The Big Book of Nature Activities: A Year-Round Guide to Outdoor Learning

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From the Publisher

Basic Skills for Connecting to Nature

Do you ever wonder why some of your friends come back from a hike with colorful stories of close encounters with the natural world yet when you return, all you’ve seen are mosquitoes, trees and the odd crow? Why are some people so lucky?

Tips in the Chapter for Connecting to Nature

Hints for paying attending
Engaging All of your senses
Invertebrate-watching: Butterflies, Moths & Dragonflies
Botanizing: The art of plant Identification
Mushroom Hunting

Key Nature Concepts for Children to Learn

Nature play stimulates creativity and problem solving skills integral to executive function development. It’s crucial to teach the next generation about the environment so they can continue to take care of it.

Nature Concepts for Children to Learn

Why do we have seasons
Phenology
Climate Change
Evolution
Big History

Fall: The Cooling Season

It is a time of new beginnings and sad endings as we say goodbye to the warmth and freedom of summer.

Cup your ears and you’ll notice that the early fall soundscape resonates with the rhythmic drone of katydids and cicadas.

Activities in this chapter:

Make an acorn whistle
Dine on Puffballs
Barefoot Walk
Tracking Season Change
Non-Identification Bird Walk
Raise Monarchs

Winter: The Great Exhale

As winter winds blast across brown or white fields and the temperature dips, the land seems to breathe out — cleansing itself of the remnants of last summer’s growth.

We hear the chattering of dried leaves, feel the ground becoming firm beneath our feet and sense a new sharpness in the air.

Activities in this chapter:

Forest Tea
Learn the Winter Woods by Smell
Winter Bird Checklist Challenge
The Great Backyard Bird Count
Make Tracks… What’s Your Story?
Plan a Pollinator Garden

Spring: The Greening Season

Spring usually begins as a tug-of-war with winter. Just when we think warmer weather is here to stay, we are hit with another blast of cold and snow.

However, the change of season is always apparent if you take the time to look and listen: the Sun is higher in the sky, daylight is with us until early evening and bird song has returned.

Activities in this chapter:

The Beauty of Emerging Leaves
Camouflaged Eggs
Bird Song Ensemble
Can You Make a Robin’s Nest?
Scent Trails
Cloud-watching

Summer: The Crescendo

The preparations of spring bear fruit in summer. Eggs become fledged birds, flowers become ripe berries and tadpoles transform into small frogs and toads.

Summer is a treat for all of our senses. Roadside flowers provide a parade of ever-changing color. The warm air is full of the smell of blossoms and, in late summer, insects replace birds as the source of most song.

Activities in this chapter:

Make Your Own Perfume
Hummingbird Challenge
Go Shorebird-watching
Explore a Tide Pool
Fun with Fireflies
Pressing Flowers

Fall Sample Activity: Rainbow Connection

Cut up a variety of paint color samples — especially reds, oranges, yellows, purples and greens — into smaller pieces. Hand out five to ten pieces to each member of the group. Ask them to try to find leaves along the trail that exactly match the color of each paint sample.

Once you start looking closely, you will be amazed at the variety of fall colors. What other natural objects (e.g., grasses, rocks, flowers, bark) match your paint cards? After a time, switch colors. To make the game even more challenging, look for different shades of each color.

Winter Sample Activity: Learn the Winter Woods by Smell

Go out for a walk in the woods, allowing each child to have a pair of scissors or, for older children, a small jackknife. Stop at various trees of interest and allow the children to snip off some foliage (cedar, pine, fir, hemlock, etc.), a large bud (balsam or black poplar) or a twig (yellow birch, tamarack, sassafras). Gather some resin from a pine and maybe a fir. Place each item in a separate small ziplock bag. Be sure to smell each sample as you take it. Crushing the foliage with the sides of the bag works well and keeps the oils off your fingers. You may need to cut the twig along its length or whittle it with the knife to release the smell. Tell the children the name of each species and, as a group, try to describe the smells. Write the name of the plant and a description of the smell on a piece of paper. Practice smelling for a few minutes while looking at the list.

Then, working in pairs, try to identify each odor while wearing a blindfold.

Spring Sample Activity: Sound Maps

Choose a site and time of day with a variety of natural sounds. Edge habitats near a marsh can be excellent. Give each child an index card with an X in the center. Tell them the card is a map and the X is where they’ll be sitting. Each time they hear a sound, they should mark its location (direction and distance) and represent it with a simple symbol (e.g., a few parallel lines for wind, a musical note for bird song, a number after the note for each different bird). Show them how to cup their hands in front of and behind their ears to hear sounds from all directions. Make sure each child finds a listening place well-separated from other children. Listen for 5–10 minutes, depending on the variety of sounds and the age of participants. Encourage kids to share their maps with a partner, identifying both natural and human-related sounds.

Summer Sample Activity: Nature’s Supermarket

Those who harvest the edible wild refer to cattails as “nature’s supermarket” — there are parts of the plant you can harvest during every season. In summer, go to an area where cattails are growing, away from buildings and roads. Pull one up and you’ll notice a white lower portion. Peel away the outer layers until you come to the tender center. If you eat this raw, it will taste very similar to cucumber; if you fry it up, the flavor is reminiscent of corn. Cattail stalks are an amazing source of vitamins A, B and C as well as potassium and phosphorus. When cattails are in flower, you will notice distinctive yellow pollen on their stalks. You can use this as a thickener for soups and stews. All you need to do is bend the cattail head and shake the pollen into a paper bag. In late summer, keep your eye out for green flower spikes. These can be eaten raw and are quite tasty! Because cattails are known for absorbing pollutants, be careful where you harvest.

Fall Looks Like…

Winter Smells Like…

Spring Sounds Like…

Summer Tastes Like…

Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Society Publishers (June 17, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0865718024
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0865718029
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 16 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.09 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.77 x 10 inches