Nature
study is often reserved for spring, summer, and fall during the “nicer”
weather; however, winter has great opportunities for nature study! In fact, as
life slows down, it seems like we have more time to interact with nature as
well.
Bird studies! We purposely put a bird
feeder right out our front windows where the boys always play. Sure they fly
away briefly when we first come out, yet they are in a high traffic place for
us to observe on a regular basis. Try participating in a bird
count or project feeder watch to include citizen
science opportunities. We keep bird books by the windows, yet really enjoy
our homemade
bird books. Find a local
winter bird hike.
Visit a nature center or wildlife-viewing
window. We
have at least 8 wildlife-viewing windows within an hour of our house. It’s great to see the feeding stations
hopping at these. Each place has a unique set of birds with identification
helps nearby. There are also
several nature
centers nearby. We can check out the exhibits, looking for specific study
items (owls, rocks, fossils, mammals, etc.), use the nature play areas inside
or out,
or attend a great program, like a winter
wildflower hike!
Check out the tracks! On sunny days with little
wind, we drop everything to get outside! Hikes through favorite
spots yield quite different results than what we find during the summer.
With most of the leaves down, we find nests hidden all summer, can see birds
more easily, and count dreys (squirrel nests) as we walk. It’s a perfect time to
discover animal
tracks, trying to recreate what might have happened, whether a squirrel was
digging an acorn or a coyote chased a rabbit.
Read about nature. I love snuggling up to a
good book when it’s cold outside. Make it a nature selection! Form a book
group and/or record what you learn in your nature journals.
Study nature indoors. Try science experiments,
cooking with local foods (make your own maple
syrup!), and exploring your seasonal nature table. We typically keep rock
and fossil
studies for wintertime as it’s an easy indoor study.
Explore the many properties of snow. We love looking at snowflakes
in the Handbook of Nature Study on
pages 781-786. The photos by W.A. Bentley show the detail of snowflakes. We
bring snow inside for nature play; take
in a program on snow; experiment with water, snow, and color outside; and
even make snow ice cream!
Study the stars. With the earlier sunset, we
find it easy to gaze
up at the stars as we go back and forth between activities in the winter.
It’s great that we can see Orion and Cassiopeia at 7 pm!
Take time for
fun! We
love combining recreational activities with nature studies. When outside using
the toboggan
run, snowshoeing,
tubing,
or sledding,
we naturally find ourselves asking questions, making hypotheses, and sharing
observations with others. As we make snow people, snow
animals, and snowballs, we readily notice differences in snow and nature
around us.
This was first published in the December 2014 Handbook of Nature Study newsletter. It's a great resource!