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.

--------------

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.

A fun metal embossing project

"[One of] the important things to keep in mind about children's crafts are that... they should be given work well within the ability of their age range so that they are able to do it well and not sloppily."
Charlotte Mason in Modern English Page 316

For this project you will need:

• A metal foil sheet to emboss (you can buy these through DickBlick-see the bottom of this post for more information.)


• A stack of old newspapers or magazines


• A pencil


• Sharpies or other permanent markers


• Scissors


• Cardstock


• Tape

1. Carefully cut the metal sheet so that it will fit on the front of your card. I cut mine into a 4" square to go on the front of a 8 1/2"x 11" piece of cardstock folded in half. Be very careful the edge of the metal sheet can be very sharp. If you have young children you may want to do this for them!

2. Place the metal square on top of a stack of old newspapers or magazines. Using the pencil draw the design you want to emboss onto the square. Leave about 1/4" of a border around the edge. If you are going to write anything, be sure to write it in reverse to that it will be legible when you turn it over to the front.
3. Once you have finished your design, turn the metal over. Your design should be raised on the front.
4. Use Sharpies or other permanent markers to color in the front of your metal sheet.

5. You can either tape the edges of the metal sheet onto the front of your card. (Maybe you could use colored masking tape or something else like that.) Or you can cut a hole slightly smaller than the size of your metal square (I cut a 3 1/2" square on the front of my card) and tape the square to the inside of the card with the embossed image in the frame. You could even tape a piece of paper over that encasing the metal sheet between the cardstock and the paper. (You don't want to leave any edges because the metal can be sharp.)

Here is my brother's embossed metal square.

----------

You can purchase the metal sheets like the ones I used for this project from DickBlick. You can find them here. I used the 36 guage aluminum sheets. If you have any questions feel free to email me.

----------

I also have quite a few Hearts and Trees Spring Kits still available for sale, so be sure to hop over to my blog post about them if you haven't already. I am hearing a lot of good things from families who have already received theirs in the mail.

Spring Kit Update

So, everyone who pre-ordered a Spring Hearts and Trees Kit should receive it in the mail shortly if they haven't already. I still have a lot of kits left, so if you haven't checked it out, be sure to. There are a lot of great projects if you are looking to add art, handicrafts and nature study to your homeschool.

In all this kit includes: 2 handicraft projects, 1 drawing project, 2 art notebooking pages, 1 art print, 1 frogs lapbook, 1 set of frog poetry copy work pages and 1 laminated nature study card.

I have heard a lot of good things from ones who have already received their kits in the mail. Frogs are such a fun topic for children of all ages.

If you have any questions about my spring kit, feel free to email me. Thanks!

Some Frog Book Links

My Hearts and Trees Spring Kit has a nature study and art focus of frogs. Frogs are fun to sudy wherever you live and whatever the age or gender of your children. My spring kit includes a frog nature study lapbook (designed by my mom), a Winslow Homer art print featuring a frog, frog copy work notebooking pages, and a page of frog-themed party ideas. (Just a note: I will be shipping all Spring Kit pre-orders on Friday, so be sure to purchase yours today!)

I wanted to share some book links with you if you are interested in spending a little more time studying frogs with your children.

And like I said, be sure to check out my Spring Hearts and Trees Kit. I will be shipping all pre-orders on Friday and after that kits will ship within three business days of my receiving payment. Have a great day!

Let's Get Drawing....

I am busy getting my Hearts and Trees Spring Kits ready to be shipped off on Friday. If you still haven't ordered yours, be sure to check it out. I am really excited to share it all with you.

I just wanted to pop in and share some fun drawing links with you:

• Abstract Flowers Drawing
• Antiqued Flowers in a Vase Drawing
• VanGogh Flowers Drawing
• Oil Pastel Landscape

I hope you enjoy. Feel free to link to any drawings your family may complete. And be sure to check out my Spring Kit- I will be shipping all pre-orders on Friday!

A Few Spring Nature Study Ideas

"A girl who knows something about wildflowers, for example, will
be a popular walking companion with all kinds of people in various
circumstances."

Charlotte Mason in Modern English Page 261

This Charlotte Mason quote perfectly describes how I felt this past weekend. I went for a nice hike with some friends at Table Mountain near Oroville, CA on Saturday. (The photos in this post are from my hike.) Wildflowers are my favorite part of spring and summer. I love all the varieties and colors. As we were hiking I was able to identify some of the wildflowers for my friends. When we came across ones I didn't know, I wished my mom had been there. Knowing the name of a flower can be a very powerful thing. Spring is the perfect time to get outside for some nature study, and wildflowers can be a fun and interesting place to start.

If you are looking to add a little nature study to your homeschool this spring, here are a few ideas to get you started.

