educational playground in the woods

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Educational Playground – Experience in the Woods

Did you know that a walk in the woods can be a most interesting, educational playground experience for the family? A hike in the woods is a terrific way to spend family time and makes a fabulous field trip for homeschoolers. It’s frugal family fun – at its best!

How we do It

The kids often bring cameras- we all play photographer. The assignment on this day was to take pictures of interesting things (plants, animals) and then later we are able to print them, Google them, and put together an educational photo journal. Often we will bring simple college rule notebooks for the boys to sketch what they see.

Look Small

One of the most important things you can do to make your family walk in the woods an educational playground, is to take the time to slow down and LOOK SMALL. Check out the details of a spider web, or count the rings on a downed tree to guess its age. Listen carefully, ask the kids to identify what sounds they hear. Search for interesting patterns or colors in nature.

Counting Rings of a Tree

Nature journals and lapbooks are a terrific way to do unit studies on any topic of interest. It works especially well for outdoor experiences in nature but can work just as well to study history. – It provides the opportunity for research, illustration, creativity, and writing.

Things to bring to make walking in the woods educational

Take photos
Use sketch pads and nature journals
Bring binoculars and magnifying glass
Use field guides
Ask descriptive questions: what do you see? what do you hear? what do you smell?

A glorious walk in the woods- just another great day in the life of a homeschool family!

It’s an honor to be nominated in the 10th Annual HS Blog Awards from The Homeschool Post! Please consider voting for Adventures in the category of “Best Nature & Field Trip Blogs” – Thank you Thank you!