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Discover Nature at Sundown: Family Summer Nature Study

Wondering about the summer nature study book, Discover Nature at Sundown? This helpful review includes a fantastic idea (and free printable!) for families to take a nature walk in the evenings.

Find fun summer nature study ideas with Discover Nature at Sundown. Includes a free printable for families to take a fantastic nature walk in the evenings.

Discover Nature at Sundown: Family Summer Nature Study

Discover Nature at Sundown by Elizabeth P. Lawlor is a book that our family has used for many years. When my children were younger, we would pull it off the shelf every summer to use as a reference and as a source of nature study ideas.

Our Summer Nature Study Curriculum features Discover Nature at Sundown and its topics, which you can find referenced below (Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges).

owl nature study

Main Topics in Discover Nature at Sundown

Here are some of the many topics you can enjoy in your summer nature study:

  • owls
  • frogs
  • moths
  • fireflies
  • bats
  • opossums
  • raccoons
  • and skunks

There’s a little something for everyone’s taste! Dissect an owl pellet, try to entice moths to your nature hike, chase a firefly, listen for crickets, or hunt for traces of raccoons and opossums. My strategy was always to complete an entire in-depth study from this book each summer. Over time, your family will have covered a lot of interesting topics in a relaxed and enjoyable way.

Find fun summer nature study ideas with Discover Nature at Sundown. Includes a free printable for families to take a fantastic nature walk in the evenings.

Great Ideas for Summer Nature Journaling

For those of you that keep nature journals, you’ll be happy to note that the illustrations and charts are all very well done and our family would often copy them into our nature journals for future reference. The black and white line drawings are simple enough to inspire even the most reluctant nature journaler.

summer nature journaling ideas for homeschool

The ideas in this book will help you use your senses during your nature study to learn more about each of the topics. These skills are so useful in all scientific study but especially so for nature study. Plus, using all your senses is lots of fun! The book will help you with ideas for honing these skills and explain how we can enhance our natural senses.

Find your copy of Discover Nature at Sundown

Take a Sunset Nature Walk – A Fun Way to Work on Using Our Senses

Summer evenings are a cooler time of day for getting outside with your children. The after dinner hours are still light enough that taking a nature walk is a possibility.

You could go on a dinner picnic at a lake and then take a long walk in the evening air. There will still be plenty of things to observe, including a delightful sunset, the chirping of crickets, the song of the robin, the breeze in the treetops, and the buzz of mosquitoes.

Your nature walk doesn’t need to be a long one and you can adjust the time of day and length to fit your particular family. For a first outing, plan on 15-20 minutes and then see how it goes. If you can encourage your children to walk silently, even for just a minute, they are going to get more out of the experience. As your children are able, try to spend longer periods of silence as you listen for any signs of life during your outdoor time.

Take a Nature Hike at Sundown Printable

This printable is also available to Homeschool Nature Study members in your Summer course. Please be sure to share photos of your sunset walk and tag us on Instagram @outdoorhourchallenge

Homeschool Nature Study's 5 Senses Walk at Sunset

More Summer Nature Study Ideas

You might also like:

Handbook of Nature Study Outdoor Hour Summer Curriculum for Homeschool

Summer Nature Study in Homeschool Nature Study Membership

Join us for even more homeschool nature studies for all the seasons! With a new nature study each week, you will have joyful learning leading all the way through the homeschool year for all your ages!

Find Out More About Homeschool Nature Study Membership HERE!

Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

Find fun summer nature study ideas with Discover Nature at Sundown. Includes a free printable for families to take a fantastic sunset nature walk.
Handbook of Nature Study for your homeschool

by Barb McCoy, founder of the Outdoor Hour Challenges

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June Nature Study Activities for Summer Fun

These June nature study activities are a perfect way to kick off summer learning in your homeschool.

All quotes are from Charlotte Mason (modern English), volume 3

“One afternoon a week, the students in our ‘Practicing School’ [taught by the student teachers at Charlotte Mason’s teacher’s college] go for a ‘nature walk’ with their teacher. They notice things by themselves, and the teacher tells them the name or gives other information only if they ask for it.”

“The teachers are careful not to turn these nature walks into an opportunity to give science lessons, because they want the children’s attention to be focused on their own observations.”

“They’re allowed to notice things with very little direction from the teacher. By doing this, children accumulate a good collection of ‘common knowledge.’ ”

– Charlotte Mason

Nature Study In Your Homeschool

How to Use the Outdoor Hour Challenges for Your Homeschool Family Nature Study – Here are some things to consider for your homeschool family nature study. Every family is different so use these tips to get started with simple and joyful Outdoor Hour Challenges.

Homeschool Nature Study in Your Own Backyard – There is such freedom in homeschool nature study in your own backyard and in learning what is closest to home! In your own backyard, your children will learn to observe, to write about their experiences, to draw their treasures, to be patient, to imagine, and to explore. You don’t need a special textbook or kit to get started.

5 Getting Started in Nature Study Tips – What a delight nature study learning is and what joys you will discover outside your back door. We will help you with simple encouragement along the way.

June Nature Study Activities

Cicada Nature Study – This cicada homeschool nature study will be a lesson in learning to listen and distinguish the sound of the cicada. In the past we’ve listened in the evenings for other insects like the cricket. Now we’re going to learn about the cicada by listening and observing like investigators during the daylight.

Day Hikes Near Home – I realized over time that we didn’t need to travel far to find places to go on short notice or even for a half day’s hike. I loved being able to roll out of bed, decide to go on a hike, and be out the door in a short period of time. So, how did I overcome the dilemma of finding places to hike near our home?

Study Nature as You Travel This Summer – If you are planning a trip to a natural area to enjoy the outdoors, you may want to include nature study for your summer travel plans. Implement some of the ideas below to enhance your outdoor time.

FUN Summer Nature Study Photo Challenge! Enjoy a fun summer nature study photo challenge plus first day of summer ideas! I don’t know about you but I’m so very ready for the summer season! The most noticeable change is the amount of daylight. The sun is up early and it lingers in the evenings.

Beautiful Lupine Wildflower Nature Study – Enjoy a beautiful lupine wildflower nature study for your homeschool! Don’t miss the free lupine resource download and the free event!

Creating a Nature Journal Supply Kit for Your Homeschool – Here are some tips for creating a nature journal supply kit for your homeschool. It is simple, inexpensive and is easy to do!

Try a FREE Month of Preschool Homeschool Nature Study!

More Nature Study Resources for Summer Fun

Keeping a Nature Journal Review – Keeping a Nature Journal is a great homeschool nature study resource and contains a wealth of ideas that you can pick and choose to use as inspiration. This book is a tool like so many other tools we use in our family’s nature study.

Using the Public Library to Enhance Your Nature Study – You don’t need to spend lots of money building a library of nature literature. Using the public library as a source of books is easy and fun.

June Nature Study Activities in Membership

For even more homeschool nature study ideas, join us in Homeschool Nature Study membership! You’ll receive new ideas each and every week that require little or no prep – all bringing the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool!

Enjoy all of these and more in homeschool nature study membership:

  • Summer Senses
  • Mosquitoes
  • Summer Tree Observations
  • Summer Weather Observations
  • Bats
  • First Day of Summer Notebook Page
  • Fun Summer Photo Challenge
  • Monarch Butterfly Study
Nasturtiums! We went to our local garden store to search for them, and then worked in our nature journals at a nearby park. @amy.law

Have you subscribed to our Homeschool Nature Study YouTube channel?

  • Turtle and Pondweed Study
  • Mouse Study
  • Yellow Jacket and Mud Dauber
  • Owl
  • Mountain Laurel
  • Sunflower and other garden flowers
  • Raccoons and Skunks
  • Spectacular Night Sky Nature Study Ideas! (with a free printable)
  • and much more!

Plus a New June Outdoor Mom Post and a June Nature Craft!

These fun Outdoor Mom and Nature Craft activities are for our annual Homeschool Nature Study members! We invite you to join the family summer fun!

Nature Crafts for Kids: Boat

Victoria shares this really fun nature craft! “Summer is nearly upon us but the odd rain shower still hangs around, so now is the best time to make these little nature boats. Float them on a puddle after a summer rainfall, send them drifting across a pond or sailing down stream. these little nature boats will bring copious amounts of joy to a summers day.”

How to Make a Dandelion Crown: Nature Crafts for Kids

How to Make a Dandelion Crown Nature Craft

We are weeks away from Summer and the hedgerows and fields are glowing with dandelions, so now is the time to make dandelion crowns. One of the best uses for dandelions (there are MANY) is to create bright golden crowns to adorn our heads.

June Homeschool Outdoor Mom activities! So this summer I want to encourage you to take lots of walks. Eat lots of picnics outdoors. Take your shoes off and paddle in cool streams with your children and lie down in flower-filled meadows looking up at the blue skies and finding shapes in the clouds. Take time to plan a long, slow, purposeful summer with your families.

The Outdoor Homeschool Mom in June

This June, be encouraged by Shirley with all of her lovely Outdoor Mom prompts! Shirley shares, “So this summer I want to encourage you to take lots of walks. Eat lots of picnics outdoors. Take your shoes off and paddle in cool streams with your children. Lie down in flower-filled meadows looking up at the blue skies and find shapes in the clouds. Take time to plan a long, slow, purposeful summer with your families.”

Learn More About Homeschool Nature Study Membership Today!

Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

These June nature study activities are a perfect way to kick off summer learning in your homeschool.

Tricia and her family fell in love with the Handbook of Nature Study and the accompanying Outdoor Hour Challenges early in their homeschooling. The simplicity and ease of the weekly outdoor hour challenges brought joy to their homeschool and opened their eyes to the world right out their own back door! She shares the art and heart of homeschooling at You ARE an ARTiST and Your Best Homeschool plus her favorite curricula at The Curriculum Choice.

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How To Plan a Picnic for Your Homeschool Nature Study

You can plan a simple outdoor picnic with the benefit of homeschool nature study! Even a snack in your backyard will make for a fun time together outdoors. You will be surprised at all you notice while you are outside.

“..by beginning with the child in nature-study we take him to the laboratory of the wood or garden, the roadside or the field, and his materials are the wild flowers or the weeds, or the insects that visit the goldenrod or the bird that sings in the maple tree, or the woodchuck whistling in the pasture.”

Handbook of Nature Study, page 21
You can plan a simple outdoor picnic for your homeschool nature study! Even a snack in your backyard will make for a fun time together.
Image by Amy Law

Ideas for How to Plan an Outdoor Picnic

Picnics don’t need to be fancy. Wrap up a sandwich in a cloth napkin, grab a piece of fruit, and some water and you are set. Venture outside even if it is only to your own yard to sit on a blanket and enjoy your lunch. Afterwards you can make time for a short period of nature study.

I love eating outside with my family, especially in the summertime. This week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge encourages you to share a meal outside with your children. Keep it simple as far as food selections and location. Even if all you do is put a few things in a bag, grab a blanket, and then spread it all out on your own backyard lawn, I’m sure you and your children will enjoy the fresh air and the time spent outdoors sharing a meal.

Our family looks back fondly on the meals we shared outside in the summertime on our back deck. It made us slow down a bit and take notice of the things that happen outside like clouds floating by, birds chirping, and trees swaying in the breeze. We watched loads of sunsets and I remember a few times being sprinkled on by a passing late afternoon thunderstorm.

Our family eats dinner outside every night from June to September….longer if the weather allows. We have arranged our patio table under a canopy and the citronella candles are always kept nearby. We have a tree that the hummingbirds sip nectar from in the dusk hours and after our meal we sit and observe their dinnertime.

“…When the weather is warm, why not eat breakfast and lunch outside?…Besides the benefit of an added hour or two of fresh air, meals eaten outside are often delightful, and there’s nothing like happiness to convert food and drink into healthy blood and bodies.“

Charlotte Mason, Outdoor Life pg 43

Summer Nature Study Tip

Purchase some inexpensive, unbreakable dinnerware and reusable utensils. Make sure you have a small ice chest and some cooler packs to pop into your freezer. Gather a blanket or camping chairs to leave in your garage for those last minute excursions to the park for a picnic. Make sure to bring your nature journal and some pencils so you can create a nature journal page if the opportunity arises during or after your picnic.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Picnic

1. The challenge is to have a picnic. No need to go far or to even have a picnic table. Food always tastes better outside and if you don’t want to commit to a whole lunch, why not just a snack?

After you eat, sit and listen to the sounds of the spring.

“Given the power of nature to calm and soothe us in our hurried lives, it also would be interesting to study how a family’s connection to nature influences the general quality of family relationships. Speaking from personal experience, my own family’s relationships have been nourished over the years through shared experiences in nature-from sharing our toddler’s wonder upon turning over a rock and discovering a magnificent bug the size of a mouse, to paddling our old canoe down a nearby creek during the children’s school years, to hiking the mountains.”

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

2. After your picnic, spend 10-15 minutes observing your surroundings. Add anything new to your list of items observed in your focus area that you are keeping in your nature journal. Make note of any additional research that needs to be done for things your child is interested in. Make a journal entry if you wish.

This challenge is found in the Getting Started ebook which is included in Homeschool Nature Study membership. The ebook provides the challenge as shown above as well as custom notebook pages for your follow up nature journal if desired.

Homeschool Nature Study Members Have Great Resources at Your Fingertips

Consider working through the first three Outdoor Hour Challenges in the Getting Started ebook. These three challenges can help build your nature study habit. I highly recommend following the suggestions for reading in the Handbook of Nature Study that go along with those challenges. The words expressed in those readings include timeless advice to parents about the value of regular nature study close to home. Make sure to have the printable nature journal pages bookmarked in case your child is ready to create a record of their Outdoor Hour Challenge.

#1 Let’s Get Started
#2 Using Your Words
#3 Now Is The Time To Draw

Get your FREE Getting Started: Nature Study Close to Home (includes these challenges!)

Look for the Outdoor Hour Challenge Planning Pages printable in the Planning Resources course. Use these pages to make a rough plan for your nature study.

If you’re not a member here at Homeschool Nature Study yet, please consider joining to gain the benefit of having a nature study library at your fingertips. There are numerous resources available for you to help create the habit of nature study within your family.

Find Out More About Homeschool Nature Study Membership Today!

by Barbara McCoy, Outdoor Hour Challenges founder

You can plan a simple outdoor picnic for your homeschool nature study! Even a snack in your backyard will make for a fun time together.
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Delightful Preschool Nature Study Plans for Your Homeschool

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.

