Summer is a great time for heading outside to spend time enjoying nature activities. You can enjoy nature in your back yard or go camping in the mountains. The weather is warm and there’s something fascinating to see everywhere.
Fun Nature Activities
Catch Butterflies
Catching butterflies and moths with a net is a wonderful way to learn more about both types of insects. You and your children can study the wings, the antennae, the body, and the legs. Take a magnifying glass and study the pollen on the butterfly’s legs. Use a butterfly book to discover what type of insect you captured.
Keep a journal to draw and write about the butterflies and moths you see. What types of flowers are they attracted to and what shape and coloring do their wings have? Journal about the fascinating creatures. It will be fun to read and remember a summer chasing butterflies in a couple of years.
Study Flowers
Summer is blooming with flowers. There are wildflowers, cultivated flowers, dandelions, and daisies just to list a few. Make a point of learning the various flowers in your area one plant at a time. Kids love being able to identify the various plants they see. Knowing this is a rose, this is a dandelion, and this one is a marigold encourages children to want to learn more about the flowers they see.
Learn about the different wildflowers in your area. Wildflowers may be simple and delicate flowers, but they are just as pretty as the cultured flowers. Don’t try to memorize them all at once, simply choose one and look for it where ever you go this summer. Once you’ve learned it, choose another one. Eventually you will know most, if not all, the wild flowers in your region.
Hikes
Head outside and spend as much of the summer hiking and exploring the outdoors. Look for the butterflies and moths you’ve studied. See if you can identify the wildflowers the butterflies most enjoy.
Also keep an eye out towards interests your children may be showing in nature. One child may develop a fascination about ants and spend hours tracking the ants to their anthills. Another child may be curious about snails and slugs.
Encourage your kids to watch the various creatures and to study the plants.You’ll find your children will gradually grow into small naturalists.
What is your favorite summer nature activity?
Great tips, most kids are naturally fascinated by nature (not all 🙂 but most). One thing I really enjoyed when I was a kid was an ant farm my Father helped me start. You mentioned fostering children’s’ interests. Social insects are fascinating to observe and ant farms make it possible to see what is going on beneath the soil which is difficult to observe in nature. Just going on a hike will expose kids too all sorts of creatures and critters and plants as well. Great recommendation often overlooked