Nature drawing has become a staple activity in many home-schools. Many families are enjoying the delights of learning about nature and discovering the intricacies of God's world as they do so. Although it is a practice advocated by Charlotte Mason, it is most certainly not restricted to followers of her curriculum. If you have never tried drawing nature, I hope to help you to see its value and encourage you to have a go.
I personally am indebted to my mother, who every time we visited our caravan, when I was around ages 6 to 9, took me out hunting for mushrooms. We took them back to the caravan and sat at the table with our pencils and paints and drew. I still have my book of drawings and the happy memories to go with them. I continue, to this day, to have a 'soft spot' for mushrooms! A brief history...
The benefit of journaling is not limited to what you produce on the page; it is, rather, found in your experience and how you think along the way.
John Muir Laws
In the days before cameras, drawing was the only means of accurately recording what something looked like, in order to have a record of the past. Great care was taken to ensure accuracy. Children were diligently taught how to draw and teachers were expected to be able to draw as a matter of course. The drawings had a purpose: they were a means of recording what had been seen. Plants or animals that move, fade and die cannot be brought out and looked at at will. However a drawing provides a permanent memoir of what has been observed. As such, drawing was, in days gone by, a serious matter, best not left to chance. Strange to say, the teaching of the art of drawing in science lessons disappeared from the curriculum as fast as evolution came in - around the same time that the reproducing of images became sophisticated enough to enable easy use - all around the 20's to 30's. Teachers must have been glad when they were relinquished from the neccessity of extracting drawings from their pupils: so much time could be saved by handing out a ready drawn picture. Little did they think of the long-term consequences. We now have generations of adults who have no real knowledge of the natural world. You see - drawing was not just an art in itself - it was a vehicle for learning. It develops observational skills like no other method can. It was a vital skill - and still is - though few recognise it as such. So much can be expressed through a drawing that many words would fail to communicate. That method of learning has now been mainly lost - but it need not be that way! We can play our part in encouraging the next generation to begin looking, and to begin learning, so that they can play their part in being good stewards of God's creation.
Why draw when we can just take a photo?
When we take up a pencil to draw, we learn to look: to look very carefully and closely.
We learn in short, to pay attention to detail.
A good question - especially when for most of us, our drawing (at least to start with) will not begin to compare with a photo! It all goes back to what we said in the last paragraph: nature drawing is not concerned with purely producing an accurate drawing, but is rather about learning to observe closely. When I take a photo of, say a flower, a quick snap and I'm done - but I have learnt very little about the flower. In contrast, as I pick up my pencil I have to start noticing how, for example, the petals are arranged and how the leaves join the stem. I look once, I look again..and again and again and as I look, I learn, in a way that I wouldn't by taking a photo. More over - by studying my subject this closely I will notice things about it I had not noticed before. I am more likely to appreciate its beauty and the skill that went into its design. In short, I will be brought face to face with the Creator. It is also the best way to learn the skills of a naturalist.
Should we not teach art?
The drawing of nature is not an Art lesson, albeit many learn to draw this way. In schools, Art has now become an academic subject, with the aim of turning out artists. Many are put off when they are deemed not to be 'artistic', but this is misguided. Drawing is a means of self-expression, which young children engage in happily. However, once the child begins to think that 'there is a right and wrong way to draw', then many give up thinking 'I can't draw!'. This is very sad! Let us not let this happen in our home-schools. Let us view nature drawing, rather as a tool - yes for self-expression, but also for learning. Let the process be more important than the end product. Let our children learn that their efforts at looking will be rewarded - rather than their attempts at drawing. And, in the process - each child will find that his/her ability to draw increases: not all will be proteges, but all can enjoy the act of drawing and benefit from it.
You may, of course, have art lessons at other times to your nature journalling sessions, but nature journalling is best seen as a pursuit rather than academic study. It should be enjoyable. Anna Botsford Comstock stresses that any child who does not want to draw, should be given another activity to do, for fear of turning the child off of nature - which would be far more disastrous than the child not producing a neat drawing. Art lessons however can be given to all - however I would still want the child to enjoy the work - as art will not be a serious occupation for most, but can afford many pleasurable, relaxing moments, both in childhood and adulthood, from which I would not wish any child to be excluded. Keeping a nature journal
At the core of all science are insatiable curiosity and deep observation, qualities that lead to the best kind of learning: learning motivated by your intrinsic wonder, hunger to understand, and an ability to observe.