Don’t miss the free sample of preschool curriculum, below!

Delightful Preschool Nature Study Plans for Your Homeschool

Delightful Preschool Nature Study Plans for Your Homeschool

Preschool nature ideas for each month of the year include:

  • an animal, bird, flower and tree of the month – that is four nature studies each month!
  • nature table suggestions and items for free play
  • image cards
  • monthly activities
  • library books suggestions
  • casual monthly nature study
  • preschool hands on activities for active learning: singing drawing, tasting

“..the mother must not miss this opportunity of being outdoors to train the children to have seeing eyes, hearing ears and seeds of truth deposited into their minds to grow and blossom on their own in the secret chambers of their imaginations.”

Charlotte Mason, Volume 1, page 45

These Outdoor Nature Study Plans Can Be Used Family Style

Most of these nature study plans point to existing Outdoor Hour Challenges in our membership. The new Preschool course includes nature studies plus the plans refer to spring, summer, autumn and winter topics.

These are studies the whole family can explore! So these preschool plans are a great place for the whole family to start with.

48 Outdoor Hour Challenges!

But what if there is a rainy day and you can’t get outdoors? The activities in our Preschool Nature Study Plans will give you new ideas for fun learning.

Sample a Month of Nature Study Plans For Preschool

Try a free sample of the preschool nature study plans included in Homeschool Nature Study Membership. This sample includes a month of nature study plans! Get your copy in the form, below:

Get Your Preschool Nature Study Curriculum Sample!

Subscribe to get your free Preschool Nature Study Curriculum Sample for Homeschool.

    We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

    Preschool Nature Study Curriculum Included in Homeschool Nature Study Membership

    Our Preschool Nature Study Curriculum is the newest addition to the Homeschool Nature Study membership. There are even more resources coming to members in the coming months!

    There are 25+ continuing courses with matching Outdoor Hour curriculum that will bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool! In addition, there is an interactive monthly calendar with daily nature study prompt – all at your fingertips!

    Find Out More About Homeschool Nature Study Membership Today!

    Join us for even more homeschool nature studies for all the seasons! With a new nature study each week, you will have joyful learning leading all the way through the homeschool year for all your ages!

    You might also like:

    This Nature Study curriculum written by founder, Barbara McCoy. Additional resources by Tricia. Tricia and her family fell in love with the Handbook of Nature Study and the accompanying Outdoor Hour Challenges early in their homeschooling. The simplicity and ease of the weekly outdoor hour challenges brought joy to their homeschool and opened their eyes to the world right out their own back door! She shares the art and heart of homeschooling at You ARE an ARTiST and Your Best Homeschool plus her favorite curricula at The Curriculum Choice.

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    Discover a Dandelion Nature Study for Your Homeschool

    Though you may consider the dandelion a weed, there is so much to discover in this dandelion wildflower nature study for your homeschool. This is simple and delightful learning in your own backyard!

    Though you may consider the dandelion a weed, there is so much to discover in this dandelion wildflower nature study for your homeschool. This is simple and delightful learning in your own backyard!

    Dandelion Nature Study for Your Homeschool

    Start with a little bit of inside preparation before you head outdoors.

    Dandelion Nature Study in the Handbook of Nature Study


    Read in the Handbook of Nature Study about dandelions on pages 531-535. After reading the suggestions on pages 543 and 535, choose several ideas from the lesson to complete during your Outdoor Hour Time.

    Though you may consider the dandelion a weed, there is so much to discover in this dandelion wildflower nature study for your homeschool. This is simple and delightful learning in your own backyard!
    Dandelion Outdoor Hour enjoyed by Tricia’s family

    Finding Dandelions in your Outdoor Hour Time


    Spend 15 minutes outdoors this week in your own backyard or a near-by park. As you walk along, keep your eyes out for dandelions.

    Suggestions for Dandelion Wildflower Observations

    • See if you can find several dandelions in various stages of growth.
    • Look at the leaves and collect a few for sketching later in your nature journal.
    • If it is growing in your own yard, you might like to dig up the complete dandelion plant and observe the roots.
    • Measure the height of several different dandelion plants and compare them.
    • Examine an unopened dandelion flower.
    • Watch a bee working in a dandelion.
    • Observe the seeds and how they are dispersed.
    • Observe your dandelions on a sunny day and then on a cloudy day. Note any differences.

    Follow-Up Dandelion Nature Study Activities


    Take some time to draw the dandelion in your nature journal or complete the notebook page from the Spring Series ebook. Make sure to record your observations of the dandelion and make a sketch of the leaf and flower. If you would like to see our sample study of a dandelion in our backyard, here is the LINK.

    Studying the dandelion as a composite flower

    Composite Flowers: Supplement to the Study of a Dandelion


    The dandelion is a composite flower and the Handbook of Nature Study has a section to explain just what that means.

