March is finally here! Spring is officially JUST around the corner and I can’t wait. This might be my favorite time of year to get out with the kids and enjoy nature study. After months of dormancy, everything is finally emerging ~ flowers, plants, insects and animals. It’s a great time to get out and explore nature!
1. Nesting Birds
Have you noticed the birds returning? This is the time of year that nesting birds are busy scouting locations and gathering materials for their nests. One of my favorite things about spring is watching the birds building their nests. We’ve been lucky enough to have a robin’s nest right outside our living room window!
Keep a Spring Birdwatching Log
We like to keep a little birdwatching log by the window and record birds when they come visit. You can download this little printable birdwatching log for free here. (Print multiple copies of the bird tracking pages.) This would also be a handy little resource to take with you on a birdwatching hike or trip to your local nature area!
Printable Birdwatching Log
Make a Nest Shop for the Birds
This time of year, birds are on the hunt for nesting materials as they prepare to build their nesting sites. They’ll take anything from twigs and moss, to string and twine, to fur and feathers. You can help them by setting up a little shop for their nesting materials.
You’ll need:
- A mesh vegetable or fruit bag (like an onion or orange bag)
- Nesting materials like moss, dried grasses, feathers, string or twine, yarn, etc.
- Twine for tying
Place your nesting materials inside the mesh bag. Use the twine to tie the bag shut, and hang from the branch of a tree. Make sure the nesting material is poking out so the birds can grab it. Watch from a window as the birds gather items from the “shop” for their spring nests!
If you’re looking for a little something more to help you dig into nature study this spring, the Spring Journal is a great place to start. Your kids will learn about common spring birds, discover different nest shapes and types, they will build a nest, learn bird anatomy, and more!
Our Favorite Picture Books about Nesting Birds
The Burgess Bird Book for Children – Thornton Burgess
A Nest is Noisy – Dianna Hutts Aston
Mama Built a Little Nest – Jennifer Ward
Have You Heard the Nesting Bird? – Rita Gray
How to Find a Bird – Jennifer Ward
Robins! How They Grow Up – Eileen Christelow
2. Daffodils (and Spring Bulbs)
We are just starting to see the daffodils pop up and man, am I happy about it! My boys love doing crafts, so in the spirit of spring I put together this simple and easy craft you can probably do with items you already have in your home.
Easy Daffodil Craft
You’ll need:
- Paper muffin tin liners (preferably white but any light color will work)
- Paint (not watercolor) and paint brushes
- Gluesticks
- Green pipe cleaners, optional
Each flower will require two muffin liners. Have them spread out one nice and flat, and keep the shape of the second one intact.
With the yellow paint, have them cover one side of both muffin liners, making sure they don’t smush the cup-shaped one. This can be made easier by having them cup the liner in one hand while they paint it with the other. They’ll get paint on their hands, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. I always keep a pack of baby wipes nearby for emergencies.
Once they are dry, take a smaller paint brush and paint dots on the inner liner, which will represent the pollen. We used orange and white for this part. Allow a few minutes for it to dry.
Finally, have them glue the cupped liner to the middle of the flat one.
You can also glue or staple on a green pipe cleaner to use as a stem, but my kids just wanted to keep making more flowers, so we didn’t get to that part.
How pretty would these be sitting in a little vase?
For more, check out the spring blooms nature study in the Spring Journal.
Picture Books about Spring Blooms
3. Garden Snails
There’s nothing that says “spring in the garden” quite like seeing these little guys cruising around on a spring day! If you don’t want them eating up your garden, they actually make great pets. My kids love to collect them.
Make a Snail Habitat
Want to observe snails up close with your students? Make a simple snail habitat. Here are some ideas for creating a snail terrarium… or a Snailarium, if you will, from Woodlark blog.
Learn About Snail Shells
Many spirals found in nature – like in snail shells, baby ferns, flowers, and even hurricanes – follow a special sequence of numbers called the Fibonacci Sequence. In this mathematical sequence, the next number is found by adding together the two numbers before it. Snail shells make great subjects for learning about math in nature!
For this lesson, we read Swirl by Swirl and used these printables from the Spring Journal.
Picture Books About Garden Snails
4. The Spring Equinox
Have your kids ever asked you what makes the seasons? The days are finally getting longer and the sun is staying higher in the sky. This is the perfect time to talk to your students about why we have seasons.
Spring Equinox Science Experiment
Using an orange and a flashlight, you and your students can experiment with how the tilt of the earth makes summer, fall, winter and spring in different parts of the world. We love this simple experiment!
Make Sun Bread
Celebrate the longer, sunnier days of spring by baking up some sun bread! We like this sun bread recipe.
Craft Flower Crowns
Do you notice the spring flowers popping up in your area? Use the instructions below to create simple spring flower crowns (you can use dandelions, too!)
Step 1: Pick flowers with long, flexible stems (like daisies, dandelions or clover). Lay one flower down horizontally and place the second directly on top.
Step 2: Wrap the stem of the top flower behind and over the starting flower and align the stems.
Step 3: Repeat Step 2 with a third flower. Place the flower in front of the two stems and wrap its stem behind and over so that the three stems are now aligned.
Step 4: Continue wrapping more flowers until your crown is long enough. To finish, overlap the two ends and lay a final flower on top. Wrap the stem around both ends several times and tuck the end into the flower crown. Voila!
Picture Books about the Spring Equinox
A New Beginning – Celebrating the Spring Equinox
5. Pond Life
The ponds are waking up again after a long winter, and March is a great time to explore pond life. There is SO much to explore – frogs, turtles, toads, fish, worms, snails, mussels, plants, insects, algae, birds… Ponds are actually among the most biodiverse and ecologically important freshwater habitats in the world!
Go Pond Dipping
One of the best ways to learn about pond life is to get up close and personal. Grab a large plastic storage container (preferably clear or white), some nets and a magnifying glass if you have one. Scoop some pond water into the container, and use your net to see what you can find. This is a great way to catch frogs, fish, tadpoles, insects, nymphs and more. Once your kiddos are done observing their finds, gently pour the water back into the pond.
Check out The Pond Journal for unit studies on each of these topics, as well as a handy pond dipping tracker.
Monet’s Water Lilies Artwork
Recreating one of Claude Monet’s famous water lily paintings is a great way to add an element of art and art history into your pond study. Our favorite way to do this is by using a combination of oil pastels and watercolor paints. Check out this link for a full tutorial on how to create your own water lilies painting at home.
Check out The Pond Journal for lots more on frogs, turtles, dragonflies and pond life!
Books About Spring Ponds
Frog and Toad Together
If You Spent a Day with Thoreau at Walden Pond
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