• Go on a spring nature walk scavenger hunt using my free PDF download.
• Go on a photo nature walk and take pictures of all of the different wildflowers you see.
• Go on a nature walk looking for flowering trees.
• Go on a nature walk looking for trees with new growth.
• Identify one wildflower growing near your house.
• Make a press and press some wildflowers.
• Sketch a wildflower that grows near where you live.
• Or see if you can find coloring pages for the wildflowers you have in your area.
• As you are driving around town, see if you can spot any wildflowers growing alongside the road.
• Look for migrating birds- I saw a whole flock of Canadian geese the other day flying in formation.
• If you just get outside, I am sure you will find something worth observing.

And just a note: I am aiming to have my Hearts and Trees spring kit up for sale this week. Things are taking much longer than I expected with this kit. I will have more information about it later this week, so be sure to check in for that.

Trees Art Show

This Hearts and Trees online art show focuses on trees. I encourage you to share this art show with your children and to have a discussion about the different ways these artists saw and painted trees.

If you would be interested in a set of notebooking pages/mini unit study like the ones I am offering for my clouds and still life art shows let me know (you can find links to my other art shows as well as to my notebooking pages in the sidebar). If there is enough interest I will put them together.

Meanwhile, here are some suggestions of questions you can discuss with your children as you examine each painting.
•How did each painter see trees differently?
•Look for cool and warm colors.
•How many paintings have people in them?
•How many paintings have animals?
•How many paintings have buildings?
•Decide on the "mood" of each painting- how does each painting make you feel?
•Use the canvas measurements provided to see just how big or small a painting is.
•Decide which painting is the most realistic and which is the least realistic.
•Which is your favorite painting?
•If you could change the name of a painting, what would you name it? Why?
•If you find a painting you like, take a minute to look at some other paintings by that artist. (Artchive and ABC Gallery are where I found these paintings.
•You could make your own version of your favorite garden painting.
•You could sketch your own garden in the style of your favorite artist.

Vincent Van Gogh
Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background
1889 Oil on canvas
28 1/2 x 36 1/4 in. (72.5 x 92 cm)
Collection Mrs. John Hay Whitney

R. B. Kitaj
The Oak Tree
1991 Oil on canvas
60 1/8 x 60 in. (152.7 x 152.4 cm)
Private collection

Sigmar Polke
Two Palm Trees
1964 Artificial resin on fabric
90 x 75 cm
Private collection

Egon Schiele
Autumn Trees
1911 Oil on canvas
79.5 x 80 cm
Private collection

Vincent Van Gogh
Roots and Tree Trunks
June-July 1890 Oil on canvas
50 x 100 cm
Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam

Pissarro, Camille
Pear Trees in Bloom at Eragny, Morning
1886 Oil on canvas
21 x 25 1/4 in (54 x 65 cm)
Isetan Museum, Tokyo

Piet Mondrian
Avond (Evening); Red Tree
1908 Oil on canvas
70 x 99 cm (27 1/2 x 39 in)
Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

Schiele, Egon
Little Tree (Chesnut Tree at Lake Constance)
1912 Watercolor and pencil on paper
18 x 11 5/8 in. (45.8 x 29.5 cm)
Private collection, New York

Paul Gauguin
Blue Trees
1888 Oil on canvas
92 x 73 cm (36 1/4 x 28 3/4 in)
The Ordrupgaard Collection, Copenhagen

Asher Durand
Study from Nature: Rocks and Trees
c. 1836 Oil on canvas
21 1/2 x 17 in (55 x 43 cm)
The New York Historical Society

Gustave Caillebotte
The Garden at Petit Gennevilliers in Winter
c. 1894 Oil on canvas
73 x 60 cm
Private collection

Emily Carr
A Rushing Sea of Undergrowth
1932-35 Oil on canvas
112.8 x 69 cm
Vancouver Art Gallery

Claude Monet
Garden in Bordighera, Impression of Morning
1884 Oil on canvas
25 3/4 x 32 in. (65.5 x 81.5 cm.)
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Peasants Under the Trees at Dawn, Morvan
c. 1840-45 Oil on canvas
10 3/4 x 15 3/4 in.
National Gallery, London

----------------------------------------Just some notes:

***I am busy putting together my Spring 2009 Hearts and Trees Kit. Look for pre-ordering March 19th!

***And if you haven't already checked it out, be sure to look at the Outdoor Hour eBook!

***And I have four Winter Kits left at the discounted price if anyone is interested.

There is a lot of celebrating going on here...

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6633893.html

CPSC has delayed the enforcement of the testing dates for at least one year. So, it looks like Hearts and Trees is back in business! I am going to be getting busy putting together a spring kit! And I am also going to be using all the great ideas you have all shared with me to hopefully expand Hearts and Trees.

So, I will be able to sell the remaining of my winter kits. I will still be offering them at the discounted price, so be sure to check them out if you haven't already.

Thank you for everyone who has left me a kind comment or email during the past month. I am so excited that I will still be able to sell my kits.

Winter Kit Markdown

I only have a few Hearts and Trees Winter 2008 Kits left. I would really like to sell them before the February 9th deadline.

a

I am now offering them 20% off.

Each kit is $9.56 plus shipping.

a

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

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.