Category: Uncategorized

This week in Exploring Nature With Children is ‘Plant Life-Cycle Week’.

Here are some links to help with your studies:

• BBC Plant Life Cycles
• Attracting Pollinating Bees
• How to draw plants: A series by John Muir Laws
• Come Outside: Bulbs
• Bill Nye the Science Guy: Plants

Exploring Nature With Children is an open and go curriculum. To make it even easier, I have created a free calendar for you to download.

Happy exploring!

This week in Exploring Nature With Children is ‘Spring Tree Study Week’.

Here are some helpful links to help with your studies:

• Identifying your tree: UK
• Identifying your tree: US
• How do trees know when it is spring?
• Claire Walker Leslie’s Guide To Drawing Trees
• Come Outside : : Wood

Exploring Nature With Children is an open and go curriculum. To make it even easier, I have created a free calendar for you to download.

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 the ENWC curriculum. This week’s hashtag will be: #ENWCspringtreeweek

Happy exploring!

I hope that this April Nature Note finds you & your loved ones well.

If you are new here, and to Exploring Nature with Children, I’m thrilled that you’re joining us! If you subscribe to the blog posts on the website, You’ll receive the monthly Nature Note, which will give you an overview of the month ahead, and also the weekly Exploring Nature with Children theme posts, which I hope will be helpful to you in your studies.

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

5th ~ 11th Week 1 Spring Tree Study Week #ENWCspringtreeweek

12th ~ 18th Week 2: Plant Life Cycle Week #ENWCplantlifecycleweek

19th ~ 25th Week 3: Wildflower Week #ENWCwildflowerweek

26th ~ 2nd Week 4: Grasses Week #ENWCgrassesweek

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 { see above } to enable you to connect with other families working through the ENWC curriculum.

There’s a free ENWC 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! 

Seasonal notes:

April brings the primrose sweet, 
Scatters daises at our feet. 

~ The Months by Sara Coleridge

Special days this March:

• 1st: April fools’ Day
• 2nd: Good Friday
• 4th Easter Sunday
• 8th Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Day (begins on the evening of the 7th)
• 13th First day of Ramadan (begins at the sighting of the new moon on the evening of the 12th)
• 22nd Earth Day
• 23rd Saint George’s Day

Happy exploring!

Next week is a break week in Exploring Nature With Children. 

To keep up your nature study momentum, spend a little time discussing the changes that have been happening in your own special nature spot. Talk about the topics that they’ve recently been learning about: 
• What do they remember about how & where birds build their nests?
• How do we tell apart frogs and toads?
• Tell what they know about the Vernal Equinox.

Do keep in mind these wise words from Miss Mason’s book: School Education:
We have all been in the case of the little girl who said, “Mother, I think I could understand if you did not explain quite so much.”

Here are some links for an extra little break week fun:

Kid’s Nature Activities to Do at Home

20 Science & Nature Questions

Exploring Nature With Children is an open and go curriculum. To make it even easier, I have created a free calendar for you to download.

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 the ENWC curriculum. This week’s hashtag will be: #ENWCbreakweek 

Happy exploring!

It’s almost Garden Snails Week in Exploring Nature With Children .

Here are some links to inspire you this week:

• The Garden Snail
• Caring for Garden snails
• Come Outside: Snails
• How to draw a snail

Exploring Nature with Children is an open and go curriculum. To make it even easier, I have created a free calendar for you to download.

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 the ENWC curriculum. This week’s hashtag will be: #ENWCgardensnailweek

Happy exploring!

It’s almost Vernal Equinox Week in Exploring Nature With Children! The equinox itself falls on Saturday the 20th of March this year.

Here are some links to inspire you this week:

• Autumn Equinox explained (video) This is a really smashing explanation for the equinoxes, and is equally applicable to the vernal equinox.
• Nature Journaling: John Muir Laws & the art of slowing down, sitting still, and paying attention.
• Spring Picnic Recipes
• How to sow wild flower seeds

Exploring Nature with Children is an open and go curriculum. To make it even easier, I have created a free calendar for you to download.

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 the ENWC curriculum. This week’s hashtag will be: #ENWCvernalequinoxweek

Happy exploring!

It’s Spring Pond Study Week in Exploring Nature With Children 

The natural world is waking after its long winter sleep and you will begin to see much activity at your local pond. Here are some links to inspire you this week:

• Spring Pond Dip. A snapshot of life in a back garden pond.
• How to draw frogs and toads : John Muir Laws
• Drawing reptile and amphibian eyes : John Muir Laws
• Frog spawn time lapse video
• The life cycle of a frog: video
• Frog applying ‘sun cream’: BBC Documentary

Exploring Nature with Children is an open and go curriculum. To make it even easier, I have created a free calendar for you to download.

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 the ENWC curriculum. This week’s hashtag will be: #ENWCspringpondweek

Happy exploring!

I hope that this March Nature Note finds you & your loved ones well.

If you are new here, and to Exploring Nature with Children, I’m thrilled that you’re joining us! If you subscribe to the blog posts on the website, You’ll receive the monthly Nature Note, which will give you an overview of the month ahead, and also the weekly Exploring Nature with Children theme posts, which I hope will be helpful to you in your studies.

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

1st ~ 7th Week 1 Nesting Birds Week  #ENWCnestingbirdsweek

8th ~ 14th Week 2: Spring Pond Study Week #ENWCspringpondweek

15th ~ 21st Week 3: Vernal Equinox Week {The equinox falls on Saturday the 20th } #ENWCvernalequinoxweek

22nd ~ 28th Week 4: Garden Snails Week  #ENWCgardensnailweek

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 { see above } to enable you to connect with other families working through the ENWC curriculum.

There’s a free ENWC 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! 

Seasonal notes:

March brings breezes loud and shrill, 
stirs the dancing daffodil. 

~ The Months by Sara Coleridge

Special days this March:

• 1st: St. David’s Day
• 7th Third Sunday of Lent
• 14th Fourth Sunday of Lent
• 17th St. Patrick’s Day
• 20th Vernal Equinox
• 21st Fifth Sunday of Lent
• 28th Palm Sunday & British Summer Time begins

Happy exploring!

It’s almost Nesting Birds Week in Exploring Nature With Children! 

Here are some links to inspire you this week:

• How Birds Camouflage Their Nests – BBC video
• How to Draw Birds – John Muir Laws
• The 16 Most Amazing Nests Built by Birds
• Make Like a Bird and Nest!

Exploring Nature with Children is an open and go curriculum. To make it even easier, I have created a free calendar for you to download.

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 the ENWC curriculum. This week’s hashtag will be: #ENWCnestingbirdsweek

Happy exploring!

It’s almost Field Trip Week in Exploring Nature With Children! This week is all about choosing a new place to go for your nature walk; either an entirely new place to you and your child, or somewhere you very rarely visit. Here’s a list of free virtual field trips for your child to enjoy without having to leave home at all:

• The British Museum: The Museum of the World – Not a virtual field trip, but an incredible resource!

• The Natural History Museum: “Can’t get out far to explore nature? On this page you’ll find activities and ideas to occupy yourself and family at home, in your garden or local outdoor space.”

• Beamish Museum: an open air museum in North East England  that brings the region’s history alive.

• Museum of Science: A variety of daily live stream & webinar content.

• Smithsonian: Virtual tours of exhibits & distance learning webinars & activities for all ages.

• The American Egg Board: Egg farm field trips.

• Bright Farms: An interactive tour designed to teach kids, parents and teachers about indoor farming.

• FarmFood 360: Canadian farm & food tours.

• Mount Rushmore: Take a virtual tour of the “Majestic figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, surrounded by the beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota”

• World National Parks 360 Tour

• Atlanta Zoo Panda Cam.

• Bronx Zoo: Virtual Zoo

• Chester Zoo: “From AMAZING aardvarks, an elephant POOL PARTY and fantastic fossa!”

• Houston Zoo: “enjoy a live look at animals that call the Houston Zoo home! See the herd of Asian elephants wander through their enormous habitat. Watch as giraffes nibble lettuce fed to them by guests at the feeding platform; you could join them on your next visit. See the rhinos roll in their mud puddle or the flamingos float next to a waterfall. See the chimpanzees interact with guests at their window or snooze in a hammock.”

• Reid Park Zoo: Zoo Cams

• San Diego Zoo: “Live cams and videos of your favourite animals”

• Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary: Koala cams

• The Donkey Sanctuary: Webcams of the English donkey sanctuary

• Monterey Bay Aquarium: “Be delighted by the antics of our sea otters or mellow out to the hypnotic drifting of our jellies. Experience the wonder of the ocean no matter where you are.”

• National Aquarium

• Kew Gardens: Virtual tours of Kew in London

• Virtual Gardens tours: 9 incredible gardens around the world, including Monet’s gardens in Giverny

• Virtual tours of beaches around the world

• Wookey Hole virtual tour: Take the virtual tour of the caves and still feel the sense of awe and wonder. 

Exploring Nature with Children is an open and go curriculum. To make it even easier, I have created a free calendar for you to download.

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 the ENWC curriculum. This week’s hashtag will be:  #ENWCfieldtripweek

Happy exploring!