April Nature Note

I hope that this April Nature Note finds you well during these challenging times.

If you are new to Exploring Nature with Children, and are joining us for the first time this month, please jump right in. You can begin ENWC at any point in the year, and there’s no better time to get started than the present!

If you began back in 2019, my hope is that you and your child are enjoying your studies, and learning about the natural world around you.

A quote to carry with you this April:

Modern life is busy. Following on from last month’s theme: ‘Adopt the pace of nature’, we can reserve time to slow down, and observe. The world around us has so much for us to learn, if we can but spend a few moments regularly observing.

As always, the weekly themes within Exploring Nature With Children give plenty of prompts for you to follow with your child, but take those themes into your everyday life, don’t just save them up for ‘nature study.’

• Observe the patterns of the buds and leaves, and how they change, in a tree outside your window, or one that you pass on your short, daily walk.
• Lookout for wildflowers starting to bloom, and draw the flowering sequence in your journal.
• Track moon phases.

For those of you who are using Exploring Nature With Children, the weeks fall as follows:

6th ~ 12th Week 1: Spring Tree Study Week 

13th ~ 19th Week 2: Plant Life Cycle Week

20th ~ 26th Week 3 Wildflowers Week

27th ~ 3rd Week 4: Grasses Week  

There’s a free calendar for the year to download here.

As always, please work the weeks to suit your own circumstances best; these are just my own suggestions!

Please keep in mind social distancing, and your own government’s guidelines during these difficult times.

If you’re over on Instagram, do pop over and say hello! The Instagram page is very much about community; think of it as your virtual home school co op! Our community uses the #exploringnaturewithchildren hashtag, & also specific weekly hashtags to enable you to connect with other families working through ENWC this year

Seasonal notes:

April heralds the beginning of the spring months. Special days this April:

• 9th Maundy Thursday
• 10th Good Friday
• 12th Easter Sunday
• 22nd Earth Day
• 23rd St. George’s Day

Here are some super ideas for celebrating Earth Day with children from TinkerLab