Ultimate Guide to Christmas Nature Study

 

The holly bears a berry as red as any blood,

And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to do poor sinners good.

The holly bears a prickle as sharp as any thorn,

And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ on Christmas Day in the morn.

~The Holly and the Ivy | Harrison S. Morris

I bet you thought I covered everything related to nature study a few months ago in my Ultimate Guide to Nature Study post, didn’t you?  No way!  In this post, I’ve pulled together everything related to CHRISTMAS nature study for you.  Christmas nature study??  Yep.  Who is Christmas about?  Who made creation?  Well then, studying nature at Christmastime is a perfect way to talk more about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! 

Nature Study Through the Holidays: Advent

I’ve taken some time to pull together all you need for an Advent-themed Bible and science study in Nature Study Through the Holidays: Advent.  Advent is a weekly focus on various parts of the Christmas story during the month leading up to Christmas.  For each of these weeks, I have provided you with Scripture references, nature study activities and full-color notebooking pages.  My hope is that your family will grow closer to the Lord and His perfect gift of Jesus this Christmas season.

If you use Advent candles as part of your Christmas celebration, you might be interested in Theresa’s Advent wreath made from natural materials.

Christmas Tree Study

If you’d rather focus on Christmas trees as nature study, NaturExplorer’s Constant Conifers offers many ideas!

Homeschool Share has a free study using the book Chita’s Christmas Tree, too.

Other Fun Christmas Nature Study Ideas

There are many, many nature topics you might focus on during the month of December.  I’ve listed just handful of fun ideas below.

• Learn more about the mistletoe you find on your nature walks from the U.S. Geological Survey.

• December (or anytime during winter) is a wonderful time for a study of Snow and Ice.

• Winter Solstice occurs on Dec. 21st.  It’s the shortest day of the year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.  Donna Young has provided a fun science activity to measure shadows and The Crafty Crow has linked all sorts of fun craft ideas to celebrate.

• You might enjoy a study of spices as you prepare all those yummy Christmas cookies.

• If you have the opportunity, take a unique nature “walk” – go ice skating!

Christmas & Nature Literature

There are books galore that tie together nature and Christmas.  Really good books, too.  Enjoy one or two of these a week to spark nature walks.

Christmas Gifts & Crafting from Nature

Decorate your house with natural elements found on nature walks – everything from door and table decor to Christmas tree ornaments.  Many nature projects turn out so beautifully they make perfect gifts, too!  Below, I’ve linked you to some of my favorite Christmas nature crafting ideas.  I’ve also been busy pinning fun ideas on my Christmas Nature Study Pinterest Board.

• Milestone Academy encourages her children to make herb gardens as gifts by rooting supermarket herbs in small glass jars.

• If you have a collection of walnuts from a nature walk, Easy Fun School uses them to make Black Walnut Wintermints.

• Steph shares directions for 13 nature-filled Christmas craft projects for kids (and adults.)

• Not necessarily Christmas related, these nature crafts for kids could make great gifts.

• How about making some fun ornaments using nature finds?

Christmas Gift Ideas to Promote Nature Study

Just in case you’re still shopping, there are tons of fun ideas for gifts that go along with nature study.  I’ve compiled a huge list of some goodies here.

And, don’t forget things like zoo memberships, science museum tickets, or even a subscription to Nature’s Friend magazine!

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Have fun this Christmas season.  Make memories in learning that will last a lifetime!

Need more Christmas ideas?  My post is just one of 25 in a daily blog hop sponsored by iHomeschool Network.  Be sure to check out all the great ideas!

 

 

I’m also linking this up to the holiday edition of the Charlotte Mason Carnival!

 

Win Big in the iHN Stocking Stuffer Event!

Christmas is the season when we celebrate the greatest gift ever given - JESUS.  We tend to give in so many extra ways during December – gifts, hospitality, notes of love, time to the needy, and much more.  It’s a beautiful season of sharing that warms my heart every year!

Several bloggers and I have teamed up for a little extra giving this year through the Christmas Stocking Stuffer, hosted by iHomeschool Network.  Two people will win $250 and many more will win other fantastic prizes – just in time for Christmas!

Indulge me for just a minute…

An extra $250 at Christmas!  What would I buy?  It would probably go toward some technology for our homeschool.

Fuhu’s NABI 2 – A 7-Inch Tablet for Kids

OR

A Kindle Fire HD 7″ – 32 GB

What would you do with an extra $250?

The Stocking Stuffer runs through this Friday, Nov. 23.  All you have to do is comment on at least one person’s blog post to be officially entered.  So go ahead an comment on this post and you’re all set!  Commenting on more than one participant’s blog post will not earn extra entries.  Earn up to 70 more entries during the week by completing the various tasks on the Rafflecopter entry form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Stocking Stuffer event is brought to you by these lovely ladies!

Birthday Boy and Baby Jesus

My little guy will be three on December 23rd.  Time flies!

Because of the busyness of Christmas and my nephew’s birthday soon after Christmas, we always celebrate Eli’s birthday just a tad early.  Three year olds have FUN partying!

Our church celebrates Jesus’ birth a tad early, too.  Last night was the annual Christmas pageant.  My sweet little cow was more like a bucking bull who wanted out of his pen after the birthday party excitement.  He lasted just long enough to sing his song (first thing) and was completely done being cordial and pleasant.  Mahayla was the angel Gabriel (yeah, I know, we don’t have enough boys.)  And Caleb was the wise man bearing myrrh.  It was a busy day, but lots of memories were made!

December Reading

Great December Reading

Oh, and have you met God?  Apparently Eli has!  Every time he gets his busy little fingers on a Santa ornament he says, “God.”  (Very reverently, I might add.)  His innocent little eyes looking up at us with complete seriousness that he is holding God right in his chubby little hands. 

Names of Jesus Unit

This has been such a relaxing and awesome study!  Using Easy Fun School’s free unit titled The Names of Jesus, we’ve spent a little time each day focusing on one of His names from the Bible and creating a scrapbook-style keepsake for each name.

I chose not to include most of the other suggestions from the unit since we were already doing other things each day.  It has given my children the chance to really focus on the meaning of each of Jesus’ names and plenty of time to create a daily scrapbook page.

Take a look at a few of their pages.  What a great memory maker for them!