool nature study on mammals that fly and have echolocation!

Simple Tips for Your Homeschool Nature Study

Try some of the techniques that we have worked on in the past.

  • Stand or sit quietly and see what you can hear.
  • Take a magnifying lens and look at an object up close.
  • Make a small square with yarn and see what you can find in to look at within that small square.
  • Look at the sky and observe the clouds.

Use the methods that have worked in the past and see what you can come up with this week to share with your children.

Bats are fascinating and wonderful creatures. Enjoy this bats homeschool nature study on mammals that fly and have echolocation!

4. After your walk, discuss any interesting things that you observed. Help your child to find words for their experience. Record their words on paper and have them sketch a simple drawing for their nature journal. Use some of the ideas that worked in the past like a rubbing of a leaf or feather. Take photos for your nature journals.

Research and record what you learned about the bat this week from reading in the Handbook of Nature Study. One idea would be to sketch and record how a bat’s wings are different from a bird’s wings. You could discuss why a bat is considered a mammal and how it differs from other mammals that we have studied. Keep it simple but make some connections this week.

benefits of homeschool nature study membership

Homeschool Nature Study Members Enjoy More Studies

Members will find these resources in your Autumn course in Homeschool Nature Study membership:

  • Bats and The Sense of Hearing Outdoor Hour Challenge
  • Lessons Around Nature at Sundown
  • Bat coloring page
  • Advanced bat studies and more activities

Members also enjoy access to:

  • NEW, weekly Outdoor Hour Challenges to bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool!
  • the annual nature study plans
  • matching courses with materials and journaling pages
  • interactive calendar with daily nature study prompts
  • Nature Journaling course
  • and MUCH more!

Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

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Clover or Shamrock Homeschool Nature Study

Enjoy a clover or shamrock homeschool nature study this spring and learn about this abundant ground cover you likely have in your own backyard.

Clover or Shamrock Homeschool Nature Study Inside Preparation Work


1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 591-598. These pages cover three sections in the Handbook of Nature Study but are closely related. I encourage you to read all the pages even if you do not think you have the particular clover in your area. Use your highlighter to mark sections you found interesting and that at some point you want to share with your children in the follow-up activity.

“The clover head is made up of many little flowers; each one has a tubular calyx with five delicate points and a little stalk to hold it up into the world. In shape, the corolla is much like that of the sweet pea, and each secretes nectar at its base. The outside blossoms open first; and as soon as they are open, the honey bees, which eagerly visit white clover wherever it is growing, begin at once their work of gathering nectar and carrying pollen…”

Handbook of Nature Study, page 597

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More Clover or Shamrock Homeschool Nature Study Ideas

Here are some optional activities for you to enjoy in your homeschool.

Homeschool Nature Study Membership for Backyard Nature Year Round!

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!

Please do tag us in your Outdoor Hour Time photographs on Instagram. We would love to see how your family is learning about the shamrocks in your homeschool.

Enjoy a clover or shamrock homeschool nature study this spring and learn about this abundant ground cover you likely have in your backyard.

written by Barb July 2009 and updated by Tricia February 2022