Simple Nature Idea ~ Senses Scavenger Hunt

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One of the  ways to incorporate more science into your school day is with simple nature study! Charlotte Mason (and Winter Promise!) believe that nature study is one of the best ways to learn about the world around us.

Do you take nature walks with your family? Such a simple, yet fun and meaningful, way to study nature AND make family memories at the same time! Nature walks is one of the 5 simple ideas for nature study that we shared earlier!

If you’ve taken nature walks before, this week, why not try a NEW way to take a nature walk?

Go on a SENSES SCAVENGER HUNT!

In our science program called The World Around Me, this is one of the many wonderful experiences you will share with your child! Why not try it today?

How to take a Senses Scavenger Hunt

1. Ask your child if they can name their senses and know what they are.

2. Discuss each sense and how it helps us to discover the world around us.

3. Explore one sense at a time as you walk.

4. As you start your walk, ask your child what hidden treasures he can find with his EYES and sense of sight.

5. Continuing along, ask your child what fascinating parts of creation he can HEAR with his ears.

6. Make it a game! Tell your child you SPY something that they could explore with their sense of TOUCH.

7. Still walking, see if your child can name anything they can SMELL with their nose.

8. As you finish your walk and head toward home, if you haven’t seen anything yet that would be safe for your children to TASTE, tell them you have a treat waiting back at home that will allow them to try out their sense of TASTE. 🙂

9. In a later nature post we will discuss keeping a nature journal, but for now, if you don’t have one, just grab a piece of paper and have your children try to recall all the things they found on their SENSES SCAVENGER HUNT. Discuss with your child the TREASURES that we have all around us to explore in the world around us!

ENJOY!

Find more nature study inspiration on our Nature Study pinterest board! 

{these directions are not directly out of The World Around Me, just a fun idea to try out!}

 

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5 Simple Nature Study Ideas

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We would like to share some simple ideas for nature study! I hope you’ll join us for this series. We love nature study in our home!! And Winter Promise loves nature study, too! Like Charlotte Mason, we believe that there is much JOY to be found in studying and observing nature and God’s creation all around us! We love making memories together as a family, and one wonderful way to do this is through nature study! But, don’t make it too hard! It doesn’t have to be!

5 simple nature study ideas

 

“As soon as he is able to keep it himself, a nature-diary is a source of delight to a child.”

Charlotte Mason

1. Keep a SIMPLE nature notebook or journal with your child! The key to this is keep it simple. You don’t have to go out and buy anything fancy. Just take a simple notebook, some colored pencils, go outside and EXPLORE. Have your child draw, label and date what they see!

2. Go on regular nature walks. This is as simple as simple gets, but I know that for me, at times, I let all the other “stuff” of our homeschooling day get in the way of what could be the best part of our day! Getting outside, enjoying fresh air, admiring God’s beautiful creation around you, time with your children…these are all fabulous reasons for taking nature walks with your children!

3. Explore your own backyard. I love taking little “breaks” in our homeschool day, walking out into the backyard with my kids and “assigning” them a corner of our yard to explore. Sometimes we take our nature notebooks and I have them find ONE thing to draw in their corner of the yard. Sometimes we just take a magnifying glass and see who can find something interesting to look at. It can be so simple, but so meaningful.

4. Study one something from nature in your own yard. Choose a tree, a flower, an animal, a bug…something you can view regularly in your own backyard. Watch it, draw it, look at it in different seasons, describe it, check out a book from the library on it.

5. Bring nature indoors for study. This is another of my favorite nature study ideas! Create a nature table (or corner, or shelf) in your home. Admire the beautiful flowers, rocks, twigs, leaves, and other items with your children. Bring them inside and set them in a place to explore and admire even more! Start a collection with your children. Discuss, admire and examine many different nature items in your home to build observation skills and admiration skills in your children!

“Children should be encouraged to watch, patiently and quietly, until they learn something of the habits and history of bee, ant, wasp, spider, hairy caterpillar, dragon-fly, and whatever of larger growth comes in their way.”

Charlotte Mason

Be sure to check out our Nature Study pinterest board & Charlotte Mason pinterest board!

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Dinosaur Days {Review}

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Amber, from Classic Housewife, did a fabulous review of our Dinosaur Days program on her blog!!

AND…she is giving a copy away at a facebook party Thursday night. It’s called Mommy Time and we wanted to invite you to come along with us! 🙂

Here’s an exerpt from Amber’s review:

Dinosaur Days – Like a big ancient science unit study, and then some!

For our Summer School, the kids and I have been digging into one of the WinterPromise science programs – Dinosaur Days. Dinosaur Days is an ancient science study which begins with Creation, progresses through each day of Creation studying light, air, water, earth, plants, and animals, and then moves on into topics such as simple machines, geology, fossils and dinosaurs.

The program is set up to be worked on two days a week, but since the kids and I were doing our “no math summer school” we enjoyed working through it several days a week. It’s geared for grades 2-5, but even my oldest really enjoyed doing it with us. It’s no surprise that my son enjoyed it most of all. He was eager to get to the experiments and other projects.

Please click over to her blog and read the rest!!

And, don’t forget to join the Mommy Time facebook party for your chance to win your own copy of Dinosaur Days and many other prizes!

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New Dinosaur Science Program

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It’s always great to see a new program ready for our parents.  Our new “Dinosaur Days” Science has just been released, and is an awesome new addition to WinterPromise’s line of science programs.

“Dinosaur Days” is a great “ancient science” program that comes alongside any study well, but works especially well for parents studying the Ancient World.  It begins with a study of the days of Creation, and then works through the simple machines utilized by men at the beginning of time.  Then, it spends many weeks on the lives and different kinds of dinosaurs, finishing with several weeks on fossils, digs, and paleontology.

This program really challenged me to think about God’s incredible creative work.  Some of the dinosaurs you encounter in this study sport huge sail-like barbs on their backs — some as tall as 6 feet high!  Others have elaborate horns or crests, while still others have strange bony heads.  Discovering their unique design gives you a fresh appreciation for the wonders God has made.  This study allows you to peek inside the world of the dinosaurs, get a sense of their size and lifestyle, and so much more!

You might want to take a peek yourself — at a sample of the student notebook for the Dinosaur Days program!

Dinosaur_Notebook_Cover

SAMPLE_Dinosaur_Days_Student_Notebook

While dinosaurs are only found in bone beds now, other creatures still declare His creative glory.  I found myself looking around for reminders each day of things I “forget” to see that God sends our way.  One of them recently was a bunny spending time eating outside a basement window, curiously looking inside at our family while we enjoyed watching him!  God’s wonders really are everywhere!  Have you enjoyed one of these “wonders” lately?

Find Dinosaur Days on our website here. 

Purchase any of the Dinosaur Days science here. 

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