Nature Study

Adrian is a very nature oriented little person so this is always fun for him.  Nature Study involves being outside, observing, and documenting things in nature.  I plan on buying the Handbook of Nature Study to make this a more involved area.  There is also a great site that goes with the book called Handbook of Nature Study Home of the Outdoor Hour Challenge that is very helpful.  She separates the seasons with activities and it is very affordable.  I will update each study with its own heading.

Bird Study

For the bird study I used a free printable bird nature study from Homeschool Creations website. We will begin on the printable sheets tomorrow because I wasn't able to get them color printed until today. 

This has been one of our favorite days so far! Today we started our bird study.  To start we made some bird feeders.  

We took a marshmallow creme plastic jar and drilled two holes and then smaller holes for the string and chopstick.  I am so glad that he knows how to use the drill but I can't take credit for that one.

He is always helping his dad put together projects and he knows more about drills and power tools than I do.  So luckily he was able to put in the drill bits and drill the holes for me.

Finally we fill the container with bird seed. 

We then gathered pinecones yesterday and applied peanut butter then rolled in bird seed. Adrian made a "How To" video so if you have any questions about how that might work please watch the "How To Make a Pine Cone Bird Feeder" video.  

We then took our bird feeders outside on trees and around the deck.

 Now we wait....

After about 30 minutes or so I walked by the door and started seeing birds sneak there way into the yard and coming closer to the deck and bird feeders. The excitement is building and we are scurrying to find the binoculars!! So we pull out our folding chairs and watch for birds to come to the feeders.  The pinecones are a big hit!! Adrian is super excited  and we found in our field guide that we have lots of Black Capped Mountain Chickadees.  He also made another videos showing the Chickadees and describing what they are doing and you might be able to hear their chirping as he inches closer and closer and closer.....

This past weekend I found a bird field guide at Goodwill for $0.99!! This book is normally around $12 so I was super excited to find it.  I was planning last week to do this bird study and God blessed us with this little book so we could identify His birds and learn more about His Creation.