    “Many plants have their flowers set close together and thus make a mass of color, like the geraniums or the clovers. But there are other plants where there are different kinds of flowers in one head, those at the center doing a certain kind of work for the production of seed, and those around the edges, doing another kind of work. The sunflower, goldenrod, asters, daisies, coneflower, thistle, dandelion, burdock, everlasting, and many other common flowers have their blossoms arranged in this way.”

    Handbook of Nature Study, page 503

    Observe your dandelion, perhaps with a magnifying lens, to see if you can observe the parts of a composite flower:

    • Look at the center of the flower for the disc flowers and around the edges for ray flowers. (illustrated in the diagram on page 575)
    • Examine the disc flowers in the center and see if they are open or unfolded. How many ray flowers are there?
    • Locate the bracts (green cover of the flower before it opens). Can you see the bracts on the back of the flower?
    • More ideas for studying a composite flower are found on page 503 in Lesson 131. Note: This lesson will be Lesson 135 in the older edition and in the Plants and Trees pdf it is on page 68.
    art and nature for your homeschool

    More Spring Nature Study Activities

    Here are some more dandelion resources to enjoy!

    • Dandelions Outdoor Hour – I’ve always viewed dandelions as either a childhood delight or a nuisance. They tend to spread so quickly in a yard you are trying to keep free of weeds. But their seeds are also so much fun to blow and spread. A joy to watch catch the wind!
    • How to Draw a Dandelion Art Lesson – One of the icons of warm weather is the dandelion. Have you ever studied the detail of this beautiful creation? Oh there are so many ways you could paint it! This dandelion chalk pastel art tutorial is inspired by a photo I took last spring.
    • Take Along Nature Guides for Homeschool – I’m always looking for appealing books to help us out in our nature study to help spark my kids’ interest in all things outdoors.  When I found my first “Take-Along Guide” at a used book store, I was interested so I purchased it.  But it was later when I began really reading it that I became really interested.
    Getting Started nature study close to home

    Get your FREE Getting Started: Nature Study Close to Home (includes three challenges!)

    Homeschool Nature Study Membership for Year Round Support

    Can you believe all of these spring homeschool resources you will find in membership? You will also find a continuing homeschool nature study series plus all the Outdoor Hour Challenges for nature study in our Homeschool Nature Study membership. There are 25+ continuing courses with matching Outdoor Hour curriculum that will bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool! In addition, there is an interactive monthly calendar with daily nature study prompt – all at your fingertips!

    Find Out More About Homeschool Nature Study Membership HERE!

    Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

    Though you may consider the dandelion a weed, there is so much to discover in this dandelion wildflower nature study for your homeschool.

    Outdoor Hour Challenge by founder, Barbara McCoy. Additional resources by Tricia. Tricia and her family fell in love with the Handbook of Nature Study and the accompanying Outdoor Hour Challenges early in their homeschooling. The simplicity and ease of the weekly outdoor hour challenges brought joy to their homeschool and opened their eyes to the world right out their own back door! She shares the art and heart of homeschooling at You ARE an ARTiST and Your Best Homeschool plus her favorite curricula at The Curriculum Choice.

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    Insect Nature Study For Kids: How to Identify an Insect

    Even if you or your children are squirmy about insects, there is so much to discover and learn! In this insect nature study, learn how to identify an insect with simple steps!

    This engaging insect nature study for kids includes step by step instructions on how to simply identify an insect.

    “Insects are among the most interesting and available of all living creatures for nature study. The lives of many of them afford more interesting stories than are found in fairy lore; many of them show exquisite colors; and, most important of all, they are small and are, therefore, easily confined for observation.”

    Handbook of Nature Study, page 294
    This engaging insect nature study for kids includes step by step instructions on how to simply identify an insect.

    I am finding this to be the case in our everyday life…there are insects everywhere. The caterpillar above we found on our hike yesterday. The more we looked, the more we found.

    This engaging insect nature study for kids includes step by step instructions on how to simply identify an insect.

    Rain beetle: Although she looks dead, she really wasn’t. She kept flipping over on her back and wiggling and stretching her legs. Today was a first. I actually looked closely at a very ugly beetle. Yes, I am becoming an insect gal. I know this for sure because my daughter and her friend Shyloh brought me home a very large, very alive beetle creature. I had asked all my family to bring home any interesting insects they find and had even given them each a ziploc sandwich bag to bring them home in. Yesterday was the first time someone brought me an insect treasure. They said they couldn’t bear to put it into a baggie so they used a small plastic container from my daughter’s lunch box. She said there were hundreds of the beetles so she felt like she could bring one to us to study

    How to Identify an Insect

    At first I was disgusted by this creature but after taking her out of the container and looking carefully, I once again found the beauty in the design of the Creator. Now all that was left to do was to discover what sort of beetle this insect was.

    This engaging insect nature study for kids includes step by step instructions on how to simply identify an insect.


    Steps To Identify An Insect


    1. I pulled out my field guide but could not see any beetles that looked like this one.

    2.So it was off to the internet and we started by looking up “beetle, california” on Google. I am finding that if I Google something and then look at the images it takes me far less time to identify a creature.

