First Grade Nature Walks

Can you spot the bee?

I don't spend as much time outside with the kids as I'd like to. I could list all of my (pretty typical) excuses, but I won't. Like a lot of families, we've sort of just gotten out of the habit of goofing around outside.

I've been trying to do better, spending a few minutes here and there. One of the things I've discovered is that L really likes the idea of going on a nature walk, and sketching out the plants and animals we see along the way. (Psst, he's also labeling the drawings, so bonus points for getting him to spell and write without grumbling.) While we're out, we're also looking for interesting things to take home and examine, like pine cones, feathers, and rocks.

Although he'd been drawing in whatever notebook we had handy, he was pretty excited to get a special Nature Journal as a little Christmas gift. (It was a freebie from Vistaprint, an unlined spiral notebook. If you think outside the box, many of their free promo items make pretty great little gifts for kids. No affiliation, by the way.)

Personalized nature journal.

He's sort of a reluctant outdoorsman, preferring to stay inside and read, but we're working on it...