'I draw and work in my nature journal for three reasons: to see, to remember and to stimulate curiosity.' John Muir Laws
Many drawers of nature keep their work in a nature journal. A nature journal is simply a means of recording, either through drawing, writing or a combination of both. John Muir Laws says that journaling helps you to slow down and 'look long enough to record..' It gives you a means of recording your observations. It also helps you to become more curious and a keen observer. It can be very enjoyable as well as teaching you much.
Note how John Muir Laws does not suggest that the journal helps you 'to learn to draw.' It is not the primary reason - though it may well be a by-product as it is true that learning to draw is mostly down to learning to look. Who can keep a nature journal?
In theory - anyone who can hold a pencil and make some marks! Remember - we are not looking for artistic prowess! In practice, very young children can occasionally be encouraged to draw, but their concentration levels will be very short, so pressure should not be put upon them to sit still for longer than they are willing. Some will be prepared to write, others just a quick sketch, but remember that learning the art of observation is more important than drawing and writing - they can come later on in life. Younger children should be encouraged primarily to enjoy nature and observe. They might be helped to keep a simple Nature Diary, in which short records are made of simple observations. The parent will need to be ready to suggest ideas for the diary, as it is the rare child of this age that will initiate such an activity and who will look carefully enough of their own volition. At this age, as with most, the child will enjoy the attention of the adult as they learn about nature together and this is valuable too - shared moments of pleasure. I can also testify that such moments afford great moments of relaxation to the tired mother of young children, brief though they be!
A simple nature diary for ages 5 to 8
Children aged 8 and up should benefit most from keeping a journal. This is not a writing lesson, nor a drawing one. It is a 'looking' lesson with the drawing serving the purpose of recording what has been seen. So to this end, don't try and correct the child's spelling, or suggest better ways to draw. Let the child's nature journal be a personal book, one that you have to earn the priviledge to view, by not offering any kind of criticsim, even if the drawing is unrecognisable and the writing full of spellings! These things can be dealt with in the English and Art lessons. Instead focus on how well the child has recorded observations: 'Well done, I see you noticed the direction of the veins on your leaf." You can encourage the child to tell you what s/he has observed, as well. Remmeber - the main aim is to enjoy the drawing, as a means to learning - rather than to pass a drawing test!
Older children may become quite sophisticated in their drawings and indeed, as nature study is science, their drawings may well help them in their studies of Biology. This then gives purpose to older children and acts as a stimulus to continue their recording long after they may be tempted to stop. Drawing from memory
There is one thing that you will find hard and that is, coping with subjects that will not sit still long enough for you to draw them. I gather that the way to cope with this is to spend ones time observing the subjects carefully, in their habitat, without a pencil in your hand. Then, draw from memory. Try it and see! You will find that this practice really forces you to look and take note: to get a picture impression in your mind. Of course, after drawing from memory, you will find there are so many things you wished you had looked at more carefully: How did the tail join the body? How did that leaf join the stem? Were they all the same? The beauty of this, is that it slowly trains you to try and take more notice while you are observing - to soak in as much detail as you possibly can.
Children, can be taught to draw from memory, alongside sessions drawing with an object in front of them. The key thing is to look not for a 'gift' in drawing, but evidence of careful looking. It can be made into a kind of game too: "I'll show you this object for 2 minutes, then I will hide it and you have to tell me what you remember seeing." Take turns to be the observer and the shower. How can I teach nature - I know very little myself!
Take heart - it doesn't matter. The best teachers are learners too! Be prepared at first to lead the way - arrange opportunities, provide equipment and be enthusiastic. Be prepared to let your child see that you struggle to draw too. Model asking questions about what you see. Model the process of looking. Show your child that it's all about looking, and delighting in what you learn as you look. At the end of the day, don't forget to thank God for the marvels of His creation that you have learnt as you gather for family worship. Let the child tell father all about the day's adventures, and then you can all pray and praise God with heart-felt gratitude.
Do I need expensive equipment to draw nature?
Not really - it can be as expensive or cheap as you like. It's nice to have a hard back book of sketch paper, but not essential. It's nice if you have sketch pencils - though to start with you will only need one or two and an ordinary writing pencil will get you started, along with a pencil sharpener and a rubber which I always carry with me. A small book is easy to carry. Think of ease of use and portability. Coloured pencils are the easiest for children to use in the field. If you really want to splash out, then I can highly reccommend Derwent's Inktense pencils that can be used as colouring pencils and then carefuly painted over to produce watercolour pictures - but in vibrant colours and not the washed out effect of watercolours. A pack of 12 is more than enough for a beginner - but I would suggest not before age 12.