    3.Once you find an image that looks like your insect, click on the link associated with that image. The majority of the time this is enough to get you pointed in the right direction.

    Insect Nature Study For Kids

    Here’s what I learned about this little female insect: Rain beetle or P. puncticollis (more on classification at BugGuide.net)and can be found in California woodlands. The male is approximately 1″ and the female can be slightly larger at 1 3/4″. The males have wings but the females do not. They range in color from reddish-brown to black. The underside is covered in hairy bristles.

    The interesting thing about this beetle is that it makes a sudden appearance after a soaking rain….hence the name Rain beetle. We had a really good rain all the night before so I think this is probably why we were able to see this amazing creature. The life cycle of the Rain beetle is very long. The larvae, who feed on roots of live trees and bushes of oaks and conifers, take up to as much as 10-12 years to mature but once they become adults the males wait for the first rains to bring them out for their mating flight and the females dig a tunnel to the surface to wait for the males to find them. Here is the fascinating part:The conditions that trigger the males and females to emerge are so stringent that this may only happen in a population for a single day in a given year. This made the finding of this insect all the more precious since it is a rare event.

    This engaging insect nature study for kids includes step by step instructions on how to simply identify an insect.

    This is the head of the beetle and if you look closely you can see her little “horns”. The males fly slowly over the area, low to the ground, looking for the females who although rarely leave their underground burrow, wait at the burrow’s entrance for the arrival of the males. She puts off a pheromone that attracts the males. After mating the female closes off the entrance to her burrow and lays her eggs. These mature the following spring.

    rain beetle up close

    I love this photo that shows her leg parts.

    Wow, so much to learn. I have a new appreciation for the study of insects after learning that this was not just an ugly bug. It has a whole life story to learn and now I can share it with others.

    “When it is properly taught, the child is unconscious of mental effort or that he is suffering the act of teaching.”

    Handbook of Nature Study, page 6

    I did all this research and it hardly felt like any effort at all. I will be striving to make our nature study so that it is interesting and feels not like work but like refreshment.


    Get your FREE Getting Started: Nature Study Close to Home (includes three challenges!)

    If you’re not a member here at Homeschool Nature Study yet, please consider joining to gain the benefit of having a nature study library at your fingertips. There are numerous resources available for you to help create the habit of nature study within your family.

    Find Out More About the Outdoor Hour Challenges with Homeschool Nature Study HERE!
    Handbook of Nature Study for your homeschool

    by Barb McCoy, founder of the Outdoor Hour Challenges

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    Snowman Bird Feeder Activity For Kids: A Winter Nature Study

    Here is how to make a snowman bird feeder in your own backyard. This is a fun winter idea for your homeschool nature study and feathered friends.

    Here is how to make a snowman bird feeder in your own backyard. This is a fun winter idea for your homeschool nature study.

    Here is how to make a snowman bird feeder in your own backyard. This is a fun winter idea for your homeschool nature study.

    Happy birds! We had large numbers of birds visit our yard during our snow days earlier this week. We had feeders filled with seeds and suet for them to enjoy. This time we had a special treat for them….a snowman bird feeder!

    Here is how to make a snowman bird feeder in your own backyard. This is a fun winter idea for your homeschool nature study.

    Winter Fun: How To Make a Snowman Bird Feeder

    We created a small snowman on our deck and made eyes out of sunflower seeds and then filled the top of his head with a handful of sunflower seeds. I saw this idea on Pinterest and have been itching to try it. It took a little while for the birds to find the seeds but once they did it didn’t last for long.

    They ate the eyes and all!

    Here is how to make a snowman bird feeder in your own backyard. This is a fun winter idea for your homeschool nature study.

    The second day I refilled the spot on the snowman’s head and they came back again.

    It was a simple and fun way to observe birds from our window. The birds didn’t care if our snowman bird feeder wasn’t all that pretty.

    I highly recommend trying this if you have snow in your yard. Snap a few photos and send one to me!

    Join us for our Winter Wednesday homeschool nature studies!

    winter homeschool nature study

    More Winter Homeschool Nature Study Resources

    Here are even more winter nature studies for you to enjoy together:

    Join Homeschool Nature Study Membership for a NEW Nature Study each week!

    Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

    by Outdoor Hour Challenge founder Barbara McCoy

    How to make a snowman bird feeder in your own backyard. This is a fun winter idea for your homeschool nature study and feathered friends.
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    A Robert Frost Style Winter Nature Study for Your Homeschool

    You can enjoy a Robert Frost Style winter nature study for your homeschool! Frost’s poem, Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening can be a jumping off point. Enjoy these ideas for your snowy adventure.

    You can enjoy a Robert Frost Style winter nature study for your homeschool! Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening can be a jumping off point. Enjoy these ideas for your snowy adventure.

    There was so much snow in our favorite woods…it brought to mind the Robert Frost poem that we have been reading in our poetry study the past few weeks.

    A Robert Frost Stopping By The Woods Winter Nature Study

    “Whose woods these are I think I know.

    His house is in the village though;

    He will not see me stopping here

    To watch his woods fill up with snow.”

    Robert Frost (Few lines from Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, 1923).

    Using Snowshoes or Cross Country Skis for a Snow Hike

    Our Winter Wednesday color walk and cattail observations were combined into one snowy hike…snowshoes firmly attached. It started off with 18 degree weather but by the time we finished it was around 40 degrees, sun shining brightly.

    Look for Winter Colors in Your Homeschool Nature Study

    We started off with not much aim other than looking for colors and finding the cattail pond. I decided that it is nice to have something in mind as we head out in the really cold air….otherwise you keep your eyes down and forget to look up and out.

    The color palette of this snowy world is actually quite beautiful. The blue sky, the evergreen pines, the red-yellow-orange of the shrubs, the colorful lichens, and the blue of the lake really stand out against all the snow.

    1 6 11 Cattails at Taylor Creek with snow
    Our cattails this year are quite secluded and we aren’t even sure if we will be able to get out here since we think this is marshy in the spring and summer. It will be interesting to see how the terrain changes by the season.

    1 6 11 Cattails in the snow Taylor Creek
    Look at the mountain covered with snow! The colors really pop when you have all this whiteness going on…blue sky, reddish-oranges of the willow and dogwood, green evergreens.

    1 6 11 Snowshoe trail

    Keep Your Cross Country Ski Route in Mind

    It seems unlikely that we would get lost but we did wander around following someone else’s path. It is a really good idea to have in mind a route when you are out in the woods like this. We knew our general direction but you get tired trudging through large amounts of snow even with snowshoes on. (I also got hot…too many layers.)

    Our problem was that there are two large creeks that run through the snowy meadows and if you don’t plan it right you are stuck on one side with the water running between you and the rest of the path. I could see where animals had just jumped across the gap but with snowshoes on, you don’t jump very well. We had to find a way to go around.

    1 6 11 Taylor Creek with Snow
    Another factor is that with all this snow, our familiar landmarks are erased. The bushes are flat with snow and there is far more water than we are used to. All those lumps are bushes weighed down with a couple feet of snow. You can’t really hike over the top. Going around again.

    1 6 11 Snow Shoes at Taylor Creek
    In the end, we made it back to the car by following the creek and finding the bridge. It was a wonderful romp through the woods, successful in refreshing our hearts with some wonderful awesome vistas that you would never see if you didn’t break out the snowshoes or cross-country skis.

    You can enjoy a Robert Frost Style winter nature study for your homeschool! Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening can be a jumping off point. Enjoy these ideas for your snowy adventure.

    A Homeschool Snow Study

    If you don’t have snowshoes or cross-country skis, you can still enjoy a fun homeschool snow study! Browse all of these fun ideas: Homeschool Snow Study

    You can enjoy a Robert Frost Style winter nature study for your homeschool! Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening can be a jumping off point. Enjoy these ideas for your snowy adventure.

    A Robert Frost Art Lesson and Tea Time

    Follow up your outdoor hour time with a fun art and homeschool tea time! Fun ideas for Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening Homeschool Tea Time with You ARE an ARTiST. A printable Robert Frost poem is included in ARTiST Clubhouse membership.

    You might also like a Winter Snowflake Study with Snowflake Bentley.

    You can enjoy a Robert Frost Style winter nature study for your homeschool! Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening can be a jumping off point. Enjoy these ideas for your snowy adventure.

    More Winter Homeschool Nature Study

    Here are even more winter nature studies for you to enjoy together:

    Join Homeschool Nature Study Membership For a NEW Outdoor Hour Challenge Each Week!

    Be sure to share photos of your Robert Frost winter nature study with us! Tag us @outdoorhourchallenge

    Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

    Written by Outdoor Hour Challenge founder, Barb McCoy in 2011. Updated by Tricia 2022.

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    The Purpose of Nature Study: How to Use Questions and Answers in Your Homeschool

    Just what is the purpose of nature study? Use these examples for how to use questions and answers in your homeschool as a jumping off place for even more discoveries and further adventures! Learn together and make memories as a family.

    Photo by Amy Law

    The Purpose of Nature Study: How to Use Questions and Answers in Your Homeschool

    Nature study is more about asking questions than it is about finding answers. I always enjoy a good question because it means that my children are taking something they see or hear and are internalizing it and then coming up with a good question. Many times just asking the question helps solidify what they already know.

    “Nature study does not start out with the classification given in books, but in the end it builds up in the child’s mind a classification which is based on fundamental knowledge; it is a classification like that evolved by the first naturalists, because it is built on careful personal observations of both form and life.”

    Handbook of Nature Study, page 6

    For instance, if they see a little creeping creature and wonder what it is, they will need to look a little closer. On examining the creature, they see that it has six legs. Six legs equals an insect and not a spider.

