Have you ever wanted your kids to create a nature journal? It's time to head for the great outdoors and see how much you can identify!
All you need for outdoor use is
*a sketch pad
*a set of colored pencils
*a pencil
*a field guide (I prefer to keep several--one on trees, one on flowers, one on wildflowers, and one on birds. I also have an insect field guide)

Simply find a quiet, comfortable outdoor location and observe things around you for 10 to 15 minutes and then draw what you find. I love that this activity gets my kids outdoors and helps them feel calm and peaceful. Plus they have a chance to practice their drawing and study skills at the same time. What's not to like about that?

Find forms to create a nature journal here: http://donnayoung.org/science/  ( look under "nature journal")

Here is another nature journal form: http://www.symbols.gov/jrsnowranger/NotebookPage.pdf

Here's a form to help with nature that you have read about:  http://www.noeoscience.com/BiologyI_homeschool_sample_pages.pdf

Birds:

Here's a link to notebooking pages on birds: http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/ZOOoneNOTEBOOK.pdf

Pants/ Trees

This site has three hundred flower coloring sheets and a coloring guide to each one: www.nps.gov/plants/color/northwest

Here is a website where you can print off a lesson on drawing trees for nature journals by Clare Walker Leslie.
http://www.lessonsforhope.org/pdf/GuideToTreeSketchingPDF.pdf

Here's a site to help you identify the plants that you find on your nature walks: www.botany.com

Bugs:

Links to help you identify those bugs you find on your nature walks:

What's That Bug?  http://www.whatsthatbug.com/

The Iowa State entomology insect gallery:  http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegallery/