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Nature study is one of our favorite areas of study. Perhaps it is because it comes so effortlessly for us. In the fall, we play among the beautiful leaves fluttering from the trees in wonderful shades of red, gold, orange and brown. The girls build tepees with bent branches and old sheets and make elaborate pathways through the leaves while I create leaf crowns from special leaves they bring to me. Suddenly they are Indian princesses storing away food for the difficult winter ahead. Later, we collect the leaves, nuts, seeds and cones scattered 'round and bring out our field guides to identify what we have found. We bring home that little cocoon we found attached to some dried old leaves and put it in a container on our back porch until spring. Better yet, we may find a fat caterpillar ready to make its winter home and bring it in to watch it magically wrap itself into a snug cocoon or transform into a shiny chrysalis. We watch our garden go to seed and gather the dried bean pods for next year's garden. We watch as the pumpkins turn golden orange, the sunflowers dry and offer their hearts to the birds and the dogwoods begin to show off their bright berries.
As the days and nights grow colder, we look forward to winter. Winter is our favorite time to watch the birds gather hungrily at our feeders. Watching for a new bird or an unusual bird takes the boredom out of being cooped up indoors when it is especially cold. Setting bits of apple and slices of orange out for the mocking birds, dry bread out for the squirrels and waiting patiently for them to come for their treats is both entertaining and satisfying. The English muffin resting in the crook of a tree tempts a fat little squirrel. We watch and take note of which seeds appeal to each different bird. The cocoons we gathered in the autumn roll and shake in our palms revealing the secret life within. We begin to think of what our garden will hold next summer and start taking stock of which seeds must be purchased and which ones have been saved from the previous year.
Before long, spring tenderly steps in and we start to consider preparing the earth for planting. The cocoons and chrysalides start to break open to our delight. Field guides are consulted and much debate ensues over the identity of each little guest. After treating them to a day of restfulness and honey water, we set them free to return to their natural surroundings. The dogwoods bloom and the maples send down their shower of "helicopters". Fat baby robins start to totter through the grass under their watchful parents' eyes. The peonies send up through the warming earth their curved, ruby shoots. The thermometer is eyed each day to dictate proper attire. Lilacs and pear blossoms perfume the air. We carefully plant our vegetable garden, arrange the flower beds and watch as the squirrels grow giddy in the spring air.
When suddenly summer is upon us, we spend our days out of doors soaking up all that there is to offer there. Our garden is a constant attraction. Learning which sprouts are plants and which ones are weeds becomes important work. Curiously, the weeds themselves become quite intriguing and identifying them becomes a topic of interest. Wild morning glory in the beans, nettles in the zinnias, flax growing between the mounds of squash and the ever-creeping ground ivy swallowing up the borders of our garden begin to fascinate as well as frustrate. Observing mud wasps preparing their homes on the side of our chimney, bright green grass snakes weaving in and out of the honeysuckle on our fence, and chasing away the fat brown ground hog that has taken up residence under our shed become part of our day. We harvest our beans and tomatoes with great pleasure sharing the plenty with friends and neighbors.
Each season offers such an abundance of opportunities to learn and in such an enjoyable way that there is no excuse for letting its lessons become boring. We have found that going on nature walks and keeping a nature journal are helpful ways of training our eyes and ears to appreciate nature. When we are not able to go any farther than our backyard, there is still ample opportunity for observation. We have found that there are at least three different types of moss in our yard alone! It is helpful to invest in a variety of field guides for identification purposes. Keep a lookout for all sorts of nature books at library book sales and at used bookstores. They tend to have very nice and gently used books in this category. There are some out of print books that can be found occasionally that are wonderful and useful. Some of these have been reprinted because of renewed interest during the past few years. One of our favorite resources is Dover Books' wonderful collection of nature coloring books. When we find a particular wildflower or bird that we have been able to identify, it is enjoyable to sit together with colored pencils and color in the picture with the appropriate colors and shadings. While coloring our bird pictures, we often listen to tapes of bird songs that we have purchased through Dover.
We have a nature shelf that displays all of the wonderful finds from our trips out of doors. There we keep jars of old cocoons and transparent chrysalides of various sizes, gourds, magnolia leaves and seed pods, various types of acorns, nuts and pinecones, rocks, twigs, bits of bark and moss and many dead insect specimens found here and there about the yard. There's no end to the interesting things that are brought in to identify and enjoy. We keep a small magnifying glass on our shelf for closer inspection of our specimens and the field guides are within easy reach. It is interesting to see how our nature shelf changes throughout the seasons of the year. What decorated our shelf in May is quite different than what you will find on it in October. We try to place appropriate books nearby for further study or pleasure reading. A book of autumn poems, a storybook of how a caterpillar becomes a moth or a picture book about owls or seed germination makes for attractive reading when displayed in a timely manner. We keep a flower press on our shelf, a "critter keeper", attractive nature identification cards and whatever else seems helpful in our nature studies. Exploring nature in this manner is much more enjoyable and profitable than reading about something like metamorphosis in a textbook. When you handle a cocoon from the caterpillar you discovered in autumn, feel it shudder with life in the winter and then wake up one spring day to find it stretching its still wet wings, you know more about metamorphosis than you could ever know from a paragraph in a book.
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Nature Shelf Books
The
Rainbow Book of Nature by David Culross Peattie The Original Peter Rabbit Books by Beatrix Potter Miss
Rumphius by Barbara Cooney James Herriot's Treasury for Children Flower
Fairies of the Spring by
Cicely Mary Barker Flower
Fairies of the Summer by
Cicely Mary Barker Flower
Fairies of the Fall by
Cicely Mary Barker Flower Fairies of the Winter by Cicely Mary Barker Linnea's Almanac by Christina Bjork One
Small Square Series by Donald M. Silver Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha The Story of the Root Children by Sibylle von Olfers Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin Owl Moon by Jane Yolen Crinkleroot
Series by Jim Arnosky Sketching
Outdoors in Spring by Jim
Arnosky Sketching
Outdoors in Summer by Jim
Arnosky Sketching
Outdoors in Autumn by Jim
Arnosky Sketching
Outdoors in Winter by Jim
Arnosky Find
The Constellations by H.
A. Rey Peter
in Blueberry Land by Elsa
Beskow Children
of the Forest by Elsa
Beskow Around
The Year by Elsa Beskow Pelle’s
New Suit by Elsa Beskow The
Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow Woody,
Hazel and Little Pip by
Elsa Beskow Flowers
Festival by Elsa Beskow Ollie’s Ski Trip by Elsa Beskow White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt Autumn Harvest by Alvin Tresselt Johnny
Maple-Leaf by Alvin Tresselt The
Tomten by Astrid Lindgren The Tomten and the Fox by Astrid Lindgren Going
Barefoot by Aileen Fisher Smithsonian's Backyard Series The
Stranger by Chris Van
Allsburg The
Snowy Day by Ezra Jack
Keats Have
You Seen Trees? by
Joanne Oppenheim Verdi
by Janell Cannon Stellaluna
by Janell Cannon Crickwing
by Janell Cannon The
Salamander Room by Anne
Mazer A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry
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