Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world.
How Do You Join?
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 week 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….
I added nature journal pages about….
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
A photo I would like to share…
I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.
Outdoor Mom’s Journal – June 8, 2015
During our Outdoor Hour time this month we…..spent some time at the Oregon Coast during a negative tide where we could explore the many creatures that were exposed. Colorful seastars, anemones, and crabs were the highlights of the day! We try to time our visit to the ocean to coincide with a low tide so we can really see some interesting things. This page may prove helpful: Tides.com.
In the garden….we are planting herbs and veggies and flowers in pots. I am enjoying the process of watering a bit every day with our shower water and see the sprouts come up and flourish. I received quite a few different seeds from Renee’s Garden that say they are particularly for containers. I will let you know how it goes this summer!
A photo I would like to share….this is a magnificent snail we saw in the redwood forest. Isn’t he great!
The most inspiring thing we experienced….glorious sunset walks on Harris Beach. We lingered and watched. We strolled and talked. I savor those moments with my son…all grown up but he still appreciates the beauty found all around us.
Please join me! Share something that you have done lately….looking forward to reading your entries and comments!
Here is a list of the specific challenges included in this ebook:
Bachelor’s Buttons
Water Lily
Lacewing
Willows
Larkspur (delphiniums)
Fish- Common shiner, Johnny Darter, Sunfish
Pearly Everlasting
Baltimore oriole
Caddisfly
I am happy to announce the release of the long awaitedOutdoor Hour Challenge Summer Nature Study Continues ebook! I have been so inspired to start some spring nature study while writing up these challenges for you and your families. You are going to enjoy the flowers, amphibians, and insects included in this spring series of nature study topics.
Which edition of the Handbook of Nature Study do I need?
You will need to have a copy of the Handbook of Nature Study to use with the suggestions in the ebook. You can purchase a copy from Amazon.com or you can use an online version. The version of the Handbook of Nature Study I use is ISBN 0801493846.
Each week I will be sharing one of the challenges here on the blog which means you can follow along without a membership if you subscribe to my blog. You can subscribe by entering your email address in the subscription box at the top right of my website. After you enter your name, you will need to confirm your subscription by responding to the email that will come to your inbox.
Where Can I Get The New Ebook?
This ebook will not be sold separately but will be added to the Ultimate and Journey levelsof membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
If you are a member of the Ultimate or Journey levels here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you will find the ebook listed in your library after you log into your account. The ebook version available to members includes all of the notebook pages, coloring pages, and color images. I highly recommend purchasing a membership for all the added benefits for each and every challenge.
Go on an insect hunt! Look for insect eggs, larvae, caterpillars, and mature insects including butterflies.
Take some time to watch a butterfly as it works in the garden. Look at the butterfly’s body parts. If you spy a swallowtail, look at the shape of the wings.
If you find a caterpillar, watch it eat and observe its horns.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create a nature journal entry for the swallowtail butterfly or any butterfly you find this week in the garden. If you don’t find a butterfly, pick one to research and then record your findings on a notebook page included in the ebook.
Advanced study: Sketch the chrysalis, caterpillar, and butterfly of the black swallowtail butterfly. There is a notebook page included in the ebook for your sketches.
Advanced study: Draw at least two different swallowtail butterflies with colored pencils in your nature journal.
Join us for this spring series of challenges every week here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
If you want to purchase the Spring Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Spring Nature Study Continues – New Ebookannouncement page for more details.
Now that the weather is warmer and we spend more time outdoors, take time to create a nature journal page while out in the fresh air. Bring your journal (or notebook page), simple drawing supplies, and perhaps a field guide with you during your Outdoor Hour Challenge. Sit somewhere comfortable with a view that you would like to capture in your journal. Or, you can find a subject to draw in detail, sketching it in its natural habitat.
Nature Journal Page Ideas:
Find an interesting place to sit: under a tree, alongside a creek, in an open field. Let the environment inspire you to sketch the scene.
Gather a few small things to draw while you sit outdoors. Pay close attention to detail and make appropriate captions.
Take your journal along with you on picnics, camping trips, and vacation spots.
Find a spot in your garden, yard, or local park to visit frequently and create sketches for your nature journal.
If you would like to contribute to the board, you will need to follow this Pinterest Board and then leave me a comment letting me know you want to be added. Important: If you contribute to the board, you need to include in your description the prompt it is featuring.
Sample: Our The Window Nature Journal
If you don’t include a description using one of the monthly journal prompts, I may remove it. This is not a board to post general nature journal pages. It is strictly for pages created using one of the twelve monthly prompts as part of this project.
Please note that you are not committed to make a journal each month…participate as you can and share your results to encourage others.
Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.
The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately. There may be a delay in your receiving the email so please don’t email me until the second day of the month if you haven’t received the link on the first. For some reason, some email providers take longer to receive the newsletter email.
If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.
If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.
If you need to subscribe:
You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link.
This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of June so be sure to download it before 6/30/15.
Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
Practical articles for growing, harvesting, and using herbs….along with something I found terribly interesting
June planning page (four challenges to schedule for each Friday in June)
June Nature Journal Toppers, grid, herb coloring page, and Herb Study notebooking page
July preschool nature table ideas, printables, and activities (so you can plan ahead of time!) Check out the Amazon Store for this month’s topics: July 2015 Preschool Nature Table Ideas. (my affiliate link)
Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.
Need help getting started with your nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study? Check out the fresh “Getting Started” page here on the website!
This month I am adding some habitat research notebook pages for you to use with your family. There are five habitats included: Desert, Prairie, Forest, Seashore, and Wetland. Visit the habitat or use the pages to record information you find while researching a particular habitat. We will be going more deeply into these habitats next year in the free monthly newsletters.
These new printables are free if you are a member of the Ultimate Naturalist or Journey level memberships. You need to log into your account and then check the “Other Releases” section for brand new printables to enjoy along with the Outdoor Hour Challenges in 2015.
Zion National Parkis like no other park we have ever visited. It amazes me when I find a place so different than I had imagined. I think that Zion rivals Yosemite as my favorite national park because of its beauty and uniqueness.
This park impressed me because we were able to park the car for three days and then either walk or take the free shuttle to every place we wanted to visit. The shuttle was convenient and came regularly, never making us wait very long. There were times that we had to stand in the shuttle but only for a stop or two at most.
The visitor center has indoor and outdoor information boards that we found very helpful in planning our visit. Each hike was explained in detail so we could pick hikes that fit our needs: time, distance, and difficulty. My husband and I enjoy taking 3-6 mile hikes, anything longer for a day hike makes us feel pressured to walk fast and I think we miss things of interest. When we had young children, we had to make sure that the elevation change wasn’t an issue either since we had our children hiking as soon as they could manage it…usually around 3 years of age. Zion has hikes for all abilities so this is a great park for families.
Riverside Walk: this hike is at the last shuttle stop in Zion. This is an easy hike that winds alongside the river where you see beautiful trees and wildflowers.
It is also the trailhead for the Narrows hike which is a popular hike that requires you to wade up the Virgin River. The day we were there it was forecasted to rain and a 50% chance of flash floods. We opted to take the Riverside Walk up to the end and have a picnic lunch as we gazed up at the Temple of Simwava, an amazing red rock formation that surrounds you.
The changing weather along with the changing light make the canyon so different every time you go out for a hike. We had all kinds of weather during our visit but only one afternoon was wet enough to keep us off the trails. We took that opportunity to eat a nice lunch at the Zion Lodge and then later into Springdale on the shuttle to a very nice coffee shop.
One day we got off the shuttle at the Court of the Patriarchs and hiked from there to the Emerald Pools. This was a difficult section to hike on because was soft deep sand…sort of like hiking at the beach. The horses take this path and have worn it down until it is a crazy hard stretch of trail. We did see some wild turkeys and a deer while hiking…and not a single other person which made the hike very peaceful so it had its advantages.
Here is a view from the trail that showcases the view and the plant life.
We did eventually make it to the Lower Emerald Pool but we should have taken the shuttle to Zion Lodge stop and then hiked from there. The trail is much easier in that area. The Emerald Pool was a soft falling waterfall at this time of year and very pretty. There were a lot of people at this particular spot but we continued on around to the Kayenta Trail which brought us to a portion of the park that was virtually empty.
This was actually my favorite trail in the park and we ended up hiking it from both directions on different days.
We walked part of the Parus Trail one morning by taking the shuttle up the canyon and then walking the trail back. It is a super easy trail that allows bikes and dogs so it is a little more popular. It takes you along the Virgin River with pretty spots to stop and enjoy the views.
We hiked up to the top of the Archeology Trail where you have a sweeping view of the park, especially the campground. You can see in this image the walk in part of the Watchman Campground.We stayed on another loop of this campground with our trailer and we thought it was one of the nicest campgrounds we have been in. The place seems to have been recently updated and the restrooms are brand new. I highly recommend this spot for camping and it is convenient to the Visitor Center, the shuttle bus stops, and the town of Springdale which is within walking distance.
My husband’s favorite hike was Hidden Canyon.We were hoping to experience Zion’s famous Angel’s Landing hike but the day we had planned to take it there was rain in the forecast again. I am also not sure about the portion of the hike that is along a sheer drop because of my fear of heights. We opted to take the Hidden Canyon trail and get a taste of what Zion has as far as a more strenuous hike.
See me? I made it along the portion of the trail that is super narrow and you really need to hug the hillside and hold the chains! I wasn’t sure at first but my dear husband is such a great encourager. He kept telling me just to put one foot in front of the other and you know it works! I made it all the way to the top. It was thrilling and scary too, especially on the way down the mountain when it was raining a little and the rocks started to get a bit slippery.
