~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
{pretty}
I brought my camera along on our nature walk yesterday. This is one of our favorite local little trails — it's a pretty sort of wilderness, but the paths are flat and wide enough for strollers and uncertain walkers. It's also shady, which is rather unusual around here, but very welcome on hot days (we headed out while the morning was still cool, but even so, it was 91 by the time we got home for lunch).
Nora napped in the stroller while we explored gathering up some interesting leaves and branches, looking up a few trees in our field guide (we have several at home, but bring this dichotomous key along with us because it's small enough to pop in your pocket, but smart enough to actually help you identify trees), and even spotting a few fawns along the way.
One of our homeschooling goals this year is to make a habit of these walks, and record our observations. Pippo and I each have our own little nature journal, which we enjoyed making our first entries in together last week. (That's right, this was our second official nature walk of the year. We have done this a total of one (1) time so far, but are excited and enthusiastic beginning nature journalers. If you are nature journaling pros, please feel free to leave us your wisdom and/or links in the comments!)
(I forgot a blanket for her to sit on, which meant I was pulling a lot of leaves out of her mouth — the mouth-sweeping stage of babyhood.)
{happy}
This particular nature walk has the added bonus of a little playground at the end of one of the paths (jackpot!), though said path was so overgrown that we couldn't actually get through this time. We had to go back and drive there instead, which was much less nature walk-y.
Eleanor graduated this week from mere observer playground status to playground level: baby swing. She's totally pumped.
{funny, real}
Molly (whose outfit was slightly less ridiculous when we got her dressed in the morning, but whose post-breakfast mess left us with this fabulously two-year-old ensemble) devoted the first half of the nature walk to gathering rocks, which she started collecting in her skirt pocket.
(I made that skirt during some stashbusting crafting I did while pregnant with Nora from this free pattern from the Purl Bee.)
It didn't seem to bother her too much that her rock collecting was causing something of a wardrobe malfunction, but eventually she did succumb to practicality and agree to throw them all off the next bridge.
Do you do nature journaling with your kids?
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Annie says
I love journaling our nature walks. The kids, not so much. They think they’re outgrowing the wandering, stick banging and rock collecting. If I catch them at the right moment and we go, it’s easy to prove they haven’t outgrown anything. :). Blessings!
Annie says
P.S. The skirt with pockets is genius.
mary says
We love nature walks and sometimes we get the journals out. I wish we did more because the journals are such treasures of their work and art and memories.
Your littles are precious!
Katie says
Oh boy, a recommendation for a field guide. That couldn’t be more timely! We’ve gotten interested in tree-ID-ing lately, but the internet is a bit of a wonky tool for the task (despite its vastness and searchability), and it turns our bursts of enthusiasm into haphazard rabbit holes that tend to peter out at least as often as they yield an answer. I hadn’t known where to start when considering a book purchase. What other field guides do you or others recommend?
Rosie says
We also have this big one, which covers trees, wildflowers, birds, animals, insects… everything!
There’s a few others in the same series as that little tree book I linked to above (the tree book is for east of the Rockies, fyi) that look good, but we do have the bird one and find it not nearly as useful as the tree one because color is so much more important! For birds, we rely a lot on this Birds of Oklahoma Field Guide. Obviously that particular one probably wouldn’t be useful to you, but what we love about it is that it only covers the birds we’re likely to see, it has nice big, clear photos of each bird, and it’s organized by color, which makes it easy to use. So maybe there are similar ones for your area?
Katie says
Thanks, Rosie. I’ve poked around on Amazon and that series of little books seems great. I like the idea of their “winter tree finder,” too, because indeed, there’s lots to notice about trees besides leaves, and anyway the leaves are not available year-round!
We have a great bird book for our local area– in fact it was the featured goodie in my 2-year-old’s Easter basket this year, go figure. =) Sonewhere out there is a woman named Karen whose subscription to Birds and Blooms magazine got mis-addressed to our house. The toddler was TOTALLY entranced, and as the issues kept inexplicably showing up, she soon knew how to recognize more bird photos at two than I could have at twenty! So we searched out a good bird guide last spring. It’s one of the only books that I don’t insist on reshelving, because that way we’re all more likely to consult it. Just last week we spotted a heron and a hawk in our own yard!
Katie says
Also for birds– there’s a ton of great information at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, and they have an app called Merlin that helps identify birds and offers lots of details too. It turned out that the local-area book with photos was perfectly sufficient for toddler and me, but the Cornell resources might appeal to a more advanced kiddo (or adult!).
Laura says
Oh I love this! We went for a “nature walk” yesterday around the neighborhood and I laughed at the things my boys got excited over… Fire hydrants, fertilizer flags, etc. I suppose I should follow your example and at least take them to a trail!
