Exploring Nature with Children
Warm weather, the appearance of color through the beautiful flowers, and the changing of the leaves in the fall always prompts me to spend more time in nature. When the days are beautiful I can't help but to get the girls outdoors to explore and observe the great creation of earth. Nature is such beautiful artwork. I am so grateful that the ultimate Creator saw fit to share it with us.
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Go to the source! Head outdoors.
Hit the trails or parks. Parks often have a variety of trees and insects. When we go to a park with a trail, the girls and I often walk it. We don't walk at a brisk pace, but instead we stroll and observe all that surrounds us. We have quite a few good conversations when we are out in nature.
Daughters exploring one of our local trails
Bring Nature Indoors!
- Invest in nature activity books. We have many Dover Little Activity Books and beginning field guides for trees, birds, insects and plants. If I leave them out in a visible space, the girls devour them over and over again. They will even take the initiative to search for other books on our shelves to add to their studying.
Daughters preparing to journal with field guides
Get Creative!
- Create a nature journal. This spring and summer I am planning to be intentional with our nature journals. The girls created their journals a few years ago, and we have yet to really use them. I am thinking this is the year. I won't forced them to draw every time we go out, but I will be more intentional of having them make some sort of documentation of the beauty in nature either through photojournaling (I will just have to make sure to print the pictures), regular journaling, or collecting leaves and other things left out in nature.
How do you incorporate nature into your everyday life?