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Backyard Ideas for Kids

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Homeschooling shouldn’t mean you are stuck in your schoolroom. The world is full of opportunities and lessons waiting to be learned. We have all heard of the phenomenon of road-schooling and world-schooling where the classroom becomes wherever you are. The possibilities are endless. However, that is not feasible for everyone, nor is it necessary. In fact, you can make the world your classroom right in your own backyard! Here are the best opportunities for backyard learning during each season.

Backyard Learning in all Seasons

Spring has sprung and now summer is here — so have the opportunities for learning. After a long winter, everyone is dying to bask in the sun. So, springtime is the perfect time to start your backyard learning adventure. There is so much to explore and observe. Every day something new is happening. Here are some topics to get you started in outdoor learning:

  • Vernal ponds– Hurry, they don’t last long! Vernal ponds are a short lived environment that is teaming with wildlife to explore. So, get your nets and notebooks, let the pond do the teaching.
  • Weather-March winds, April showers, and the occasional snowstorm make springtime the perfect classroom for meteorology. Set up a weather station and start learning!
  • Birds and nests-During the spring, birds are hard at work building nests and preparing for chicks. Since the leaves are still forming, this is your best opportunity to observe your feathers neighbors.
  • Flower life cycles-Flowers are the hallmark of spring. Some come back every year, others only last a couple of seasons. Why is that? Explore perennial vs annual varieties.
  • Soil testing and micro-organisms-Do you know what kind of soil you have? This is a great time to test soil, learn about soil types/amendments, and study the tiny organisms that keep soil healthy.
  • Seed germination-Last fall, plants dropped their seeds. Maybe you even ordered seeds for spring. What happens when a seed goes into the ground though? Keep a log and do some dissecting to get you started.
  • Composting and worm farms-Worms are important for healthy soil and plants. Why not raise your own or simply start a composting pile. It’s an art and a science!
  • Color theory-Is there anything as beautiful as the colors of spring? After a drab winter, every shade of the rainbow is bursting forth. Learn more about colors and how they relate to each other.
  • Flower pressing and Flower crafts-So, spring doesn’t last forever, but spring flowers can. Learn how to press flower (and which ones cannot be pressed). Then explore crafts and gifts you can make from your treasures.
  • Foraging and noxious plants-The plants around your home can be helpful or harmful. Ask an expert to help you identify the friends and foes. Learn about how plants like poison ivy make life difficult.
  • Chick life cycles-Does anything say spring like baby chicks? Raise your own chicks, observe a neighbors chicks, or keep an eye on backyard bird chicks.

Learning in Your Backyard over the Summer

Now that the yard has exploded with vegetation and life, your backyard learning opportunities are just getting started. The summer heat provides now chances to explore and learn. Make the most of the opportunities right outside your door. Now, is the time for hands-on and outside the box learning. So, put on your shades and sunblock, here’s what you could learn about this season:

  • Insects-Creepy crawlies and bugs abound. Learn how insects help and hurt us, and how to identify them.
  • Local wildlife – who’s living in your backyard? Track prints, keep logs, and learn about the neighbors who live outside your home.
  • Hummingbirds-These little wonders can be hard to find. Set up a hummingbird feeder and watch them in action.
  • Gardening– Gardens are where learning really grows. Math, science, art, and logic all come into play. Learn about growing food, while protecting plants from pests and disease
  • Sunflowers-Tons of lessons in a little seed. Watch the flowers follow the sun and study how they grow. Then enjoy a harvest of crisp sunflower seeds in the fall.
  • Solar ovens-Too hot to cook? Try building a solar oven and learn how to harvest the power of the sun.
  • Water safety-Life lessons are always important. Learning to swim and be safe around the water is a lesson that will keep giving for the rest of your children’s lives.
  • Skin health-Between sun, bugs, and poison ivy, your skin may be suffering a bit. How can you keep it healthy and safe while having fun?
  • Butterfly and bee preservation-Save the bees and butterflies! We need them to pollinate crops and keep our food supply going. Learn how to provide what pollinators need to survive and thrive.
  • Medicinal and culinary herb-So, what’s growing in your garden? Add some spice with herbs that help heal or add bursts of flavor to your favorite meals.

Outside Lessons for Fall

Autumn learning opportunities are ripe for the harvest. The world is changing right before our eyes, so there is so much to explore. Now’s the time to gather up backyard learning and enjoy this bountiful season. If you need some ideas to get going, here’s a list of autumn backyard learning.

