Friday, February 24, 2012

Spring is coming!



Spring is coming!!! I can feel it! I am ready to get my kiddos outside and start observing nature and all the miracles that come with Spring!! Here is some ideas for you and your family!
 
Nature journaling ! We have started with just regular, cheap composition notebooks and we are filling them up fast! Don't forget to have watercolors, markers and more so that the kids can really draw what they see! There are so many neat websites available out there for us to take advantage of when it comes to observing and learning about nature. This is not something that just homeschoolers should do! Every family should take time to observe and be thankful for the things that our Heavenly Father has created!!

Here is a neat list of some of the fun websites to visit. I would love to hear more about ways your family observes and loves nature.. leave a comment!

The first website listed really tells more about actual nature journaling. What a neat thing to be able to save for your children! They will love to look back at this and it will look beautiful in your family library! Here is the link:
HOMEMADE LIVING

The National Wildlife Federation has the neatest things for families to do! Backyard Habitat Certification ( we are sooo going for that this year!!!), Nature watches that you can put online so everyone can see, activities to get outside and get green!
Plus it is a great resource for learning about all the things you will be seeing in nature!
Here is the Link:
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION

This is the neatest website! This person has a very small backyard, but it is FULL of wildlife!! They also teach you how to make nature journals! The pictures are amazing!!!
Here is the link:
CONNECTING WITH NATURE

This site has really neat live streaming cameras and more!!!
Here is the link:
AUDOBON

This site has lots of ways to help your kids explore nature and really great deals on planting more trees in your area!!!!!
Here is the link:
ARBOR DAY

This site has a really neat tool kit for parents to use for helping their kids connect with nature!
Here is the link:
CHILDREN AND NATURE

Really neat website about nature journaling for kids :)
Here is the link:
PENNY GARDNER

I hope these websites are useful to you... I have had so much fun going through them and finding great ideas for helping my kids to love nature!!!

Happy Parenting ! Love, JL~

2 comments:

Jessica Taylor said...

Hi JL, I wanted to make sure you know about a really great parenting resource that's available. There's a group of seasoned parents over at http://cairnparenting.org who have all raised great kids and are answering a question each week about a detailed aspect of parenting. It's been awesome to see their combined insights (they answer independent of each other.)

If you find it helpful, help others know about it too.

jl said...

Thanks Jessica! I will defintely check it out! I love anything to do with parenting! :) Love, JL~