This is a unique and wonderful place and I hope you will get to experience this park for yourself some day. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit and will be reliving our hikes and adventures for many years to come.
Tips for a Visit
We stayed at the Watchman Campground right in the park and found it convenient and reasonably priced at $18 per night. There is also the South Campground which is equally as convenient and right inside the park gates. If you need to stay in a hotel, the Zion Lodge is situated right in the heart of the park. Also, in Sprindale, Utah there are quite a few hotels within walking or shuttle ride distance to the park.
We ate lunch at the Zion Lodge and it was a beautiful spot to sit and look out the large windows at the landscape. There is also also a cafe and ice cream shop at the lodge. In the town of Springdale (a 5 minute shuttle ride), you have lots of cafes and coffee shops. We ate at Oscar’s Cafewhich was delicious and had a funky atmosphere. We also had coffee at Cafe Soleil which is a short walk from the gate at the end of the theater parking lot.
Use the shuttle to get to a trailhead and then hike to the next shuttle stop! Make sure to ride all the way to the end to the Temple of Sinawava at least once to see all of the glorious canyon.
The Visitor Center has a lot of information on hikes and things like that but you need to go to the Human History Museum to get a better grasp on the whole picture.
If you have an oversized vehicle, check the park website for information about driving through the tunnel between the park and the east entrance.
There is no way we could experience the entire park in three days….if you have more time, there are lots more canyons and places to hike if you check with the visitor center and get some good maps.
Fees charged: $25 per car or $12 per person if walking in. (We saw them charging each GROUP $25 as they walked in together.)
You can read more of my national park entries by following these links:
“We often hear the fact stated that in the present day only those who know how to advertise are successful; but we have with us by every roadside, and in every field, and in the depths of the forest, many successful little advertisers, who have lived and flourished for many centuries because of their advertising. For every bright or fragrant blossom is an announcement telling abroad to all the world that sees and smells, that it is ready for business.”
These words written by Anna Botsford Comstock bring a smile to my face. This time of year we see many blossoms “advertising” that they are ready and waiting for the winged insects to visit and then carry pollen on to the next flower. The Outdoor Hour Challenges for the past month or so have focused on wildflowers and coming up at the end of May we will have some garden flower studies. These are perfect opportunities to combine a flower and insect study, sharing the relationship and benefits of this wonderful arrangement for both.
“In teaching the children this subject it is necessary that they should watch flowers and see the insects visit them. If there are flowers in the neighborhood of your schoolhouse, let the children take notes and report on the different kids of insects which they have seen visiting certain flowers. For instance, let them watch for a week, and note all the insects that visit a certain thistle, or any other convenient flower.”
This is such a simple but powerful lesson for your children to learn directly from the field. Take them outside to look at flowers and their insect visitors and then follow up with a simple nature journal entry.
Let me know how it goes for your family!
The quotes in this entry are from The Winged Pollen Carriers by Anna Botsford Comstock. I can’t find where I originally copied this quote from but I am sure it is on Google Books somewhere.
Read pages 479-482 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #124). Please note that the HNS says that this plant is edible but I do not encourage anyone to eat any part of this plant.
Use these links to learn more about the May apple and its distribution in the United States: Mayapple or May Apple.
Out to the woods you go to look for the umbrella-like leaves of the May apple! This is an excellent plant to watch throughout the spring and into the late summer to follow its progression from the spreading of its leaves, the flower, and then the development of the fruit.
There are many great ideas in the lesson for suggested observations. Make sure to note a few before you head out for your Outdoor Hour time. Make lots of observations in the field and then record your findings in your nature journal.
If you don’t have a May apple to study, find another blooming wildflower to observe up close this week. Remember there is a Spring Wildflower Study notebook page included in the ebook.
Follow-Up Activity:
Write as many interesting facts as you can about the May apple plant in your nature journal or on the notebook page in the ebook.
Learn more about leaf shapes and then draw the leaf of the May apple in your nature journal. Use this link: Leaf Types.
Advanced Study: Research the common names for the May apple plant and then the traditional uses of the parts of the May apple.
Join us for this spring series of challenges every week here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
If you want to purchase the Spring Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Spring Nature Study Continues – New Ebookannouncement page for more details.
Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.
The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately. There may be a delay in your receiving the email so please don’t email me until the second day of the month if you haven’t received the link on the first. For some reason, some email providers take longer to receive the newsletter email.
If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.
If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.
If you need to subscribe:
You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link.
This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of May so be sure to download it before 5/31/15.
Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
3 articles to help you get the most out of your next nature study adventure
May planning page (four challenges to schedule for each Friday in April)
May Nature Journal Toppers, grid, and Nature Study Travel notebooking page
June preschool nature table ideas, printables, and activities (so you can plan ahead of time!) Check out the Amazon Store for this month’s topics: May 2015 Preschool Nature Table Ideas. (my affiliate link)
Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.
Need help getting started with your nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study? Check out the fresh “Getting Started” page here on the website!
I use is ISBN 0801493846.