  • Harvest and preservation-Now that you have been gardening all summer, learn how to harvest and store all your hard work.
  • Photosynthesis-Plants are happy to be green. But, why do the leaves change colors. Learn about photosynthesis and the hidden colors of leaves.
  • Animals preparing for winter-Remember the story of the ant and the grasshopper? Animals can’t just turn on the heat. How do they get ready to survive the long winter months?
  • Tree life cycles-Trees change from season to season. How does the weather affect their growth and production?
  • Corn and popcorn-Corn is a staple. How can it be used? What is the history of corn, and how does it affect your backyard and home?
  • Leaf identifications-Now that leaves are piling up, it’s time to do some investigation. Get your magnifying glasses and take a closer look. What are the parts of a leaf? Can you identify all the ones that you find?

Winter Learning in Your Backyard

Just because the natural world looks like it’s sleeping, doesn’t mean outdoor learning has to stop. Winter is still a wonderful time to take your homeschooling outside and explore learning opportunities. So, bundle up and dive into these topics:

  • Tree identification-Can you identify trees without their leaves? Learn about the silhouettes of trees and how to tell one from another even in the dead of winter.
  • Hibernation-Some animals sleep all winter, or at least most of it. How does hibernation work and why do they do it?
  • Animal dens and burrows: Speaking of hibernation, where are the animals all winter? Learn about where your furry neighbors are spending their time and see how many you can identify in your own backyard.
  • Snow science-Ready, set, let’s experiment with snow. Make your own ice cream, witness the water cycle, and study all the ways snow helps the soil.
  • Winter food sources for animals-It might look like everything is dead, but animals still need to eat. What are they eating and how do they survive?
  • Igloos -Now that you have had fun playing with and in the snow, learn about how snow is used by humans. Igloos aren’t just fun, they are functional. How have Inuits used snow to protect themselves and provide warmth?

Seed to Plant Coloring & Worksheet

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PlantLifeCycle
Spring is a fantastic time to learn about the life cycle of a plant!

I highly recommend that you take children out into the garden, plant some seeds and track the results!  There is great satisfaction in cultivating and tending a garden and it will keep their little hands and hearts busy for hours.  Some easy and quick growing plants: Sunflowers, Nasturtium, Peas, Green Beans, Marigolds, Tomatos.

PlantColoringPin

 

HomeschoolClipart.com has some free plant life cycle printables:

Life Cycle of a Plant Worksheet

Life Cycle of a Plant Coloring Page

We’ve even taken small lima beans and “planted” them in the classroom.  Take a wet paper towel and crumple it into a plastic bag.  Place a bean down the side of the bag so that it’s able to absorb the water from the towel, but so you can also see it as it grow.  Close the bag and tape it up on the window.  In a few days your children will be able to observe germination, the first roots, and the sprouting seedling.  It’s a wonderful way to get hands on in the classroom.

 

SeedChart      SeedLabel     SeedNotebook         SeedPartsColoring

 

Parts of a Seed Chart

Parts of a Seed Notebooking Page

Parts of a Seed Label & Color

Lima beans are perfect for dissecting, and allow children an inside look at the anatomy of a seed.  Simply soak the seed for about an hour in some warm water and then provide children with small tweezers and things to inspect.  You can usually pop the seeds open with your fingernails and once open children can find the first leaves, the food and the root.

 

Seed to Plant Sequencing Cards

Plant Life Cycle Sequencing Cards

These plant life cycle cards show progression from seed to seedling.  Children order the different stages of the seed as roots form and  the seedling emerges. We recommend leaving one set intact and cutting the additional set out for playing  pieces.

Flower Themed File Folder Games

These educational games have a flower theme and can easily be incorporated into your unit.

 

Parts of a Flower Chart

 

HomeschoolClipart.com has some free Flower Anatomy Printables

Parts of a Flower Chart

Parts of a Flower Coloring Page

Parts of a Flower Worksheet

 

GardenLarge

Garden Crafts & Projects for Kids

Our garden crafts can go alongside key gardening ideas, such as composting, fertilization, spacing, and plant knowledge in general.

 

Garden Lapbook

For children who take an interested in planting and gardening you might want to print this free Garden Lapbook from Lapbook Lessons.   Children can keep track of what they planted, how quickly it’s growing,  learn about different tools, insects, and more!  Add in some garden science by testing the ph levels of different soil samples around your house.

 

Suggested Resources for a Unit Study:

gardenScience Adventure Garden Kit

Young Scientists will make a terrarium, learn about underground habitats, explore the
different parts of plants, test the soil, design a mini-garden, grow all kinds of seeds,
perform plant experiments, identify bugs and their habitats, make a working sun dial,
and much more.  Click Here

 

 

 

How to Bind your Notebooks…

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This week I made a big purchase.

There has been something on my homeschool “wishlist” for quite some time.

I’ve spent the last year rationalizing away the cost.

Quietly planning all the different projects that I would use it for.

Promising myself that I would get my monies worth.

Do you know what it is yet?

It’s a binding machine!

It does things to my e-books that a stapler NEVER could.