These are great to keep in your rucksack and pull out quickly. You can always stick your pictures into a more fancy book back at home.
I very much reccommend John Muir Laws book for those interested in finding out more, or developing their own skills further. They are written for adults, but if adults are learners too, then their enthusiasm can be caught by the younger members of the family! I am learning to look, but John makes the process of learning to draw so much easier! His FREE 'Nature Journaling curriculum' is for home-educators too! There is much useful, free, information on his website, though many of the subjects are American.
May you give your child a lasting legacy of happy times learning about creation. Happy drawing and may our God have all the praise!
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Nature diaries are a well established feature of nature study with adults and older children, but what about using nature diaries for young children who cannot write or draw so well?
Can it be done successfully? The answer is yes and we show you how! We start by showing you how to help your child to make his/her own nature diary and then how to use it.
Make your own nature notebook.
Although it is easy to buy such things, the making of his/her own nature diary by a child is a worthwhile exercise in diligence and the finished article will be so much more cherished because the child made it him or her self. It is simple to do and does not need to be long: for young children it is best if each book lasts no longer than a month as younger children like change. You will need a piece of A4 card for the cover and then 8 pages of good quality cartridge paper of about 170 gsm for the pages. See resources. Fold each piece in half, including the card. Lay the pages in a pile with the card at the bottom, ensuring that all edges are flush and the folds are together. Using a sharp needle make three holes evenly spaced down the centre fold, passing through all sheets. Keeping the pages together, thread the needle with some strong thread and starting with the middle hole (and leaving long end), go down, back to the middle, up, back to the middle, three of four times. On the last time, cut the thread with plenty to spare as you approach the middle for the last time. Tie the two ends together securely. If you have a guillotine you may like to trim the edges of the book to make the pages flush. Decorate the front covers beautifully - this could be an art lesson in and of itself. Encourage the child to take great delight in his/her nature diary.
Keeping the Nature Diary Keeping a nature diary requires patience and persistency. These are good traits to be developed in young children, however the parent will need to encourage and supply with fresh ideas to be recorded. There is a need here for variety, to keep interest alive. Each entry should of course record the date. Sometimes observations will centre around the weather, or clouds, or wind. At other times on plants and others on birds, insects or animals. On other occasions there may be opportunity to study footprints in mud or snow. As each book is completed, it will form a diary of the child’s experiences and adventures in nature. However, although it is good to make such a diary, and should be encouraged, and most children will happily take up the suggestion, especially when they see the enthusiasm of others, there may be some who do not. Be careful of causing a distaste for the subject by compelling those with no real desire to record in this way to do so. These diaries will be individual. Even children within the same family may not all record the same aspect of say a nature ramble. One may have been looking up at the sky, while another studied the ground. Allow for individuality. Entries will not necessarily be works of art at this stage - that is not important. Each entry should have the date, and a simple sentence to say what was found/observed. If desired, a simple sketch/illustration can be added. Obviously the older the child the more they may wish to record. Obviously best work should be encouraged.
If your child enjoys nature studies, you will find plenty more things to learn and do in
Nature Explorers the Christian monthly nature magazine for children aged 4 to 8, all based on a 6 day Creation. Priced at: £8 for a PDF version delivered by e-mail £32 for a high quality print edition delivered to your door. Please see www.natureobservations.weebly.com for further information. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Phillipians 4:8 In an evolutionary age BEAUTY is sadly lacking. Evolutionists cannot explain beauty and therefore they place low emphasis on it and even try and remove it. We were created beautiful, for a beautiful world, and beauty is what we all long for and yet we no longer know what it looks like. We think beauty is coloured hair and clothes so skimpy they are hardly called clothes. We pride ourselves these days on being free and easy - casual dress, casual language, casual relationships, fast food with no nutritional content, constant music with a beat to try and liven ourselves up out of our dull stupor and dragging ourselves further into the mire the longer we listen to it. We like cartoons to make us laugh and 'easy-reads' which require no thought and a constant barage of noise