Advanced Fall Color Activity

"The main use of this study of leaves is to make the children appreciate the beauty of the autumn foliage. This can be done through collections, made by the children themselves of the colored leaves. These may be pressed and mounted. A simple study of the colors may accompany the work by the selection of colored papers to match the leaves. All this color work, however, is but to impress the thought of the rich beauty of the autumn woods." The Southern Education Journal, Study for November. 1899.

With the start of fall I am certainly ready to get out and enjoy the fall color. (I am actually off to New York this week where I am hoping I will see lot of fall color!) I have put together a fun activity for older children to do this fall season.

There are a lot of fall color names that children may not be familiar with. How is burgundy different from scarlet? How is goldenrod different from yellow or gold? This activity may help your children (and you!) appreciate the many different shades of fall.

I have put together a free PDF download, which is basically a grid labeled with 20 fall colors. Using crayons or colored pencils, your child will fill in the squares with the labeled fall color. Then he will take that grid outside and see if he can find all the colors. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Here is the link: Advanced Fall Color Activity

What is your favorite fall color?

Let me know in the comments section!

Spring Nature Walk Worksheet

Last spring I put together a Spring Nature Walk Worksheet which I shared here on my blog. If you haven't already seen it, be sure to check it out.

Spring is a perfect time to get out and enjoy the changing seasons. Because spring is a time of change, it can be really exciting to spend a little extra time in nature study- observing new growth, listening to streams rushing from runoff and hunting out wildflowers.

My worksheet is designed to get you and your kids outside, looking for specific things and spending time exploring nature using your different senses. On this worksheet I have included a space to sketch something you find during your nature walk if you have not yet started your own nature journal.

If you use this nature walk worksheet, feel free to leave me a comment. I love hearing how people are using my scavenger hunt worksheets.

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And if you are looking to include more nature study in your homeschool, be sure to check out my Spring Art, Handicraft and Nature Study Kit. The nature study portion of this kit focuses on frogs- a fun topic I am sure you and your children will enjoy studying together.

Vivaldi- Four Seasons- Winter

Today I thought I'd share a very nice YouTube video of Vivaldi's movement Winter from his Four Seasons. I think Vivaldi is probably my favorite composer because I love the violins. I hope you and your children take a few minutes today to enjoy the music of winter. (You may need to click through to the actual post if you are reading this in an email or reader since the videos and Amazon links don't always show up for some reason.)

If you are interested in learning more about Vivaldi, you can see my mom's Vivaldi composer study here. And if you are interested in purchasing a Vivaldi CD from Amazon, here are some to get you started (We own the first one and highly recommend it.):

I have also put together a free PDF notebooking page for Vivaldi. You can download it here at Lulu. And if you haven't seen my winter themed art, handicraft and nature study kit, check it out here! I only have a few left and only have a few more days left to sell them.

Nature Study Observation Calendars

Calendars: It's a great idea to have children keep a calendar to record when and where they saw the first oak leaf, the first tadpole, the first daily walks and nature hikes! A day won't go by when something isn't primrose, the first ripe blackberries. Then next year they can pull out the calendar and know when to anticipate seeing these things again, and they can note new discoveries. Imagine how this will add enthusiasm for seen to excite them.

From Charlotte Mason Volume One, page 54

I really like the idea of using a calendar to keep track of your nature observations for each month. It would be so much fun the next year to look back and see what you had observed each day and compare to the current year's observations. You could also include a small sketch on the calendar if you wish. It could also be motivating if you wanted to observe something in nature each day- as you would have a space to fill for each day. Even if you just recorded the weather or what you see out your window, that would be something for each day. I'd love to hear your ideas.
I have put together a free PDF calendars for this purpose. It is a completely blank calendar you can use for any month you wish.

Blank Nature Study Observations Calendar

I would love to see how you and your family use my calendars, so feel free to leave me links in the comments section or to email me. Enjoy.

Summer Nature Walk Worksheet

So I have put together a Summer Nature Walk Worksheet similar to the fall, winter and spring ones listed in my sidebar.

This worksheet is what I like to call a senses scavenger hunt. One way to get your children involved in your nature walk is to give them a task to find a specific object. You will be amazed what you find once you start looking.

My worksheet is designed to get you and your kids outside, looking for specific things and spending time exploring nature using your different senses. On this worksheet I have included a space to sketch something you find during your nature walk if you have not yet started your own nature journal.
When you click on the link it will take you to a savefile.com page. Scroll to the bottom and click on the Download File button. The download should start automatically. If it doesn't start, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Download File Now. I will be listing the worksheet link on my sidebar as well.

If you have not checked out the Hearts and Trees Summer Themed Art, Nature Study and Handicraft Kit, be sure to check it out. I have some great projects which would be perfect for keeping little hands busy during the hot summer months.

Spring Nature Walk Worksheet

I have put together a Spring Nature Walk Worksheet like the fall and winter ones I have posted in my sidebar.

Spring is a perfect time to get out and enjoy the changing seasons. Especially if you live in a place where winter is cold, wet and dreary, the warmth and freshness of spring is always welcome. Because spring is a time of change, it can be really exciting to spend a little extra time in nature study- observing new growth, listening to streams rushing from runoff and hunting out wildflowers.

