Spending large swaths of unstructured time out in nature has been a fundamental part of our homeschooling life. Our co-op days, nature days, beach days, camping trips...all outside. I’ve learned that these days always go more smoothly if we strive to keep them rhythmic. Even though free play is the golden part of these days, it feels important to bring in a grounding, inbreath moment where we come together and connect in a circle. Having a plan and coming together, even briefly, seems like an important part of our routine. It is the time when we each have an uninterrupted moment to check in, followed by some sort of a nature lesson before the children are unleashed back into the wild.
Over the years our activities have been mostly dictated by the seasons and whatever is blossoming or showing itself. It’s great when there is a solid plan for a nature focus, but some days, some weeks, that is just not in the cards, and we have to come up with something. Here is my favorite last minute nature day lesson. It requires little to no preplanning and never gets old since the pieces change with the seasons
The Nature Memory Game
Gather a bunch of nature samples (5-10 is a good initial target).
Place them together under a cover.
Circle up.
Uncover the samples and give everyone one silent minute to look at all the clues.
Cover them back up and announce a set amount of time (we usually do about 10 minutes) to run off and try to find and gather as many of the samples as they can remember.
When time is up, bring everyone into the circle, have them arrange what they gathered in front of them.
Go through the clues one by one. Hold them up and ask “who found this one?” Get them talking. “Where did you find it?” “Who knows what this is?” “What else do we know about this plant?”
Continue the wondering process with each sample gathered.
The lesson could end here, or be extended by:
Journaling a list of plant samples gathered that day (If you don’t know names of some of the plants, take a photo and try to ID it later. I love to use iNaturalist for this!)
Choosing one to put in front of them and draw into their nature journal
For young children, the follow up could be gathering all the samples and creating fairy houses with them, or weaving them into a nature loom. So many possibilities!
Prep:
Bring a bandana, or just use anything you have on hand to cover up the clues. I also like to bring a big piece of white paper to go under the clues because it doesn’t distract when we are looking at all the nature bits. It’s also nice to write the names on the paper as they are identified.
When you arrive to your landing place and the kids run off, spend a little time walking around the space and gather small nature samples from various different plants. Arrange them together in the center of wherever you plan to circle up, and cover them with your bandana.
This activity gets the kids moving, observing, talking, and it works for all ages (adults too!).
Have fun with this one!
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