Posted by Cindy on February 3, 2012
Brrrr – it’s cold outside!
Winter is in full swing. This might seem like a silly time to suggest taking a nature walk, but creation doesn’t stop singing just because the temperatures are cold! In fact, winter is an awesome time for viewing things that we might miss other times of the year.
Besides studying the obvious topics of snow, ice and frost, an entire world of nature excitement awaits this season. Bird’s nests, burrows, rocks, animal prints, and the intricacies of a tree or bush are all things that are much easier to observe during winter when leaves have fallen and plants have died. During a winter walk, challenge your children to find at least ten things that would be much harder to see or find during the summer months.
Notice how landscapes and views from the top of a hill are different this time of year. Discuss with your children how colors, shadows and animal activity have changed from only a few short months ago. Views from this vantage point are perfect for sketching in a nature journal, too.
Winter is also the perfect time to observe conifers (evergreens) and compare them to deciduous trees which have lost their leaves. Your child can create comparison charts and drawings, or complete mini-dissections on conifer needles and cones.
Believe it or not, the ideas above only scratch the surface of exciting nature study opportunities during the winter! If you’re hoping for loads of more ideas for both outdoor and indoor nature (aka science) studies for this season, you might consider one or more of the following NaturExplorers studies: Snow and Ice, Coping with the Cold, Constant Conifers, Animal Signs, Beautiful Birds or Hard as a Rock. NaturExplorers studies were written with the 1st-8th grader in m ind, but include extensions for high school students, as well as fun ideas for preschoolers. Since so many customers asked, I recently released a winter study called Nature by the Season written specifically for preschoolers and kindergarteners.
But, why study nature?
So many homeschoolers are interested in the idea of nature study, but never take the time to actually incorporate it into their homeschool. Many of them feel like nature study is one of the “extras” that’s all too difficult to fit into the schedule of “important” lessons. Or, worse, some feel like nature study isn’t even worthy of being an “extra”.
From my experiences, nature study has actually opened the doors to many of our “important ” lessons! Science takes on a fresh perspective as we learn outdoors and becomes invigorating in the naturally hands-on atmosphere. Nature study covers biology, botany, earth and space sciences in great detail – and more times than you might imagine physical science and chemistry.
Think of nature study as a wonderful science lab – free of charge! Instead of reading in a boring textbook about the life cycle of a flower, for instance, children actually observe life cycles time and time again. These real-life experiences are powerful, yet gentle lessons that help children internalize a great wealth of knowledge.
Besides the subject of science, it’s super-easy to integrate art, writing, geography, and even history and math into nature study lessons. As children paint a tree in a nature journal, write a spontaneous poem about blue jays, sketch a quick map of a trail, or calculate measurements, other subjects seamlessly “happen”. In fact, one joyful afternoon of nature study has often allowed me to check off several completed subjects in my lesson plan book! (The NaturExplorers studies give you many creative ideas for integrating several subjects into nature walks.)
As icing on the cake, nature study allows for time spent together as a family, fresh air and exercise. And, above all for my family, taking time to enjoy God’s creation is a super way to draw us closer to the One who made it!
So, what are you waiting for? Go take a hike today!
Posted by Cindy on February 24, 2010
It’s time to fess up. February turned out to be a really cold and snowy month in Central KY. Even with a bad case of cabin fever, we didn’t get out very much to study conifers like we had planned. One beautiful snowy day we did take a photography walk and here are a few of the pictures.
This picture has nothing to do with conifers, but I thought it was so beautiful that I wanted to post it. There’ a sheet of ice gracefully laying over the flowing water from a dam – it was so cool to see in person!
Our Creation Club did a study on conifers last year that you might be interested in, too. Otherwise, below are the main resources we used.
Books We Read
Posted by Cindy on February 23, 2009
Our favorite winter books!
Posted by Cindy on January 31, 2009
It got into the upper 50′s last week. Just a few days before we had been hovering around 0, so the upper 50′s was truly a heat wave! We took advantage of the warmth and headed out for a wonderful wintery walk. I say wintery because there were still icy signs all over the place. We had a blast exploring!
By far, the neatest find was this spring that continued to flow underneath a sheet of melting ice.
I SO wish this picture showed the beauty of the ice crystals and the way the ice was revealing the leaves bit by bit.
We couldn’t agree on who might have made these tracks, but it was obvious a small critter had walked the creek bed before us!
Little did I know only a few days after the pictures above were taken, we’d be in for quite a winter reminder again. Here are some pictures from the last couple of days. The children, of course, loved every minute outside. I, however, enjoyed taking pictures from the front and back porches!
Don’t waste a minute of winter nature study!
Posted by Cindy on January 28, 2009
We have been surrounded by utter beauty this week. In the midst of taking pictures, sledding, skating on the ice covered snow, making snow cream and more, I prompted the children to squeeze in just a little learning.
They had a long walk to their favorite sledding hill. I asked them to just listen for a little while on their walk. What did they hear? Upon returning home, we talked about how quiet the walk had been and how everything seemed to be muffled. Why? Snow absorbs sound. Very much like a room with carpet and curtains is much quieter than a room with hardwood floors and no curtains.
I also had them fill two exact cups with snow. The first cup was to be packed as tight as possible only to the rim, while the second cup was to be heaping, but never packed down. I asked them to predict which cup would be more full of water once the snow melted. They both predicted correctly that the packed cup would have more water in it. Why? Snow has air in it. Packing the snow releases some of the air allowing more snow to fit in the cup. I think they were both surprised at how little water was in either cup in the end. Even the more full cup was only about half full.
We also had some great discussions of snow vs. sleet vs. freezing rain vs. rain that freezes. We had the opportunity to observe each of these weather situations within 24 hours!
God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
He does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, “Fall on the earth,”
And to the rainshower, “Be a mighty downpour.”
So that all men He has made may know His work,
He stops every man from his labor.
Job 37:5-7
Enjoy wintery nature study using the activities found in:
