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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Blue Whales

The blue whale is the largest animal in the world!! 

 


But how big is it?





A Blue whale is as long as an airplane, 3 school busses, or 6 elephants 

& weighs about the same as 40 elephants or 15 school busses. 

video.nationalgeographic.com/video/101-videos/0000015d-3233-d466-a57f-babb832e0000 


Activity: How Many Kindergarteners long is a blue whale? 

After researching how long a blue whale is, students will figure out how many of them it would take to be the same length as a blue whale. 


Inquiry Activity: How do whales stay warm?

Use a glove (or a Ziploc) without shortening and a glove with shortening. The one with shortening represents blubber. Have children put their hand in the water using the regular glove and then the "blubber glove" and encourage them to share their observations. 
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Inquiry Activity: How do whales eat?: 

Teacher will help children research how whale eat and find ways to simulate this. 

 
This example uses a comb to show how baleen whales filter their food.

Whale Talk 

Play whale sounds and ask the children what they think the whales are trying to say. Assist the children in their research of whale songs and the different ways that they use them. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SujL16F1U4

Enjoy this videos of whale jumping: 

Books: