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easiest way to get nature study done?
- This topic has 8 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 9 months ago by
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What is the absolute easiest way to get nature study done? I have good intentions but it never happens. I buy or find a new nature study curriculum every year and they sit unused or get done for a week or two and that’s it. I really need something I can just send the kids outside with to do by themselves. I’ll have kids in 6th, 3rd, 1st, and a preschool tag-along this year.
I find nature walks have been the best way, but I always go with them. Do you have physical restraints that keep you from being able to go? (In no way trying to be rude or insensitive; I know many people have different circumstances they’re dealing with!!)
I plan to have them make their own nature bags in a week or so. On a walk we can gather things and bring them home to journal. Once a week.
Just too much to do plus a baby. Also, we’d really have to drive to a park in town to go on a nature walk. We live in a subdivision outside town and there is not anything interesting to see around here (or at least not anything more, and probably less, than what’s in our yard already). And the weather here is rather miserable from mid-October to at least the beginning of April…cold and super windy. The kids don’t mind being outside for short periods but I don’t enjoy it in the winter and I don’t like having the baby outside when it’s so windy.
Take a picnic basket full of food, sketchbooks, and colored pencils and water colors out to some nice nature spot. Go for an easy hike to get the wiggles out. Make yourself comfortable, set out snacks and art supplies, and let the kids have at it. 🙂
One thing I saw recommended on a Waldorf site actually was to take a quick morning walk every day – Waldorf educators have a saying (that I’m sure CM would agree with): there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. And it’s true. Inuit babies survive just fine in the Arctic 🙂 Babies are far hardier than we give them credit for. So invest in good clothing for the baby. Then, make it a point to go outside after breakfast every day. Even if that means you just go sit in the back yard for 5 minutes (though ideally longer). Let them run around and explore and observe and draw something that they see – in nice weather they can do it right there, in colder weather they can come back inside to draw. It’s a great way to a) let them burn off some energy for 10-15 minutes before starting lessons b) it’s a great way to start lessons: nature observation, drawing and a brief written summary of what they saw. Engages both sides of the brain, as well as gives sensory input, so it’s a great way to prep for the coming academic work. Have them date the entry, note the weather/temperature etc… even draw the lunar cycle every now and then, too, will also help reinforce calendar skills.
We do nature study outside (in our yard, at a park, on a super easy and paved trail b/c of Mason’s wheelchair, at a nature center, etc) in nice weather. In less nice weather we do it in our yard. In yucky weather seasons (full 4 seasons here with everything from over 100F in summer to -30 below 0F in winter)we bring nature to us. These are times for studying rocks, pulling out the microscope and looking at things, growing seeds indoors instead of in the garden, raising animals (reptiles, amphibians, fish, etc) and studying them, doing bird studies at the window with a fully stocked birdfeeder (we keep one year round), going to the indoor part of the nature center or zoo, etc. We will bring in branches, pinecones, seed pods, etc to study in winter.
And sometimes we do none. Zero, zip, zilch. No guilt.
I am terrible at planning nature study. We live in southern Calif so nature is a bit hard to come by without planning and effort. I have to find nature in regular life. The easiest way for me is to just allow the kids natural curiosity to propel us. It never happens on a schedule though. I just make an effort to allow them to observe and dawdle. Even though it is hard for me when I am “on a mission”. I try to let them stop and observe a spider in a bush at the store, maybe take a photo and try to find out what kind it is. Catch June bugs and learn about thier life cycle. Identify caterpillars and butterflies. Admire clouds and research what they are. Enjoy stars when we camp. Follow the ant trail. We do keep guides in our hiking backpack, bugs, trees, flowers, butterflies. We caught a frog in our backyard once – unheard of where I live. I think kids are naturally drawn to these things, so they will do their own nature study if you make the effort to encourage it. Our busy get it done world trains them not to stop and notice what is around them. If you can avoid taking that “stop and smell the roses” attitude from them then they will continue to love nature.
Crystal – I think you unknowingly touched on something important. You said that “nature is hard to cone by” and that you have to “find nature in regular life”. And then listed all the wonderful encounters you’ve had with nature.
Nobody has to “find” nature. Nature is never hard to come by. It is ALWAYS surrounding us, always. But too often people have the misconception that “nature” means forests and meadows and lakes etc… And sure those are nature.
But nature is also the sun and moon and stars and clouds and weather, the grass in the park, the insects on the flowers in the planter, the seagulls on the ledge, the ants scurrying on the sidewalk etc….
So I don’t know that we need to find nature as much as we need to just readjust what we consider nature.
Agreed 2Corin57, you said it better than I did. We need to take time to notice it. I think we condition our children, or at least I do, to hurry past the opportunities to enjoy creation. I remember being irritated that it took my two year old and I over an hour to walk around the block. For me the goal was walk around the block. He was busy stopping at every bug, leaf, twig, bird. He was doing nature study! I had to train myself out of that and learn to slow down and see the beauty amidst the concrete and asphalt.
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