from the TV/radio to numb our minds. We speak using the barest minimum of words with slang interjected with every other word. Children are fed stories aimed at entertaining rather than aspiring them to greater things. The illustrations in the books we give them are less than beautiful, demeaning the human image. Art itself has become a vehicle of self-expression rather than an appreciation of beauty. We see knowledge as something you acquire in order to pass an exam and no further. We don't expect anything to last, so we rarely value anything - including life which is seen as something that can be easily disposed of if it proves inconvenient to us. We don't stop and think about it anymore, and sadly our churches are joining in in greater numbers: pop music in church, casual dress, lack of reverence, cartoon pictures in children's books and youth work materials. Our children know nothing better than this world stripped of beauty. Such has been the impact of evolutionary thinking on our lives. Does it matter? I believe it does. I believe that when the Scriptures exhort us to think on 'Whatsoever things are lovely' etc.. it does so for a reason. Our Creator God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that it is for our greater good to fill our minds with beautiful things. The beauty of the world around us brings honour and glory to Him. Our faith in Him should make us more and more beautiful. Let us flee the things of this world and teach our children to do the same, if they will listen. This website exists to try and help parents to re-navigate education - to find beautiful resources with which to teach their children and to encourage our children to create beautiful things themselves. To recognise the need for beautiful books, language, art, music; and to aspire them to greater knowledge, not merely to jump a hoop and pass an examination. To aspire them to reach for better than they see around them - not for self-gratification, but to bring honour and glory to God - the creator of all things good. There are 'beautiful' resources available to us: the Authorised Version being an example of excellent language - simple, with a rhythm that makes it esily memorised and written by scholars who paid great attention to detail, resulting in it becoming the most accurate translation available to us in English; books with God-honouring illustrations by artists who seek to do justice to the beauty of the world around them; music that is written carefully according to the rules of good harmony, without a back beat distorting the tune with its message of rebellion; people taking care with their dress and spoken language; relationships that are not treated lightly - but rather seen as something beautiful; beautiful behaviour which is taught and encouraged; food, lovingly created with lovely ingredients, rather than foods which are no more than a bunch of chemicals mixed together and packaged 'attractively'; good quality, beautifully hand-crafted products that will last for a long time; the acquisition of real knowledge; the sanctity of life. I aim to help you seek out these better things for your children. To that end, many of the resources will appear 'old-fashioned' as there are few being produced these days. Please do not despise them for this. To find beautiful resources we will need to be discerning and to know what we are looking for. We need to reawaken our sense of beauty, teach it to our children and step forwards together armed with beautiful tools to live and work with. 'He hath made every thing beautiful in his time' Ecclesiastes 3:11 Every thing is as God made it; not as it appears to us. We have the world so much in our hearts, are so taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things, that we have neither time nor spirit to see God's hand in them. The world has not only gained possession of the heart, but has formed thoughts against the beauty of God's works. Mathew Henry commenting on Ecclesiastes 3:11 Other posts you may like:
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You will need: 1 sheet A4 green paper 1 sheet A4 yellow paper 1 sheet A4 orange paper Pritt stick (or other glue) scissors What to do: Start by making the leaves. Nothing here needs to be accurate. Fold the piece of green paper in half. Keeping it long ways, fold it again, approximately into thirds.
Then we need a trumpet. Use the orange paper and cut a small rectangle, about 2 inches high and 2.5 inches wide. Draw a line about half a centimetre from the bottom (of a long edge) and cut little snips from the edge to the line - giving it a fringe. Make a tube by rolling it from the short edges, and use a little glue to secure the edges together. Tuck the fringe under and put a little glue on the tabs. This can then be joined at the centre of the flower head.
Find a pretty vase!
Grandmas would love a bunch I'm sure!
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Teahcing art is relatively easy, especially in the younger years. As children advance, thse with an interest can teach themselves if ned be from books, or supervised YouTube videos. There is absolutely no need to buy an expensive art curriculum. Save your pennies. The best art activities are those where the child does not have to follow lots of intricate instructions. The early years are particularly easy.
Some basic art material will make art and craft easy. Find a big box to store it in and put it in an easily accessible place. A cheap plastic table cloth is better than newspaper to cover the table. Make it as easy to whip it out as you can or you will put it off and art will be a rare experience for your child, which would be a shame. If your kitchen has a carpet, then put a tablecloth under the table as well for the lesson. Get used to saving yoghurt pots, boxes, toilet/kitchen roll middles, scraps of papper etc... to cut down on price. A junk box in the early years is great for firing imaginations! Age 3-5: Children need opportunities to become familiar with the tools - learning to paint with a brush and the co-ordination to dip in paint, paint, then rinse in water; handling pens/pencils/scissors/glue. This takes time to learn and it can be messy! An apron with long sleeves is invaluable - cut up one of dad's old shirts. Then there is the great exploration of colour and colour mixing as they get a little more profficient. The pictures they create will not necessarily be recognisable, but unless it really has been a bad day, celebrate their efforts and pin them up. Most young children go through a stage of painting the whole page one colour. Sometimes I would cut a shape of something that colour out of their picture (or let them tell me what it is). So for example a page of brown - if they couldn't say what it was, I might say 'Shall we make it into a bear?' and with their permission cut out a bear shape from the painting. Give this age a range of experiences: Colouring with pencil, pen, crayon, chalks, oil pastels. Tinies will find chubby crayons easiest. Painting with ready-mix paint with fat and thin brushes. Sometimes its fine to suggest a subject for a pinting/drawing, but at this age they will not usually be short of ideas. Printing is also good for this age group - potato printing, or cut up an old sponge, or use ends of loo rolls or boxes - be imaginative. Cutting and sticking with scraps of fabric/paper/card/coloured paper shapes - collage pictures, making greetings cards, mobiles, models etc.... Save oddments as you come across them in a collage box. 3D modelling: junk modelling, play dough (make your own), plasticine. If you go with the seasons, you will have plenty of stimulus. See our Art 'posts' for some ideas,
Age 6-8:
At this age children are becoming more in control of their tools and materials. More adventurous projects can be undertaken. The before activities can continue plus: sketching can be started - those wonderful nature sketch books. A little often is a good policy. Make the most of the seasons. More precise painting - maybe on a given theme or related to a project. Start to introduce different techniques, like different size brushes for different effects. Mixing colours can come into its own now. Some young children begin to show a real eye for detail - encourage it even if not. Still lifes - a bowl of fruit, or vase of flowers, or something brought in from a walk can act as stimulus. I would often do the same as the children and work alongside them. It gave them ideas as they saw me paint - a role model to aspire to. Don't worry - you don't have to be a Piccasso. It's actually very relaxing! They will think your work is wonderful. Be sure to tell them it's come with years of practice!
Ages 8 Plus If they show artisitc tendencies as they grow older, then good drawing/sketching/painting/othercrafts books can be purchased to guide them. Adult books are fine, but do beware of nudity. For our children as neither showed any great artistic talent, we just went on enjoying painting etc... until it gradually faded out with other interests. They did pass through a phase of painting by numbers as they were bought several such packs. Strangely, my eldest took a liking to drawing map diagrams and the younger to drawing birds. What I like is that neither of them speak as I hear many school children do saying 'Oh, I'm no good at art - I gave it up when it came to GCSE'. What a shame, to be denied the pleasures of engaging in artistic pursuits because you are 'not good enough' to do GCSE art. I hope these children rediscover art as they mature. Meantime, ours continue to enjoy it in their own way.
Click picture for templates shown. Click the picture above and download and print the autumn templates (or make your own). Cut them out, preferably from card. There is no need to draw the detail, just the outline. Draw around the templates on an A3 piece of paper (preferably sugar paper or something firm) . You can choose just some or all the shapes. You can choose how you arrange them - random, or in a pattern. Having drawn them, with a pencil, lightly draw divisions around the shapes so that each shape is in its own section. These sections do not have to be rigid - let them flow around the shapes, but each should tesselate with the one next to it so there are no blank pieces of paper. See the picture above. With paint, first colour the shapes, then use a contrasting autumnal colour to block the spaces around them. I chose to use shades of yellow/green, but anything is possible. Once the paint is dry, use a black felt tip pen to draw around the autumn shapes, and to draw on the details (see the templates). Hang your pictures on the wall to brighten winter! A child's interpretation. Have you seen?A 70 page downloadable resources for the home-school (ages 4-7), packed with ideas for every subject! Only £2! (inc. a free copy of Autumn Maths Activities worth £1.50).
Autumn is another lovely season that inspires much creativity and opportunities for art, writing and reading and nature study. Here I give only a few ideas but maybe they will spark your imagination!
