Winter Nature Study – Sissy Version
Posted by Cindy on January 13, 2009
I don’t like to be cold. Let me rephrase that – I REALLY don’t like to be cold. My hands ache, my back tenses up, and my cheeks and lips take days to recover from severe dryness after being outside only a short time. Let’s put it another way – if I could figure out a way to stock up on everything I need from mid-December through the end of February, and if I could cancel all church/family/co-op obligations, I would happily stay at home in my jammies for two and a half months! You think I’m kidding?
That being said, I’ll make myself go out at least once for some good old-fashioned fun the snow. I also have plans for at least one snowy nature walk since I’ve got some fun ideas up my sleeve. And, I still encourage my children to love wintry days outdoors, even if their mom is a big sissy.
How am I continuing nature study every week considering my wintery predicament? Well, why in the world were windows invented if we weren’t supposed to use them? LOL Seriously, though, a lot of nature study time is happening right from a cozy, comfy seat in front of a window….
My children aren’t the best at drawing. In other words, it doesn’t come naturally, nor do they magically gain the ability after showing them drawing after drawing from wonderfully talented artists. I really don’t expect much, but I would like to be able to tell the difference between a tree and a flower in their nature journals!
Until now, I hadn’t even considered teaching them how to draw – for goodness sakes, have you seen my drawings?? But after letting Drawing with Children
I have put together eight lessons (just enough to get me through the cold spell) that will teach my children better drawing skills AND lead into a bit of nature study/drawing practice from a window or a nature book.
Last week, after some warm-up exercises, we learned how to draw a bird on a tree limb. The kids did some bird watching near our one lonely bird feeder as they practiced drawing bird after bird.
Caleb’s Bird
This week, again after some warm-up exercises, we learned how to draw one object behind another. To practice the new skill, they sat at the window observing winter trees in our fence line and drew what they saw using the new layering skill.
Mahayla’s Winter Treescape
Some of my nature-loving friends may tell me that not only am I a winter wimp, but my children and I are missing out on all the beauty and education that God provides in winter. I’m not disagreeing on either account. However, this seems to be a good middle ground for now. 
