How to Naturally Share Nature Study With Your Child

"During autumn the attention of the children should be attracted to the leaves by their gorgeous colors. It is well to use this interest to cultivate their knowledge of the forms of leaves of trees; but the teaching of the tree species to the young child should be done quite incidentally and guardedly. If the teacher says to the child bringing a leaf, "This is a white-oak leaf," the child will soon quite unconsciously learn that leaf by name. Thus, tree study may be begun in the kindergarten or the primary grades." Handbook of Nature Study, page 622

I regularly am asked how to teach nature study. Should you read the Handbook of Nature Study to your child? Should you draw in other resources? Should you take your nature journal with you on your walks? Should you require a nature journal entry? How do you share information without it becoming a "lesson"?

These are all really great questions and I know for each family the answers will be a little bit different because you have different children with different learning styles. I try to keep in mind the principle outlined in the quote from the Handbook of Nature Study above.

The Handbook of Nature Study was written for adults. Adults who were then to try to offer nature study to children. Anna Botsford Comstock knew that the key to great times in nature study depended on the interest and enthusiasm of the teacher/parent. She knew that even adults *needed* this time outdoors to refresh and to inspire us.

"She who opens her eyes and her heart nature-ward even once a week finds nature study in the schoolroom a delight and an abiding joy......She finds, first of all, companionship with her children; and second, she finds that without planning or going on a far voyage, she has found health and strength." Handbook of Nature Study, page 3

The other key is to take things slowly and to over time incorporate vocabulary and labels for things you find in nature. This calls for a little work by the adult in the beginning.

"If the teacher says, "I have a pink hepatica. Can anyone find me a blue one?" the children, who naturally like grown up words, will soon be calling these flowers hepaticas....The child should never be required to learn the name of anything in the nature study work; but the name should be used so often and so naturally in his prescense that he will learn it without being conscious of the process." Handbook of Nature Study, page 11

One thought from me that I hesitate to include in the post. As your children get older, you will want to prepare the child for your outdoor nature study time in order to have them focus a bit on the subject of the day.

"The half-hour excursion should be preceded by a talk concerning the purposes of the outing and the pupils must know that certain observations are to be made or they will not be permitted to go again. This should not be emphasized as a punishment; but they should be made to understand that a field excursion is only, naturally enough, for those who wish to see and understand outdoor life." Handbook of Nature Study, page 15

If you want more guidance on this topic, read the whole section on page 15 under The Field Excursion. I find that as my children are getting older, our time is more limited as far as nature study. I make it a priority to fit it in every week but the amount of time is more limited. We need our formal nature study to be concentrated and focused so that we can get the most out of it.

"It is a mistake to think that a half day is necesary for a field lesson, since a very efficient field trip may be made during the ten or fifteen minutes at recess, if it is well planned." Handbook of Nature Study, page 15

The nature journal is something that is as individual as the child. My expectation for the simplest of nature journals has always been to include a sketch, a label, and a date. This simple formula works to help the child not be so overwhelmed with making a "pretty" journal entry. The journal is something that should bring joy to the child.

"When the child is interested in studying any object, he enjoys illustrating his observations with drawings; the happy absorption of children thus engaged is a delight to witness." Handbook of Nature Study, page 17

This means that if your child finds drawing a chore, skip it. Try again another day. Eventually, they will find something to include in their journal. I have many examples of a variety of styles of journal entries listed on my right sidebar. Do not get in the mindset that only drawing is acceptable in a nature journal. Lists, photos, diagrams, thoughts, poems, a sentence or two, or a combination of those things will become a very nice journal over time. We do not make a journal entry every week and our journals are still precious to us.

So hopefully I have helped you understand a little of what I get from the Handbook of Nature Study.

• The HNS is for the adult to read and be inspired from.
• The HNS is for gleaning information and observation ideas for nature study.
• Young children will learn the proper names for things naturally if you use it in conversation.
• Older children will need a bit more preparation to begin to focus their nature study time.
• Nature journal entries are not required after every outdoor experience.
• Nature journals include a variety of information.
• Nature study refreshes and inspires the parents as well as the children.
• Regularly read the Handbook of Nature Study to refine your skills as a guide for your children.

Dust your copy of the Handbook of Nature Study off today and read a few pages of the introductory chapters. Scan the Table of Contents and see if anything catches your eye for a nature study this week. Join us in completing the Autumn Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges. Do something this week to get you outdoors with your children for even a few minutes to have some fun and refreshment.

If you want some additional help getting started, go to the right sidebar of my blog and start with Outdoor Hour Challenge #1. You can also purchase the first ten challenges in ebook format along with notebook pages for you nature journal. Information on that is also in my right sidebar.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom