The Curriculum Choice

The Nature Game

Aug 012011

Kendra from the blog, Aussie Pumpkin Patch, has developed a fun game that nature lovers everywhere will get excited about! She originally asked me to review this for Shining Dawn Books since our main line is the NaturExplorers series, but I thought it deserved the attention of The Curriculum Choice instead.

The Nature Game comes to you as two PDF flies. On one file, you get directions for creating your own game board and game pieces, as well as directions for play. The other file includes a “starter pack” of game cards, which you will copy from your printer and cut to play. (Kendra has plans to create other themed game card packs in the future, which is why the first set is called the starter pack.)

Now for the fun part…Picture yourself sitting on a blanket under a shade tree in your yard or a local park. You and your children surround the game board with a few nature field guides off to the side. Each person draws a nature card on his turn and is asked to complete a nature task right then and there.

Find and identify two or more birds in three minutes.

Find something bumpy and describe it with your eyes closed.

Find something in nature for each color of the rainbow.

To complete the tasks, you might need to get up and move around or pull out a field guide. Upon successful completion, the nature card tells you how many acorns (beads) to collect. The more you collect, the better your chance of winning in the end! Never fear, though, if you can’t successfully complete a task, there’s no penalty other than not collecting acorns. Otherwise, the play is very friendly and positive – and even cooperative if you like.

There might be a card or two you need to put aside during certain times of the year or in certain nature spots, but there should still be plenty to keep the game rolling. Also, since the cards are very generic, there is no need to be in a particular part of the world or a particular nature setting. As long as there are trees, flowers and active critters (insects, birds, etc.), most of the cards can be used anywhere.

The only stumper I can find to this wonderful game idea is in creating your own game board. Kendra gives you very detailed directions, but the fact still remains that you must make the game board in order to play as directed. I just know some of you creative parents will think of shortcuts if you’d rather not spend the time making a board. (Like playing until the cards run out and only worrying with collecting acorns, for instance. Yeah, I’m kind of creative like that.)

The bottom line: The Nature Game is a very creative way to spend some quality time with your children studying nature!

-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of 3 from Central KY. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers series at Shining Dawn Books.

Nature in Your Pocket

Hands On, Nature Study, Uncategorized No Responses »

Jul 292011

Waterford Press has a tagline that says, “Putting the World in Your Pocket.” With Waterford Press it is amazing just how much of the world you can fit into your pocket. You can store information about animal tracks, the cosmos, plants, wildlife and more right in your back pocket. These naturalist pocket guides are durable, easy to read, colorful, and fun for children or anyone who appreciates nature. In addition to nature guides, you can have a hands on guide to first aid, wilderness survival, knots, and state flags and facts. I cannot even begin to give you the entire list of amazing pocket guides, please visit the site. I am certain you will find a guide that suits you!

I had the opportunity to review three naturalist guides from Waterford Press; Animal Tracks, The Night Sky and Bugs and Slugs. I was pleased when I opened my package of pocket naturalist guides. Moreover, my children were pleased.

What we liked:

The guide is laminated which makes is durable. Durable enough for a two year old to grab it out of her sister’s hands and run around the house before dragging it alone before getting caught.

The size! The guide is 8.25″ H x 3.5″ W. It is small enough to bring it with you on nature walks or where ever you go yet big enough to find. The ability to find an object in a house with four kids, including one stealth mode toddler thief, is essential.

The amount of information provided in the guides. The guide is not simply pictures with a few words on each animal, bug or object. It provides a nice balance of enough information to understand and appreciate the topic yet not so much that my five year old or my 11 year old got that glazed look in their eye. It also had enough information to peak an interest yet not leave you with too many questions.

The Night Sky guide has a star chart that glows in the dark!

What we didn’t like:

Animal tracks had a picture of an opossum. I dislike opossums. So, that is a bit unfair, right?

My toddler and my Kindergartner fight over the Animal Tracks guide. Not sure how I can blame that on Waterford Press though.

Honestly, we couldn’t find anything wrong with the guides. In fact, I am looking forward to more of their products coming out in the spring. They will soon offer My First Nature Activity Books and Children Nature Activity Books which really appeal to me and my kids.

Pictured below is an activity I used the Animal Track guide for with my Kindergartener. I happened to have animal track molds from a previous activity. So, I rolled out Play Doh and imprinted the tracks. I then had my daughter use the guide to identify the tracks. She had a great time doing this activity. She even made her own tracks using the guide and a few Play Doh tools.

Richele is an eclectic homeschooling mom to four reflections of God’s love whose greatest accomplishment thus far was teaching physics, folding laundry, and playing Candyland simultaneously. Find her blogging at Under the Golden Apple Tree.

Science on a Tracking Expedition from the Young Scientists Club

Elementary, Hands On, Middle School, Nature Study, Science, Unit study resources 3 Responses »

Dec 132010

One of the issues I’ve struggled with over my years of homeschooling is the desire to do hands-on science projects with my children and the time/effort/inconvenience needed to gather all of the materials to do so. While I adore doing hands-on projects with my children, I do not enjoy gathering up all of the needed materials, running out at the last minute to purchase that one thing I thought I had but I actually don’t, and realizing that I can’t do the desired project because I just can’t find or purchase a required object. Therefore, all in one hands-on kits have always greatly appealed to me!

Given my love of the convenience of hands-on, educational kits, I was thrilled when I was contacted by a representative from The Young Scientists Club to review one of their new kits. I chose Science on a Tracking Expedition from their Nature Series. Science on a Tracking Expedition is geared for children ages 4 and up. I am using it with my 9 and 12 year old sons, and I also plan to include my 14 year old daughter in some of the activities as well. Most of the materials in the kit can be used multiple times, making it quite practical for more than one child to use at once. As well, the materials that may need to be replaced with multiple users (dirt, plaster of paris, paints, and plastic bowls) are quite easy to gather or purchase.

The primary focus of this hands-on kit is on learning to identify and appreciate animal tracks. Children (and adults) learn to identify many different animal tracks such as Black Bear, Great Blue Heron, Gray Wolf, Raccoon, Opossum, Wild Turkey, Whitetailed Deer, and Striped Skunk. Utilizing the materials included in this kit, children learn about animals tracks through a wide variety of hands-on activities. The very clear instruction manual included has directions for the adult and also has directions written directly to the child. Hands-on activities include:

Making animal track prints using the plastic animal track molds
Matching the animal tracks to the animals using stickers and a big poster perfect for a child’s room or schoolroom
Writing a short story based on the arrangement of animal tracks at the bottom of the poster
Making animal casts using the materials provided
Making animal casts from real tracks found on a nature hike
Attracting animals to a specific area of one’s yard and identifying the animal tracks
Playing a matching memory game in which animal tracks are matched to the animal

While there is definitely enough educational material included to spend at least a week of science lessons exploring the activities, this kit could easily be the beginning of a unit study about animal tracks. Additional books, videos, or field trips could be added to learn more about the featured animal tracks.

If you would like to learn more about Science on a Tracking Expedition or other educational science kits, you can visit The Young Scientists Club website to learn more about the wide variety of products they offer. Science on a Tracking Expedition is available for purchase at The Young Scientists Club website for $29.99.

Samantha has homeschooled her three children since her oldest child was in first grade. She uses a wide variety of curriculum in her homeschool to best meet the needs of her children. Samantha writes about homeschooling and family life at To Be Busy At Home. Samantha received the Science on a Tracking Expedition kit free in exchange for her review of the product. No other compensation, monetary or otherwise was given for her review.

Constant Conifers – NaturExplorers Review

Charlotte Mason, Elementary, Mom Helps, Nature Study, Preschool, Science, Unit study resources 1 Response »

Nov 012010

Nature study is something my family has only been doing for a few months now. When I began looking for something to hold my hand as we jumped into the nature study waters I came across the NaturExplorers series by Shining Dawn Books. These downloadable unit studies were just what I needed. I received Constant Conifers ($12.00) for my family to review.

Packed into each unit I found:

Inspiration to get me enthusiastic about the topic, and literature suggestions I used at my library.
Basic information for the topic in one place so I could just read and go if I wanted to skip the library.
Lots of out in nature ideas – the gold mine I was looking for! I had pages upon pages of ways we could explore our topic in the outdoors. Each day we went out I knew I was ready to help guide my children to learn a little bit more than they had the last time we were outside.
Writing and research ideas to bring our learning back inside.
References for Bible study, artist study, composer study and poetry tie-ins, with internet links.
Notebooking pages to print and use with many of the activity ideas.

During our study of conifers we learned so much about these ‘cone-bearers’. We chose one special conifer by our backyard fence to explore in detail and compare with a maple tree in our yard. It really helped to be able to touch and see the trees close up when we were learning about cones, sap, bark, needles/leaves, and more. We spent one day watching for creatures in and around our conifer, another looking at cones in wet weather versus dry, measuring, drawing, and even smelling our tree. You can see a sample of Constant Conifers on this page. The units are written for elementary ages, with ideas for using it with both younger and older students. All my children were able to learn together with Constant Conifers!

I have plans to pull Constant Conifers back out in mid-winter and see what new observations we can make about our special tree in a new season. There were so many great nature study ideas that we could not get to them all the first time around. I also have my eye on several more of the NaturExplorer units, including Snow and Ice. I know my kids would have a blast with that one during the winter blahs around February or March!

Written by Tristan, mom to 5 going on 6 children, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks. You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool, or read her other Curriculum Choice posts here.

{Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Constant Conifers when I approached Shining Dawn Books about doing a review. I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

Your Backyard Birding DVD

Nature Study, Science 1 Response »

Oct 082010

Have you ever wanted to identify the bird that likes to perch right outside your kitchen window? Or better yet, to be able to say, “here comes our cardinal, he’s announcing his approach to the feeder,” just by hearing his call?

Our family’s love of birds has developed over the years. We’ve enjoyed studying and watching birds as well as creating a bird habitat in our own backyard. The Bird Song books have been a welcome addition to our learning as well. And now, we are blessed with Your Backyard from Crowe’s Nest Media.

Description

This newly released DVD is produced by a family for families. We couldn’t wait to get our copy and hold a family viewing. A DVD “designed to glorify God the magnificent maker of birds.”