(Oh sweet notebooking heaven)

I can’t believe it has taken me this long to get one!

So wondering how it works?

Here’s the deal:

Step 1: Print up your e-book.

Make sure to use cardstock for a cover page, and a back page.
(note: you can get special coverpages at the store if you want)

Step 2: Load your weapon:

This means you put your curly binding comb between the prongs,
pull the special lever to open it

Step 3: Poke all your holes:

For my machine that means entering the paper like so

And pulling down the big handle.

Crunch.

All the papers are stored in a drawer inside the machine. No mess.
(note: my particular machine can handle up to 10 sheets at a time)

Step 4: Start assembling your book.
Slide your freshly punched papers onto the open prongs of your binding comb.
(the black curly thing you opened in step 2)

Step 5: Continue until you have all the pages you want included.

Step 6: Release side lever and the binding comb closes back up.

Step 7: Enjoy your fancy looking notebook!


If your interested here is the machine that I purchased.
It’s called Fellowes Star Manual Comb Binding Machine
I also picked up some different sized combs:

Fellowes Plastic Comb Bindings
Note: Combs come in different capacity…
Some do up to 55 pages, some up to 150 pages.
You want to get a variety, but I use the 55page and 90pages the most!

Pssst: Like my garden notebook?
STAY TUNED!!

Dandelion Paint

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It’s April.
The sun is shining (today) and it’s officialy Spring.

And as I stare out my window all I can see are little pops of yellow all over my yard.

Even after mowing.

You see, I’ve recently realized that Spring dandelions are much smarter then Summer dandelions.

Summer dandelions stretch long and tall chasing the sun across the sky.

But Spring dandelions know better.

They stay low to the ground, hidden safely where the mower can’t reach.

But sadly, as they are the very first flower to pop up around here, they are no better off.

There are too many little boy hands,
scrambling around for every last one,
in hope of presenting the largest bunch.

And while dandelions aren’t exactly my favorite flower,
they can certainly be put to good use.

Especially in our nature journals:

There is nothing like a sunny afternoon spent making Dandelion paint.

I too, joined the fun.
painting dandelions with dandelion paint…

And immediately, the structured homeschooler in me thought,
“Yes! We could draw the different stages of a dandelion and color them in with different things we find around the yard.”

But then, I looked down at my little blond babies,
watching their yellow stained fingertips scribble away….

and I realized that today we were only meant
to do nothing more then paint the sun.

Here are some more dandelion activities to try this Spring!

Starting Nature Journals

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Do your children have a nature journal?

Do you?

I’ll admit that I’ve tried them.

But first let me just tell you a little story….

So sit back……grab your coffee,
and enjoy my failure for a moment.

A few years ago when I first decided to homeschool,
I was introduced to the idea of Nature Journals.
There were so many amazing examples online of what
could be included, so many beautiful watercolors paintings
amid pressed flowers and texture rubbings of important things.

It was overwhelming.
But I like a good challenge

I decided that I would create (see the problem here)
lasting memories of a happy, outdoorsy childhood, spent
among wildflowers, babbling creeks, white tail deer that stood
still for hours.

Ha.

So I set out with my then 2 children
I packed up our watercolor pencils, sketchbooks,
apple juice boxes and peanut butter crackers.

I drove for a half hour, to a scenic viewpoint,
one I was sure would inspire my children to create magic.
We hiked for 20 minutes and finally sat down in the Summer
heat to begin our journaling.

So, I’m sure you can imagine,
(or at least infer by the tone of this post)
How it all went down.

And it went Down. Hill. Fast.

Think sticky juice box fingers mixed with expensive sketchbooks
Colored pencils with ever breaking tips. Not a sharpener in sight.
Peanut butter cracker crumbs.
And only ONE green pencil, in a field of green trees and flowers.
682 feet above sea level, Snickering onlookers, and two children coming down
from an Apple Juice high.
(Ooooh I could have just….)

MY DREAMS of inspiring, keepsake worthy nature journals
was shot.

I loaded the children back up in the car.
And drove home.
Defeated.

I haven’t attempted Nature Journals since.

Until Now.

WHY?

Because I had the privilege of hearing This Funny Lady,
speak at a Homeschool Conference last month.

And I was again inspired to try Nature Journaling.

However.

And this is a big However.

HOW – EV – ER
(are you catching my tone here?)

This time I’m going in with little to NO EXPECTATIONS.
This time I understand that I can’t expect a child to draw a bird
while it’s flitting around everywhere.
That it’s OKAY to just sit back and enjoy the creature, and then LATER
*gasp*
look up images and facts about the animal.

So, as you check out the following photos,
DO NOT BE DECIEVED.
There was no magic peaceful moment as we drew them.
It was actually an instructional time for us, sitting around the table
and working hard at where to put little eyes, and beaks, and toes.

