How to be a Naturalist

Teaching Children to Become Naturalists: 


In order to become a naturalist, one must spend time outside-crazy, right? So unsurprisingly,  the first step for teaching children to become naturalists is to allow them to spend as much time as possible outside. 

A great way to promote an appreciation for nature in young children is to create nature journals. Children can create a personal nature journal where they can keep all of their discoveries. 

Here are some more examples of Nature Journals: https://vimeo.com/180339011 

Here is a picture of the nature journal that I made: 

Activities (From Nature Connection Book): 

A quick Drawing Lesson: 
The drawing activities in the book would be very useful to do with children after creating a nature journal to get them started with some ideas. 

Contour Drawing: Draw an object that you are looking at without looking down at your paper or picking up your pencil. 

Here is my contour drawing of a squirrel: 

Variations: 
Some other types of drawing that I used in my nature journal were memory drawings (where you look at something for a certain amount of time and then draw it from memory) and gesture drawing (where you focus on drawing the movement of objects)

The Colors of the Seasons: 


This activity has the children choose a color to represent the seasons and decorate the wheel. 

Example: 



Variation: 

Have the children pick a symbol for each month to make a personal monthly calendar. They will think of things that occur in each month that makes it special to them and make a symbol that represents that. For example, the children might make a birthday cake for the month of their birthday. At the end, they can put it together to make a personal calendar. 


Write a Nature Poem: 

For this activity, after spending 15 minutes in nature, the children will find a quiet spot to write a poem. 

Example: 

Squirrel 
By: Michelle Birmingham


Silly Squirrel 
Quirky Squirrel 
Unpredictable squirrel
I love to watch you play
Running squirrel 
Rambunctious squirrel 
Excited every day 
Little squirrel, I love you so, please don't run away

Enjoy this funny Squirrel Video!!

Variation: 
While outside children can write down individual words that they think of. When the class goes back inside they can re-write or decorate their words and put them together (on a large piece of paper), to create a story or poem. 


Find a Favorite Spot: 

For this activity, children will go their favorite spot outside and write or draw in their journal. 


This is my favorite sit spot 

Variation: 
Sound-Mapping: 
Children close their eyes and focus on the sounds that they hear to inspire their drawings. The children will mark an X at the center of their paper to show their sit spot and then they close their eyes for 5 minutes, listen, and draw. They can use simple markings to represent the sounds that they hear around them. 


Books about Nature: 

     

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