Learning Through Nature

My favorite time of year is almost here. We’ve had warm weather this week, and it makes me look forward to springtime even more. With warm weather come lots of adventures outside exploring. In spring, everywhere we look shows forth new life. The flowers start showing forth their beauty. New leaves begin to cover once bare trees. Nature starts to paint a colorful array of colors everywhere. Birds, bugs, and everything in between create new life. God’s amazing Creation begins to blossom and bloom.

Springtime is a great time to bring school outside. On nice warm days, we bring our school books outside and do our work on our back deck. Incorporating nature in school is so easy. Here are some ideas you could do besides just the normal school books.

Science:

– Scavenger hunt. If you have multiple children, they could each have their own list of items and race to see who finishes first. Some of the items could be leaves, sticks, flowers, grass, rocks, dirt, bugs, etc. The items should be easier for younger children, like the list I made.

– Search for bugs. Your children can make a journal by drawing pictures of the bugs and writing facts about each bug. If the name of the bug is unknown, they can search online later for the bug’s name to add to their bug journal. This also works for birds or flowers. If you are searching for bugs, be careful if your yard is prone to have fire ants like my yard is.

– Weather wheel. Your children could also make a weather wheel and talk about what the weather is like, and they can guess what temperature it is outside.

Math:

– Story problems. You can tell your children story problems about nature. Example: (Insert your kid’s name) had five leaves and two blew away; how many are left?

– Illustration. You could use the objects found from the scavenger hunt to illustrate multiplication, subtraction, and addition. Example: you have three piles of sticks. In each pile, you have 4 sticks. Your child uses multiplication to figure out how many sticks are altogether. You can also write the problem on a piece of paper.

– A bar graph. You can use this to see how many different kinds of flowers you have in your garden and which flower has the most buds. You could do the same with how many different birds you see. Another idea is seeing which outdoor activity is your children’s favorite.

Spelling:

– Simple spelling. Your children could spell some of the items found from the scavenger hunt.

– I Spy. Play “I Spy” with the words as well, which would help with reading. Example: I spy something that has the letters b-i-r-d. Your child has to say what you just spelled and find it.

– Chalk. Your children could write spelling words on the sidewalk with chalk.

– Balloon fun. You could have letters written on balloons and your child has to arrange the letters to make the word and then they can pop them (for extra fun you can put something inside the balloons).

Reading:

– Reading fun. Reading a good book in the fresh air is a good idea.

Beginners:

– Beginner phonics. You could call out a sound and your child has to search the yard for something that either begins or ends with that sound. To make the game go faster, the child can be timed.

– I Spy. If your child is learning colors and shapes, you can play “I Spy” and call out a color or shape and your child has to find the object in the yard.

– Guessing game. You gather a group of items from the yard; your children close their eyes and try to guess what the object is using their senses.

Art:

– Nature picture. Your children collect different leaves, flower petals, grass, dirt, or whatever they can find. They arrange the objects on paper and glue them on for a nature picture.

– Sketching. Your child can sit on the grass and sketch whatever thing stands out to him.

– Painting. Painting outside is less messy than indoors. But don’t be limited to painting with a brush; you can finger-paint, paint with your feet and toes, or whatever else you can find to paint with.

Physical Education:

– Whatever gets them moving. Take your children outside for races, races against the clock, playing tag, hide and seek, “Mother May I,” “Red Light, Green Light,” or “Duck, Duck, Goose.”

– Obstacle course. Make a little obstacle course in the backyard; it’s a fun way to get exercise in.

– Sports. Play a few sports outside.

-Free time. Let’s not forget just letting them be kids and running around and playing in the mud. Oh, and lots of snacks and picnics outside.

There are so many possibilities! All you need is nature and a little creativity, and learning will take place right before your eyes—and memories will be made.

Hi, my name is Jessica. I am married to a wonderful husband and we have six children, 1 girl and 5 boys. God has blessed my life. He is too good to me. I try to juggle homeschooling, housework, and writing. I have self-published a couple of books. You can follow me on my Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/theaspiringwriter/