    So already before asking me what it is, they have decided it must be some sort of insect and we can then pull out the proper field guide to see if we can identify it by habitat, color, shape, and size.

    Using Field Guides and References in Your Nature Study

    If we never positively identify a particular insect, we still have taken some time to investigate it further both in the field with our eyes and afterwards in the house with the field guide. The important work was done. We could be finished there if we felt satisfied or we could dig further, checking on the internet or at the library if we were inspired to know more.

    Other than the Handbook of Nature Study, a science reference shelf with a collection of field guides are the best tools for research. The process of going through identifying a subject leads you through a series of questions…good questions.

    questions and answers in nature study

    Nature Journaling in Your Homeschool

    Some families are making the next step and trying to keep a record of their time in nature with a nature journal. Our family finds this activity very rewarding but we don’t always draw in our journals after every outdoor time.

    Honestly, when we do take the time to try to draw what we see during our nature time, we get a lot more out of it. There is something about the process of taking your experiences and putting them down on paper that creates a special bond between you and the subject whether it is a leaf, a spider, a flower, or anything else you choose to draw.

    questions and answers in nature study

    Maybe you have a collection of items from a picnic nature study last summer….the process of collecting the items can be more fun than spending time identifying them. Just enjoy them and then leave them there at the beach. Maybe next time you will have some questions ready to ask and the proper field guide on hand and will get down to the business of knowing the particular rock and tree.

    So don’t be afraid of questions….questions are a great tool. You don’t need to know all the answers to the questions that your children have about nature study. Consider it a good thing when you find something you need to research because you will learn right alongside your child.

    More Ways to Spark Interesting Questions and Answers in Your Homeschool

    Here are a few more ideas you might enjoy:

    questions and answers in nature study

    Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

    Find Out More About Homeschool Nature Study Membership – with a NEW Nature Study Each Week!

    by Barb McCoy, Outdoor Hour Challenges founder, September 2008

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    How To Find The Joy of Nature Study in Your Own Backyard

    How do you find the joy of nature study in your own backyard? Here are some encouragement for easy homeschool nature study right out your back door.

    How do you find the joy of nature study in your own backyard? Here are some encouragement for easy homeschool nature study right out your back door.

    The simple truth is that everyone has something special and unique to explore in their own backyard or neighborhood.

    How To Find The Joy of Nature Study in Your Own Backyard

    I always go outside with the expectation that there will be something interesting.

    Sometimes you have to look harder to find it than other times.

    Nature study has made me more of a positive person…I expect to find something outdoors to make me joyful. I expect that there will be something that we can observe and notice.

    How do you find the joy of nature study in your own backyard? Here are some encouragement for easy homeschool nature study right out your back door.
    Wow! Look at the color of this fungi? We think it is called Witches Butter.

    There is just so much to see and learn about, but we need to train our eyes and hearts to be open to the opportunities that arise.

    seeds nature study
    I am amazed by these seeds. As many times as we have hiked down this same path, by this same plant, I have never noticed these really great seeds but there they are.

    Keep your senses open to any opportunities and you may be surprised what you find to be interested in along with your children.

    How do you find the joy of nature study in your own backyard? Here are some encouragement for easy homeschool nature study right out your back door.
    There were lots of fresh critter holes along the trail this week. This one was especially large. We see signs of lots of mammals as we walk and holes are some of the most intriguing signs that we are not alone.

    Tips for Simple Homeschool Nature Study

    I got to thinking about all of the simple things we have nature study in our own backyard that we have noticed over the years.

    • Trees: leaves, bark, twigs, roots, flowers, cones, needles, seeds, pods, nests, birds
    • Patch of weeds: leaves, roots, bugs, flowers perhaps
    • Dirt: worms, gravel, stones, seeds, mud
    • Sky: clouds, sun, moon, stars
    • Air: temperature, wind, smells, breath on a cold morning
    • Birds: flying, pecking, eating, chirping, hopping, shapes and colors, beaks, wings, tails, feet
    • Sounds: wind, frogs, rain, leaves, crickets, bees, fly buzzing, mosquitoes
    • Weather: rain, clouds, temperature, snow, ice, dew, wind
    • Flowers (garden or in a pot): petals, pollen, roots, leaves, stem, fragrance, shapes, colors, seeds
    The ferns are growing right now like crazy. Every day there are more and more to enjoy.

    More For Your Homeschool

    Find out more about homeschool nature study encouragement and prompts in The Joy of Nature Study in Your Homeschool Year.

    If you are not a Homeschool Nature Study member yet, please consider joining to gain the benefit of having a nature study library at your fingertips. There are numerous resources available for you to help create the habit of nature study within your family.

    How do you find the joy of nature study in your own backyard? Here are some encouragement for easy homeschool nature study right out your back door.

    What can you put on your list?

    Above all, have fun and be joyful!

    By Barb McCoy, Outdoor Hour Challenges founder