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Posted on June 16, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

First Day of Summer – Nature Study

Summer time brings a more relaxed rhythm to most of our family life. That doesn’t mean we can’t still be including some outdoor nature study time with our children. It can be as simple as taking a walk and asking them to look for three interesting things or to take a picnic lunch outside to eat under your backyard tree. Weaving in some family time outside together is a valuable part of any summer bucket list and it takes just a little effort on our part.

Here are some fun First Day of Summer nature study ideas for you to keep in mind for next week. Be sure to mark your calendar!

Summer starts on June 21, 2014!

1. Camp out in your backyard: Since the first day of summer lands on a Saturday this year, plan a sleep out in your own backyard. Spend some of your evening gazing at stars, listening to insects, or take a flashlight walk.

2. First Day of Summer Flower Field Trip: Take a trip to your local garden nursery and let you child pick a plant to add to your backyard garden or patio container garden. After you plant your flower, sketch it into your nature journal along with the name of the flower and the date you planted it. You can combine this activity with this Garden Flower Nursery Field Trip ideas and printable.

3. Twilight at the Zoo: Many zoos have an evening option during this time of year. Check their calendar of events to see if your zoo has a special event for the first day of summer.

For other first day of summer activities from the archives, see this entry: First Day of Summer 2012. This entry has several easy ideas along with printable pages for you to use with your family.

Share you First Day of Summer 2014 activities with the up-coming blog carnival!

Don’t forget that the Great Backyard Campout event will be on 6/28/14 this year. You will find lots of nature study related activities in my entry: Great Backyard Campout-Nature Study Style.

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Tree Fun

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Summer Tree or a Continuing Year-Long Tree Study

Use the ideas in this challenge from the archives (Summer Series 2010) to take a look at a tree in the summer season: Summer Tree Observations.

This challenge helps you use all of your senses to really get to know a tree in your yard or neighborhood.

Special Activity: Tree Projects

Four Seasons Photo Project – Use the ideas and printables in this challenge to start or continue your Four Seasons Photo Project.

A Year Long Tree Study – This post includes lots of tree study ideas for each season.

Getting Started Suggestion:

If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #5. Take the opportunity this week/month to start a running list of trees in your local area. Keep a list in your nature journal or use the notebooking page in the ebook to get started with this long-term project (in the back of the ebook).

You are welcome to submit any of you blog Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Entries for the current month are due on 6/29/14.

Please note this entry includes Amazon affiliate links.

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Spring Tree Observations

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.

Suggested Observations for the Handbook of Nature Study, page 664 and 666
How tall is your tree?
How thick is its trunk?
What color is the bark?
Does the trunk divide into large branches or does it extend up through the center of the head?
Study the bud of the apple blossom.
Sketch an open apple blossom. How many petals? What is the shape of the flower?

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.

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Year-Long Nature Study Reminders – Spring

Seasonal Topics – Spring Reminders

Here are some ideas from year-long nature study topics we have done in the past:

Year-Long Big Dipper Study – with free printable
Seasonal Cattail Study – with free printable
Seasonal Milkweed Study – with free printable notebook page
Year-Long Pond Study – with a free printable notebook page
Year-Long Queen Anne’s Lace Study and a free printable notebook page
Seasonal Tree Study – with printable activities and a free notebook page
Year-Long Thistle Study

You may wish to start a new year-long study this spring using some of the ideas above. If you have a continuing year-long nature study project, don’t forget to put it on your calendar or you may forget to make your spring observations.

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Study Weekly Photo Recap February

February has been a strange month…weird weather, very few birds to count for the Great Backyard Bird Count, and hardly any special nature study events in our home. Just a February that I am glad is melting into March. We are hoping to take a few hikes to stir up some nature interest…hoping you all are enjoying the Nature Photo of the Week Pinterest Board.

Here are my February entries. Look for more images in the up-coming newsletter.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/156640893264006302/

Hidden- Acorns in a fallen tree alongside our walking trail. The Acorn Woodpeckers were busy storing acorns!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/156640893263953146/

Stone: Rock cairns at the river…we had a big hike to the river and found these on the rocks at the beach.

Found: We had a bunch of ladybugs in our front yard one afternoon. I love the contrast of the red ladybug and the gray-green of the lavender.

Details- This is a Bordered Plant Bug climbing on my grape hyacinth. His details make him easy to identify.

