A Nature-Themed Advent Calendar

Nature Advent Calendar.jpg

I am really excited to share with you today an upcoming series that will be starting soon right here on Raising Little Shoots: A nature-themed advent calendar!

Beginning on December 1st, through to December 24th, each day there will be a new post; an unfolding of the Christmas Story in scripture, and an activity for the day. The activities will be mostly nature-based, with a few special Christmas activities here and there, to add a little Christmas magic.

Please use the share buttons, and be sure to subscribe to the blog so as not to miss a day!

Christmas Gift Ideas For Nature Loving Children

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We are fast approaching Christmas, and any parent who values their sanity, looks to buy gifts that will last long after the holiday season, rather than requiring a new set of batteries every few weeks!

To help make gift giving that little bit easier, here is a list of wonderful presents that will delight your nature-loving child.

Binoculars and Birdwatching Book

RSPB children's binoculars blue

A smashing combination that will have your child out of doors over the Christmas holiday, instead of cooped up indoors. Add a small notebook and pencil if your child is writing and they can record all the birds they see.

Bug Hotel and Bug Barn

 Gardenon Natural Insect Hotel Bee Bug House Hotel

A great way to teach respect for living creatures, whilst allowing your child to explore and observe them.

Parts Of a Flower Puzzle

Outlet Parts of a flower puzzle

A beautiful wooden puzzle, perfect for small hands that need to be busy on bad-weather days.

A Nature Magazine Subscription

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Eco Kids is a high quality nature and wildlife magazine for children aged 7-11

Flower Press and Wild Flower Guide

 Legler Flower Press Playground Equipment

More useful in Spring and Summer, but your child will be able to make some beautiful pressings of evergreens over the Winter holiday.

Indoor Bulbs for Winter ForcingNarcissus 'Sacred Lily' (indoor flowering) - 5 per pack

Enjoy the beauty and fragrance of flowers during the dreary, cold months by giving your child build suitable for forcing indoors during winter time.

Singing Soft Toys

RSPB singing robin soft toy

These soft toy birds with their authentic bird calls were a real hit with my children when they were younger!

Nature’s Collection 1000 Piece Jigsaw

RSPB Nature's collection 1,000 piece jigsaw

A smashing jigsaw for older children featuring some lovely nature photography. Perfect for cosy afternoons at home after a brisk morning walk.

GoPro Camera

 GoPro HERO Camera - English-French

A more expensive option, but this would make a smashing family gift! Fantastic for filming local wildlife, and will film underwater, too.

Gardening tools and gift voucher
Small Foot Company 1710 Garden Tool Bag

Get your child all fired up for spring, with their own gardening tools. A gift voucher for a local garden centre will allow them a morning choosing their very own packets of seeds; there are some types of flowers and vegetables that are particularly easy to grow & interesting for young children.

America’s National Parks – A Pop Up Book

For my American friends, or those who love America, this is a smashing book that brings the parks of America to life, whilst raising funds for their upkeep.

Finally, consider my book Exploring Nature With Children, as a gift for the whole family.

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A complete, year-long curriculum designed to guide you, step by step, through an entire calendar year of nature study. Completely self-contained, this book has all the information you need to make nature study happen regularly for your family.

As an early Christmas present to my readers, enjoy a 30% discount by using coupon code CHRISTMAS15 which is valid until December 25th.

Week 14 ~ Advent School

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Not many photographs this week as the photographer has been very poorly!

We have continued with basics; both girls continuing with their daily maths, Rose is steadily working through her English From The Roots Up flash cards and Elianna is learning to sing ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ in Latin.

We have played math wars, read lots of Christmas books & made Christmas cards. We also had fun with some Christmas science activities.

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We have also enjoyed picture study using ‘The First Christmas’ As described on Amazon:

“The story of the first Christmas long ago is captured here in all its mystery by some of the world’s greatest painters. The beauty of the familiar words of the King James Version of the Bible weaves the glorious images together to create a new work of art: a Christmas story that will be treasured by readers young and old.”

My friend has kindly taken my girls to our local home ed group Christmas party today, I was too poorly to go, so I am hoping to make a full recovery over the weekend then we can crack on with gift making next week.

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

Advent Calendar Type books:

The Animals Advent

A Book Of Christmas

Advent Storybook

Other books:

A Christmas Carol

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Horrible Histories: Horrible Christmas

Lots & LOTS of Christmas stories & picture books.

Poetry:

The Puffin Book Of Christmas Poems

Art:

The First Christmas

Happy Weekend!

Week Four

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The week began beautifully with the scent of Autumn in the air! Tuesday was the Autumnal Equinox and the nights have begun to draw in..

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But back to Monday…Monday saw our Pond study. It was a glorious afternoon, sunny & warm. We had been at the pond a little while, then suddenly a duck came scuttering out of the reeds, clearly in distress. Its head was bobbing under the water, then its whole body would follow. It was a very sad sight to see. Ellie quickly pulled of her boots & tights & waded in with a net & brought the poor fellow out.

Rescuing The Duck
Rescuing The Duck

He was in a poor state; a small wound to his neck, his head he could not hold up, and he was exhausted.

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We made him as comfortable as we could in Rosie’s jacket & drove to our local vet.

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The vet confirmed my fears. His neck was broken & he was put to sleep. We were all very upset. He was one of the baby Mallards. This would have been his first winter.

Rest in peace Jonathan Puddleduck

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Ellie Working in Her Latin Sticker Book
Ellie Working in Her Latin Sticker Book

In happier home education news, Ellie took a break from her regular Latin book & worked in her Latin Words Sticker Book. She has made flash cards for the new words, so we can practice those with the rest of our memory work.

Can You See The Square Numbers Model?
Can You See The Square Numbers Model?

As we have been memorising square numbers, I got the girls to make a model with cuisenaire rods of the square numbers to 10. I have to confess that until recently, I did not know why square numbers were called square…

More Cuisenaire Rods
More Cuisenaire Rods
Rsoie Working On 'Hunca Munca'
Rsoie Working On ‘Hunca Munca’

Rosie has done quite a lot of watercolour this week. We had a good play with our palettes, seeing what different colours we could create.

Hunca Munca
Hunca Munca by Rose
Poppies by Rose
Poppies by Rose

I have decided to change up how we are studying science, so after a little research I have decided to go with the Building Foundations Of Scientific Understanding Series. I have purchased the first two books, but at the author’s recommendation, we will be starting with book one (even thought this is for K-2!) It is very parent intensive from what I understand, so I am looking forward to spending the weekend reading through the introduction & planning out the first ‘thread’ of the book that we will be following.

We have begun a demonstration from Cool Chemistry Concoctions ~ hopefully making stalactites & stalagmites!

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The girls also painted their batiks that we began last week. Once they are dry, we can wash out the glue.

Aslan by Rose
Aslan by Rose
The White Witch's Sleigh
The White Witch’s Sleigh by Ellie

Some of the books we have been reading this week:

The Tales of Beatrix Potter

The Water Babies

The World of Columbus & His Sons

By Pond & River

Twilight Child

Age of Fable

The Story Of The Romans

D’Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths

Various comic books

Lots & lots of poetry ~ focusing on Beatrix Potter & Walter de la Mare.

Rose is really taken with Beatrix Potter’s Tales right now. She has been playing with our old dolls house in the attic since re-reading The Tale Of Two Bad Mice. She has a little stuffed mouse that has become ‘Tom Thumb’ so I picked up my knitting needles & got cracking on knitting a Hunca Munca for her. Hopefully she will be done this weekend!

We are off to our home ed group meet up this afternoon to spend time with friends….

Happy Weekend!