Nature Studies at a Municipal Nature Reserve

This spring weather is perfect for getting out. Our summers are just too hot for hiking. Yesterday, we spent a few hours at a 465 acre nature reserve park with trails, wetlands, and a big lake.We saw so many Fowler's toads along one of the foot paths, we had to keep stopping to avoid stepping on them. We were able to identify a good number of wild flowers, forest and aquatic plants, birds, insects, and even fish. The butterflies and dragon flies were active and plentiful. We saw snowy egrets fishing in the wetland, and a few ospreys flying overhead.


After a very long walk(we got a bit lost), we rented a paddle boat for an hour. The park is free admittance; the boats are $4.00 an hour, and well worth it. Next week we'll be going to another municipal park with trails. These places are wonderful for bringing along your nature study books for field study. A little notebook for drawings of what you see is an enjoyable activity for younger children. My preschooler asks me to draw the animals we see when we get home. I label the pictures, and she gets the added benefit of vocabulary building and word recognition.

Rod & Staff has a number of nature books for coloring with realistic pictures. Their older science books concentrate on nature studies and are appropriate for late elementary school students(5th and 6th grades). We've used these over the years, and it has helped the children know and appreciate the natural world around us.