ART Leaf prints were another of our 'annual' rites of autumn. The boys loved it so much we did it until they quite old. Something about going out to find those lovely autumnal smelling leaves, picking the best specimens from as many different kinds of trees as we could, bringing them home, spreading the table with newspaper and getting out the paint. The technique is simple. Start by mixing some ready mix paint - red, brown, yellow, orange, in different shades - or if your children are older they can enjoy mixing their own shades. Get some nice thick brushes. Have some paper ready. A3 size is great, and some small pieces of newspaper. Then paint the back of the leaf (the rough side). As you do this, look at the leaves with your children: name the stalk, the veins. Talk about their purpose to carry goodness and nutrients through the plant, like our veins carry blood around our body. Feel the smooth side and turn it over and feel the veins sticking out. It's this side you will apply paint to. Having painted the leaf, place the painted side onto your paper and place a piece of newspaper on top. Press down on the newspaper firmly all over the leaf. Take off the newspaper and then gently and carefully lift of the leaf being careful not to drag it and smudge it. repeat this using different leaves and different colours. display your work. Collage work - making pictures of trees from different materials is fun too if you can. Collect old bits of paper, fabric, packaging and have some strong PVA glue to use. It's best to stick onto card as it is stiffer. ENGLISH Having been out to pick your leaves and waded through piles of crispy, fresh smelling leaves, you have the perfect setting to do some descriptive writing. Write the word 'Autumn' in the middle of a piece of paper or white board. Then together brainstorm words associated with autumn. Words like: chilly, crunchy leaves, red, brown, orange, piles of leaves, leaves falling off trees, damp, spiders - I sure your children can think of many better than these! I like to read the children autumn poems and find some words and phrases from the poems to add to our list. This helps extend their vocabulary and gives them a model to aspire to. I used to love reading my classes this one and we would learn to recite it from memory: Note the metaphor, 'the sunshine spread a carpet'. Can they think of metaphors, similes of their own? October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came - The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples, And leaves of every name. The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand, Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor Wind the band. Author: George Cooper Encourage your child to use these words to write about Autumn. It doesn't have to be a long piece of writing. It might be a poem, though I always find poetry writing doesn't suit all children and If I sense it isn't appropriate I don't push it. I always emphasise quality over quantity. Having written it, then edit with your child and then let them write it our neatly, or even type it our on the computer. Display their writing alongside the leaf prints. It right cheers the home! READING AND NATURE STUDY A good trip to the library should furnish you with plenty of material for studying autumn. best of all, aim to turn your house into your own good library, filled with good quality books. There is so much to learn from the biology of trees and plants and what happens to them in autumn - why do trees lose their leaves? Why do the plants die back? Then there are animals: studying squirrels - why do they bury their nuts? and spiders - why are they so obvious in autumn? Can children learn to identify trees by their leaves/fruit? Do they know that not all fruit is edible? What is the purpose of fruit? From here can spring more writing, and lots of reading - but don't make everything into a 'lesson' - let it just be natural finding out. You don't need to do a worksheet on everything. Just feed in questions and encourage them to find answers by going to look for them, with them.
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Six weeks of autumnal activtities for your home-school covering Scripture, Maths and English (to supplement your exisiting curriculum), Science, Geogrphy, Art and History. Only £2 plus a FREE copy of 'Autumn Maths Activities for ages 4-6'.
Useful Resources from this site:
Two pictures of squirrels with some questions to answer.
Acorn poem handwriting sheet
Four sheets: Copy underneath and colour the pictures and turn them into a little book tracing a tree through a year.
For older children there is mushroom identification, the study of the seasons and lengthening days and the studying migration of birds, for starters.
For a general science book that covers weather and seasons I reccomend Apologia:
If you have enjoyed these activities, you will find plenty more in
Nature Explorers the Christian monthly nature magazine for children aged 4 to 8, all based on a 6 day Creation. Priced at: £8 for a PDF version delivered by e-mail £30 for a high quality print edition delivered to your door. Please see www.natureobservations.weebly.com for further information. Advert Just £5 for a fun filled educational Spring! Over 60 pages bursting with nature study and craft ideas that you can do without expensive outings or equipment/materials. Read more information. If you have enjoyed these activities, you will find plenty more in
Nature Explorers the Christian monthly nature magazine for children aged 4 to 8, all based on a 6 day Creation. Priced at: £8 for a PDF version delivered by e-mail £30 for a high quality print edition delivered to your door. Please see www.natureobservations.weebly.com for further information. Egg box daffodils: http://www.freekidscrafts.com/egg-carton-daffodils/ Keeping tadpoles: http://natureobservationswithdafydd.weebly.com/nature-notes/archives/02-2016 Nature Dairy: http://goexplorenature.com/2014/02/nature-journals-for-beginners.html I have to say from a professional point of view the standard of this example is not very high. Encourage your children to produce neater work. |
Welcome!After studying for an Early Years Specialism degree (B.Ed. Hons), and teaching in mainstream education, I home-educated my own children, after my husband and I were persuaded of the need to take responsibility for bringing up our children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' (Ephesians 6:4) We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
This costs the purchaser nothing extra. In this way I can continue to provide free resources. Thank you for your support. Looking for a read-aloud?
Here's one I heartlily reccomend for ages 10 +. Search
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