We did nature journals when my kids were younger. Because we only have one car, we mostly did nature study in our backyard. The kids would find flowers, insects, birds and animals to draw in their journals. It is surprising how many different things you can find in a yard. They would make sketches, color them in, and then label them with the date, location, and identity of what they had drawn.
I love nature and am not squeamish so we have also housed garter snakes, tadpoles, and various insects at times. My kids have enjoyed the opportunity to research the care of each critter and how best to feed them and make their captive environment as close to their wild environment as possible. Even today my fifteen year old daughter has crickets and spiders in her room, which she feeds and takes care of. She knows the habits of crickets very well because she has been allowed to keep, study, and research crickets to her heart’s content.
I will be honest and tell you that we do not formally do nature journals anymore. Nature journaling just wasn’t some of my kids’ style. Rather than make a big issue of it, I decided to be a bit sneaky. I brought nature to us and provided the tools my kids needed to enjoy nature study in their own way. I placed bird feeders near windows, planted trees and bushes, planted flowers to attract birds, insects, and butterflies, provided good field guides and other books, and bought my kids a digital camera. My children now enjoy discovering what butterflies, insects, birds, and other small critters come to our yard. Several of them use the camera to take photos, which they label and sometimes post on a nature Web site my husband set up for them.
An easy nature study is to raise a caterpillar to a butterfly. We planted milkweed in our yard just so we could enjoy this activity many times during the summer. You can have your kids draw the caterpillar, the chrysalis, and the adult butterfly. Being a “techie” family, we took it a step further and have videotaped the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly from egg to butterfly.
I hope that gives you some ideas of what you can do with nature study. You can find more ideas here: http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/hours-in-the-out-of-doors/nature-links/ .