But we do spend peaceful mornings together watching these little birds
fly around our yard. We talk about what kind of birds they are, and each time they visit we look for new things to learn about them.

And then later we looked up images and poetry online,
and added them to our nature journals.

And here’s how that all translates:

Didn’t they turn out cute?
Now those are keepsakes!

I was so jealous inspired with how easy things went
that I went out and got myself a sketchbook.

Oh. And colored pencils too.
The good ones.
I just can’t resist an opportunity for new pencils.

And you know what?
I forgot how therapeutic drawing was.

And I love that I can use my journal to document the “real life”
that causes us to add something to our journals in the first place.

I’m feeling pretty good about nature journals,
And this time around
I think we’re off to a great start!

Checking out the Garden

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Today we wandered around the backyard checking out our garden.

We don’t have a whole lot of room for gardening,
but we are blessed with three beautifully old peach crates
that make perfect “square foot” gardens.

Here, take a look:

Box #1 Contains:

Grapes (in 2nd year…will we get fruit?)

Strawberries (Wowza, doing good!)

Blueberries (new this year, but some fruit!!)

Box #2 Contains:

Pumpkins & Zucchini.
These are Bubba’s, and he’s convinced he’s going to have a prize winner this year.

And finally Box #3 Contains:

Tomatos, Basil, Carrots, Cucumber.

Yeah.
This is my experiment box.
I’ve never done carrots.
I’ve never done cucumber.
And I’ve never done basil……(right.)
Take a look at how evenly I sowed my seeds.

*snicker

And I actually DID sow these in neat little rows.
But ten minutes after planting them I saw a flash of curly blond leaving
the scene of the crime, (plastic shovel in hand)
and knew I was in for a surprise come sproutin’ time.

So in an attempt to spread things out a bit I transplanted 8 cucumber plants:

And, well….

What’s the deal with spacing out plants?
It said to sow them close together for pollination, then to space them.
Maybe they have TOO MUCH space and they are lonely?
Hmmmmm?

And of course I had to plant a little bit of herbs to liven up my windowsill
you can see that the basil is coming up strong!!

Garden Crafts: Plant Markers

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It’s here!

It’s Here!

Well, at least it WAS.

Garden Crafts

I guess I missed the postman, because my Amazon order of The Christian Kids Gardening Guide had arrived, but apparently I was to busy taking my 3 year old to the Doctor to pick up the package.

So it’s here…..at the post office I assume…..
waiting for me to come get it.

But that didn’t stop our Gardening Fun today, as we had a fantastic time making little Garden Markers to label all the plants in our flower bed:

Garden Marker Craft

Popsicle Stick Garden Markers

Clay Pot Garden Crafts

Clay Pot Saucer Garden Markers

These turned out fantastic, and we had a blast adding them to our gardens!


You can find all of our Garden Crafts so far on this page!

And stay tuned we’ve got lots more coming!

(BTW…Something is eating our Zucchini? See that little leaf with all the white markings? Someone wanna clue me in here?)

Button Flowers for Mom

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Mother's Day Crafts

Just a quick little tutorial on how to make these cute little button flowers. Kids can make these themselves and give to Mom for mother’s day!

And don’t feel sheepish showing your children how to make them, believe me, they are more then proud to hand a bouquet of these handcrafted beauties right back to you. Just show them how, give them the strips of paper and leave them at the table a while so they can “Surprise” you.

Trust me, They love it!


Click Here for the Photo Tutorial
(These are really easy!)

Flower Pot Mosiac

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Since we’ve been busy in the garden, planting all of our seeds, and working on our Gardening Lapbook, I realized that we better throw in a little bit of Garden Crafting too!

Kids Garden Crafts
I found this amazing book called
“The Christian Kids Gardening Guide”
and I just had to order a copy for our homeschool classroom, what better way to start learning about gardening, then by learning God’s word right alongside it!

(Here are some sample pages to check out….looks really neat doesn’t it! (Now to try and wait patiently for it to arrive…..that’s the hard part.)

Anyway, as we’re learning all about the different flowers and vegetables that will be gracing our garden this year, we started out by adding a bit of flair to some regular old clay pots.

You can do this craft with any old flower pot, so check out the Goodwill, Freecycle, and Garage sales because they’re much cheaper then buying new pots at the craft store.

And since this is a “Hot Glue” craft be sure and follow your gut as to whether or not you’re child is ready to try this one! (I’ll tell you that my 6 year old did just fine, but my 3 year old wasn’t so keen to keeping his fingers out of the glue….but he just didn’t want to quit making it either….LOL, he is his Father’s son)

Flower Pot Crafts

Click Here for Full Photo Instructions

We’ve been real busy with our Flower Pot Crafts, so stay tuned for some more fun Gardening ideas! Don’t forget to subscribe (on the left) if you want email updates!