Learning in Nature with Kids

August 18, 2016 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

There are many times in the year when you just don’t want to take your kids outside, whether as a parent or a teacher. It’s too hot or cold or rainy or whatever and you’d rather not bother, right?

It’s important to resist that urge to stay inside at least sometimes because there are important things to learn and ways to explore no matter what the weather. As long as you gear up properly and don’t stay out too long, there are always adventures that can be had outdoors, and kids usually love getting to go outside even on days when the weather isn’t ideal.

So what to do out there? Of course just going on nature walks and exploring the world is a great place to start.

You can make sun prints like these on Weller Mama Blog (which has lots of great ideas for learning with nature, too). Check out 50 Ways to Explore Nature in Your Backyard and other backyard nature ideas from Go Explore Nature.

For a few from my own site: build a fairy garden, or a butterfly garden, go on a nature scavenger hunt, paint with leaves, paint on or with shells.

Here are some more ideas from the California Department of Parks and Recreation, or if you really want to get into it you can buy an ebook all about exploring nature with children, which includes a yearlong curriculum (I’m not an affiliate or anything, I just came across it and it looks interesting).

What are your favorite outdoor activities for when the weather isn’t great? I’d love to hear your ideas.

[Photo via Go Explore Nature.]

Do you know a little gardener? Check out these DIY Garden Kits, perfect for gift giving.

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Shark Week Learning for Kids

Shark Week generally happens in July, but any time is a good time to learn more about sharks.

First, start with some fun whale facts like these from Kids Craft Room. Here I learned about the dwarf lantern shark, which is the smallest shark and only grows to about 6-8 inches (about 15-20 cm) long. It also emits light. How cool is that?

Natural Beach Living has some great printable shark information guides, where kids can learn about different kinds of sharks, match the facts to the pictures, or print out doubles and do a shark memory game.

Living Life an Learning has some great shark activity pages including the parts of a shark, types of sharks, a crossword puzzle and more. Also check out their parts of a shark and word scramble download, and a life cycle worksheet.

Learn about how sharks float with this great activity from JDaniel4’s Mom.

Need more facts about sharks? This fact pact from The WOLFe PACK on Teacher Pay Teachers includes fact sheets, a printable flip book, informational text, vocabulary, comprehension questions and more.

Living Montessori Now has a great collection of shark themed activities with a Montessori inspired twist. You’ll find a shark roll and cover, shark phonics and lots more shark activities Deb has collected from all over the Internet.

Remember the “Sharknado” movie? A Few Shortcuts turned the combination of sharks and tornadoes into a fun science activity. You’ll need a bottle connector for this project but otherwise should have everything you need on hand. Use their template to make your sharks out of aluminum foil. So fun!

You can also do some shark themed coloring with these coloring pages from Encouraging Moms at Home. Or make a cool 3D shark with this template from korkotak. And there are tons of different shark crafts collected in this post from Kids Activities Blog.

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