I also love your daughter’s outfit! It’s precious in all its creativity!
Anne says
I’m glad her pocket didn’t tear like Laura’s did! You must be better at sewing than Ma. 😉
Mary says
Ha! That wardrobe malfunction is priceless!! So is that smile in the swing 🙂
Emily D. says
SUCH cute photos–your children are adorable! I love the idea of nature walks, too. It’s the perfect time of year for them, at least here, when the colors are really peaking and the temperatures are great for being outside.
Kristina B says
Those little paths look so nice! And Nora is positively beautiful with her huge smile in the swing 🙂
Adele says
We do alot of Nature journal/walk activities. We have enough acreage that I can just send them out. The last drawing my eldest did in her nature journal was of the hole the downy woodpeckers are putting in the back wall of our house. They are still quite small so we use pocket notebook sized “journals”, and the golden guides. I also have all the peterson guides though from my own education. I think for us the trick of nature journaling has been me getting out of their way. They will do it if you don’t hover. The new baby fixed that particular bad habit of mine. I also think it helps that we don’t go very far. Really ten feet is enough if there are plants. How that helps.
Mary Eileen says
That skirt is genius and so stinking adorable!
I would like to get into nature journals with the kids. My oldest (of 3 boys) is 5. We have a nature table, which was filled this summer with slingshots found in nature – good start I think.
Rosie says
Slingshots found in nature… I love it! Sounds great.
Chere Mama says
Fantastic glimpse of the realistic nature walk! We brought (and bring) cameras on our walks now and try to take really close up pictures of things we see on the way. Then we can copy them and put them in the journal. Some of my kids are great at drawing, others are not. So, both photos and drawings are used to show what they each noticed and loved.
I laughed out loud at the rock filled skirt!!! She was a most enthusiastic nature study student!!
Claudia says
Even at my age, I, too, tend to fill my pockets with outdoor treasures!
Love this post!
Julie says
We’ve walked the Road of Good Intentions with regards to nature journals. There’s enthusiasm for the first two entries. The walks continue but the journaling stops. But it’s ok – i’d walk and observe and talk with the kids than feel like we need to complete a Full Scale Study in orderbto check a box.
Nanci says
When my kids were little, we went on weekly “breakfast picnics” at different parks in town. They would bring their nature journals as part of school. They’d always be on the lookout for something new to draw and write about since I had said their entries needed to be different each week. We did this for about 10 years, and sometimes when the kids are all home from school during the summer, one or the other will ask if we can go on a “breakfast picnic”!
Melissa D says
I love this idea so much! The portmanteau of 2 wonderful things (but things I generally have to drag my children to) sounds perfect.
Isabelle says
Is the “pretty sort of wilderness” an intentional quote from Pride and Prejudice, or am I too much of a geek and need to sort my life out? 🙂
Rosie says
Definitely intentional. Thank you for noticing!
Kristi says
We love nature walks! I’m glad to see from the comments that we’re not the only ones who aren’t as good at the journaling part (mom guilt speaking). My kids never have gotten into the journaling part, and I’ve given up trying to make them. My husband keeps reminding me that for us to enjoy our time together is the most important part of homeschooling, and I think this falls into that area.
I too love the baby in the swing picture! So cute and happy!
Evelyn says
So beautiful! And I can’t imagine 90s in October! We’re already wearing our toques, despite the sunshine.
A question, not to alarm you, but rather gain some helpful insight… Do you find yourself generally alone on the walks or are there other families around doing the same sort of things simultaneously? We have many lovely trails and parks near our home but I find myself a little nervous being alone (or the possibility of being alone) with the children in the “woods” ( it’s not really that dense– but can’t seem to think of a more appropriate word..). I’m almost certain it’s just me being a tad bit paranoid, but I feel uncomfortable without other friendly families passing us by from time to time ..
Rosie says
I definitely understand, especially during school/work hours, when not as many people are out and about. Actually, my first concern in some of the areas we walk is unsavory wildlife. I encountered a foot-long poisonous centipede while out by myself with the kids once, and there are rattlesnakes around, too – though thankfully we’ve never met one of those! I try to be both brave and prudent, and we often will invite another family along for the company/help in fending off creepers.
This particular park is on a military base, so while it’s quiet, it’s centrally located and fairly secure. 🙂
Woman of the House says
I miss going on nature walks with my little ones (who are now 25 and 18). I loved how they could be fascinated by nothing more than a stick or a rock. Molly’s droopy pocket made me think of Laura Ingalls and how she ripped the pocket off her dress by filling it too full with pebbles. Glad Molly’s didn’t tear!