Wonder-Filled Days in Nature is a subscription-based, nature study resource that should work for children in preschool through sixth grade. Inspired by Charlotte Mason’s ideas, it includes outdoor nature study, sketching, art projects, journaling, poetry and art studies, scripture memory, character traits, hymns, and recommended storybooks. The scripture memory and hymns are not integrated into the study and can be easily skipped by those who prefer a secular study.
Subscribers receive two files each month (either digital or in print), and the author’s beautiful, watercolor painting decorates many of the pages. I received those for September for this review. Note that the studies are written for those living in the Northern Hemisphere. It should suit most families that live in an area where much of nature is accessible—plants, animals, insects, the night sky. Those with limited access to nature will have to adapt suggestions to suit whatever they can find.
The first file has two calendars (one with only numbered days and the other filled in with particular nature items to search for), a “30 Day Nature Challenge” chart where stickers can be mounted, suggested activities for each day of the month, lists of ideas for art projects, recommended music to watch and listen to, scripture memory verses, the character trait focused on that month, and a few extra pages that support the suggested activities.
The suggested activities for each day always include one that relates to the image on the illustrated version of the calendar. For example, the third of September on the calendar shows a sunflower and says, “Sunflowers turn to face the sun.” The activity adds a brief explanation, saying that fully-grown sunflowers face permanently east in the northern hemisphere. Children should then search for a sunflower to check this for themselves. They can also (or instead) observe some other heliotropic flowers that are listed. Some days have more activity ideas, such as tracking migrations on charts, journaling, observing the night sky, watching videos (links provided), and completing hands-on activities, such as making a hummingbird feeder, raising monarch butterflies, searching for insect larvae, and collecting seeds. The ideas for art projects, memory verses, and hymns can be used any time of the month.The second file, titled Poetry, Art, Book List, Journal Sheets and Stickers, supports the first file with pre-formatted journaling and coloring pages; a page of “stickers” to be printed onto a sticker sheet; and a lengthy, annotated list of children’s books for reading aloud, such as Ladybugs by Gail Gibbons and Apple Picking by Michele B. Slawson. This file adds another dimension with poetry and art study that relates to the season. Four poems and four artwork images (full page) are included, along with background information on the paintings and suggestions for discussing both the poems and artworks in a Charlotte Mason fashion.
These resources are to be adapted to suit your needs. You can choose from one or more activity ideas for most days, but you don’t have to do an activity or observation every day. You can skip the journaling with younger children and have them draw instead. You will select from the recommended children’s books rather than reading them all. You can fit the poetry and artwork in when you please or skip them. You can substitute drawings of other nature observations on the calendar and on stickers if you spot something more interesting. The goal is to get children outside to actually observe and record what they see in nature.
Summary
Wonder-Filled Days in Nature is so flexible that even those with limited access to nature should find plenty of activities they can use, and it’s so inexpensive for the digital version that even using only parts of it is worth the minimal cost.