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Barb — 1 Comment

Ponderosa Pine Cone Study

We have been on the lookout for tree cones for the past few weeks (as part of the Winter Tree Cone Study) and picked the Ponderosa Pine as our subject for a tree cone study. There are many Ponderosa Pines in our neighborhood and they are easy to spot because of their size and trunk pattern. Our family has done a thorough tree study of the Ponderosa Pine in the past but this time we focused just on the cone.

Here is a close up of the cone showing it’s scale pattern and the sap too.

Here is a cone that the squirrels have taken apart to find the seeds hidden inside. This is a common sight along our local walking trail. It seems where there are Ponderosa Pines, there are squirrels.

I completed the tree cone observation page for my nature notebook. I included an image and some facts about the Ponderosa Pine cone. You can find the printable notebook page here: Winter Tree Cone Study.

Flexible scales
Egg shaped cone
Tipped with slender 1/8 inch prickles that can curve out
Seed is 3/8″ and the wing is 1″
Red and gray squirrels eat the seeds. California quail also eat the seeds.
Overall cone length is 3-6″

All information is from my Peterson Western Trees field guide.

You can read more about our Ponderosa Pine tree study here: Our Pine Tree Study.
We share more about our cone study here: Pines, Evergreens, Cones, and Needles.

Posted on February 12, 2014December 29, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Revelling in the Tree Silhouettes of Winter

We had a break in our rain today and the sun came out for the first time in days. I have been keeping track of our rain totals and in our rain gauge, I measured over fourteen inches in the past four days! It was a steady rain with strong downpours for periods of time…it was a lot of rain.

Today, I spent some time wandering in our backyard and noticing the trees. We live in a mixed conifer forested area so our yard has both deciduous and evergreen trees. The best way to share what I did for the tree silhouette challenge is to post lots of images.

The story really is about the trees. I encourage you to try to observe a bare winter tree both from afar and from underneath its branches. Look at the sky through the crisscrossing of the limbs. Take a photo and save it to compare the summer tree’s shape.

“Children should also become familiar with trees at an early age. They should pick about six in the winter when the leaves are gone, perhaps an elm, a maple, a beech, etc, and watch them during the year.”
Charlotte Mason, volume 1 page 52

Try just one tree if you are overwhelmed by six. Keep it simple and fun for your kids. You may wish to visit this entry for more seasonal tree study ideas:
For The Love of Trees

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

No Snow Study- Winter Walk Instead

Our winter continues to be warmer than normal…even record-breaking temperatures. As much as I love the warm afternoons and sunshine, I am concerned for the drying up reservoirs and the very dry forest conditions. I know I have no power to bring on the rain and snow so I am trying to make the best of it.

This week’s Winter Snow challenge was a big challenge indeed. We did find a bit of snow up the mountain from our house but not a whole lot. We opted to complete the Winter Nature Walk- Scavenger Hunt activity from Hearts and Trees.

I took an image of the page with my phone and we used that during our hike to remember the things we were looking for as we went.

Here are our results:

An evergreen

Buds on a tree

We decided this duck weed was more interesting than moss.

Trees that have lost all their leaves – aspens

a bird – Steller’s Jay

We didn’t find any berries but this rose hip was certainly colorful.

Something with thorns

Pinecones – The squirrels had lunch on the picnic table!

Feather

One last image from our hike at Taylor Creek. The beavers have been clear cutting a lot of the trees along the water. They have quite a few trees that are ready to fall as well. The dam is getting huge! Amazing creatures with incredible strength.

We are still waiting for some real snow here and I will keep the snow study in the back of my mind for a future time. I hope some of you were more successful with this challenge or you took advantage of the scavenger hunt instead.

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Snow Study

The Winter Snow challenge from the Winter Wednesday ebook is a fun one to have on hand whenever you get some snow. I wish you all a great week of nature study!

Original Challenge: Snow
Use the suggestions in this challenge to complete a snow related experiment, recording the results on the accompanying notebook page or in your nature journal. There are also some additional ideas for non-snow related activities to substitute if you live where there is no snow. You can also use the Winter Nature Walk printable from Hearts and Trees.

Special Activity: Watercolor With Snow
Bring a cup or so of snow in and let it melt. Use the resulting water to watercolor a winter scene.

Watercolor Clouds-Cure for the Winter Blahs

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. This week you can record a winter scene in your journals or use the notebook page from the ebook to keep a record of your outdoor time.

You are welcome to submit any of you blog Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Entries for the current month are due on 1/30/14.

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Barb — Leave a comment

Year-Long Nature Study Reminders – Winter

Seasonal Topics Reminders – Winter