Hosted by siblings Taylor, Samuel and Grace. Taylor says,”Even if you can’t see the birds you can hear them all around – that’s what we hope to teach you today. To identify by sight and sound, some of the most common feeder birds.”

Professionally presented with gorgeous digital photography, the narration includes a wonderful bit of wit.

Animated Owl Professor Solomon offers even more information on each bird. (The animation was designed by Taylor and Samuel Crowe)

This DVD includes video and calls of the 18 common feeder birds. A graphic of each bird’s range is presented. Detailed information on birds is broken down into color categories. For example, birds of blue and gray coloring, brown coloring, etc.

When birds of blue or gray coloring are introduced, Taylor says, “just look at many of the bright shades of blue God gave the blue jay.” Animated Professor Solomon then flies to his branch and explains that “God designed the blue jay with special intelligence – alerting other feeder birds to danger.” The description of the blue jay is followed by the jay’s call. Repeated several times. Noisy, “Jay-Jay” sound plus the jay’s gurgle sounding call.

Special Features:

Who is John James Audubon? Explains Audubon’s younger life and background as well as his travels around the United States collecting data on birds.
Mr. Ralph Bell, 95 years young birding expert adds his expertise. “There was a king bird there. Did you hear that king bird?” Bird watchers come far and wide for the annual Ralph Bell bird walk. Viewers get to peek in his birding journals and watch him band birds (info he sends to the US Geological Survey) Samuel encourages, saying anytime you get to spend time with someone with birding knowledge like Mr. Bell, do it. It’s amazing what all you will learn!
Tips on attracting birds with different types of seed, feeders
Birdwatching – what it is all about, using binoculars

“God the maker designed the song sparrow to sing more than 20 tunes.” ~ Professor Solomon

Bonus Features:

Bird Range Map Legend
Professor Solomon’s Bird Quiz (eight-year-old only missed one!)
Bird images and vocalizations
Birds set to “Amazing Grace” (which we often turn on in early morning hours for two-year-old)
Making Homemade Bird Suet
Constructing a Suet Feeder

More info:

Barb-Harmony Art Mom reviewed this resource as well in her post Birding DVD Review
Enjoy this preview of Crowe’s Nest Media’s Your Backyard.

Ordering information Crowe’s Nest Media. The family is currently working on an accompanying coloring book.

Watch, listen, learn. Then head outside to your backyard!

-Tricia homeschools five children from preschool to middle school, mixing up a classical and Charlotte Mason style. You can find her facing that daily dose of chaos at Hodgepodge and sharing habits at Habits for a Happy Home.

NaturExplorers

Charlotte Mason, Classical, Elementary, Hands On, Middle School, Nature Study, Science, Unit study resources 3 Responses »

Aug 092010

Nature study can be so rewarding and memorable for our kids, but sometimes getting the motivation to go outside and go on nature walks can be tough. Especially when the weather is cold and there’s lots to do inside the house. For me, I felt like I wanted to do fun nature walks, but had no direction. And for this list-making, plan-it-out kind of mama, I needed more direction. So, when I found NaturExplorers over at Shining Dawn Books, I was very pleased.

The books are written by two nature-loving homeschool moms, Cindy West and Melissa Leach. Their love of nature drips from the pages of these wonderful nature guides. Each book focuses on a different area of nature, such as:

~Fruits and Nuts
~Spiders
~Birds
~Rain
~Snow and Ice
~Butterflies
~Fungus
~Rocks
~More! (there are 19 books in the series)

What I love about these books is the flexibility and the many, many options and ideas they provide. They are absolutely full to the brim with information and ideas. Not only does each book include tons of information on the subject it’s based on, but it includes ideas of how to incorporate many different areas of your homeschool right into nature study.
Areas like:

Artist Study
Composer Study
Art
Bible
Poetry

For example, when my kids and I were studying from the Fruits and Nutsbook, one suggested activity was to study the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians and gave great ideas of how to do so. What a fabulous way to bring nature study inside and keep right on learning!

In our homeschool, we study one area of nature for about a month or two. So, when we go on a nature walk we know what to look out for. We read some background info that each book provides along with some of the additional reading they suggest, and away we go. You can use these as the spine to an in-depth unit study or you can definitely pull them right off the shelf and use these books as guides as you go on your walks. Their notebooking pages and many suggestions make it possible for any homeschool mom to use them, no matter what your teaching style.

We have enjoyed making Nut Dye, coloring in the snow, inspecting snowflakes, and gathering samples of coniferous trees. NaturExplorers have been so helpful in our nature study. I now feel like I can look through these, get ideas and have a plan before we go on a nature walk. You can visit the website at Shining Dawn Books where you can read their nature blog or ask them questions. They are great about giving advice and answering questions.

If you don’t want to just take my word that these are wonderful books, you can read Shannon’s review by clicking here. I have to say that my very favorite part about NaturExplorers is they inspire me to explore God’s awesome creation! I hope you are encouraged to go out and do some exploring yourself!

Alicia is a homeschool mom of 3 nature-loving kids and can be found blogging at La Famille.