My worksheet is designed to get you and your kids outside, looking for specific things and spending time exploring nature using your different senses. On this worksheet I have included a space to sketch something you find during your nature walk if you have not yet started your own nature journal.

When you click on the link it will take you to a savefile.com page. Scroll to the bottom and click on the Download File button. The download should start automatically. If it doesn't start, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Download File Now. I will be listing the worksheet link on my sidebar as well.

(You can also check out my Summer, Fall and Winter Nature Walk Worksheets found in my sidebar.)

Indoor Nature Study Idea- Tabletop Garden

"But what is the use of being a 'very observant
child,' if you are not put in the way of things worth
observing?"

Charlotte Mason Volume 1 Pages 69- 70

One of the ideas of a Charlotte Mason education is to help our children to become observant learners about the world. That is one of the reasons I love this project- it is all about observation. I have been wanting to try out this indoor nature study idea for a while now. Today I went to the store and bought some root vegetables. I bought a carrot, turnip, parsnip, yam and rutabaga. (Did you know in Ireland a rutabaga is called a swede? And rutabaga is also very fun to say.) You will want to pick vegetables that have a bit of green on the top (see third photo).
You are going to cut about 2" off the top of each vegetable. Stick three or four toothpicks near the very top of each vegetable. Set the toothpicks on the rim of a jar and fill the jar with water so that it the water level is above the bottom of your vegetable (as shown above).
Here are my five vegetables ready for observation. My turnip was too big to fit in the rim of my jar, so I placed it in a shallow bowl of water. If you don't have jars, you could do this with all of your vegetables. I even read that you could just set the vegetables on a wet paper towel on a plate. Place your vegetables somewhere they will receive some sunshine or at least some light each day. Check your vegetables each day and record your observations. You will also want to check each day to make sure the bottoms of the vegetables remain submerged in the water.
I put together a free Tabletop Garden Notebook page (seen in photo above) to help you record your observations. Check back in a couple days and I will show you what has happened with my tabletop garden. This is a very easy, inexpensive nature study project (I think I spent $2.39 for all five of my vegetables). I would love to hear about the tabletop gardens you all start. Be sure to check out my other free downloads (links are on my sidebar).

Winter Nature Walk Worksheet

I've put together another free printable nature journal page. It is a Winter Nature Walk Worksheet.

A nature walk is more than just walking or being outside. It involves stopping to really enjoy and explore being outdoors. This worksheet is designed to get you and your kids outside and looking for specific things. Once you get outside I am sure you will find lots of other interesting things to record in your nature journal.

For my other free printables see my page here.

(You can also check out my Fall Nature Walk Worksheet.)

No Sew Fleece Blankets

Another great and easy project is to make a no sew fleece blanket. If you haven't made one yet, you have to try it. Everyone in my family has their own. There is so much fun fleece out there, the hardest part of this project is to decide which fleece you want! Of course it wasn't until after I made my blanket that I found Hawaiian print fleece- how awesome is that!

Here is my middle brother with his flame fleece blanket.

And here is my youngest brother making my dad's fleece blanket.

And here is my youngest brother's bed with his Nemo blanket and fleece tie pillow.

****To print these instructions you can download them as a PDF here.****

No Sew Fleece Blanket Instructions:

You will need:

• Two lengths of fleece. (The length size is up to you. My brothers each used 1 yard lengths for their blankets and they are perfect for curling up with, but don't cover their whole beds. My fleece blanket is made with 1 1/2 yard lengths and I use it to cover my double bed. My father's blanket is made with lengths that are 2 yards each and if perfect for a covering everyone on the whole couch, but it is really heavy.)
• Scissors
• Yard stick or tape measure
• Ruler

Instructions:

~Here is a diagram I made to sort of illustrate the steps below.~

1. Trim the salvage edges of each length of fleece. (That means trim the sides which are usually folded in and have little holes in them.)

2. On a large, flat surface lay the two lengths of fleece out. Lay the first length face down and the second length face up on top of the first.

3. Trim both layers of fleece to make them square and the same exact size.

4. Cut 4" squares out of the four corners of the stacked fleece.

5. Now you are going to cut fringe along all the sides. Lay a yard stick or tape measure from one inside corner of the cut square to the another.

6. Cut every 1" (using a ruler as a guide) from the edge of the fleece to the yard stick or tape measure. (That will be 4".)

7. Cut fringe on all the sides.

8. Tie the fringe together. (The first step when you are tying a shoe, do it twice.)

9. Work around the whole blanket tying the fringe.

And that's it!

Have fun with this project. As seen in the third photo, you can adapt this to make a pillow. Just work with smaller lengths of fleece and before you finish tying around the whole blanket stuff the fleece with cotton batting.

As always, you are welcome to share any photos of completed projects using the ideas on this blog. You can email me photos or links. (amandachristina@yahoo.com) Now, go find some fleece!

Free Download- Nature Journal Page

So I put together a free printable nature journal page to go along with my last post. I talked about taking a nature walk being more than just walking, but stopping to really enjoy being outdoors. The nature journal page is a fall nature walk/sense scavenger hunt.


Nature Journal Scavenger Hunt Page

Enjoy. I will be putting together some more printable nature journal pages as well as some artist notebooking pages, so check back often for updates.
I will be listing them on my sidebar as well. Enjoy!