Nature

A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Great Lakes Region

June 18, 2025 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Great Lakes Region through Harbour Publishing. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and it is so much appreciated. 🙂

MAN…. Sometimes I wish I had a child to homeschool again. If I did, when going through Canada, and particularly Ontario, A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Great Lakes Region would be EVER so useful! Loaded with activities, tons of easily accessible information, descriptive photos and so much more. You need to check out this delightful book that helps children and youth access the plants growing around them.

kids guide to the plants of the great lakes region

The Basic Details for A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Great Lakes Region

Title: A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Great Lakes Region
Author: Philippa Joly, contributing author Danielle Gehl Hagel
Publisher: Harbour Publishing Co
Pages: 224
Intended Audience: grade 3-4, 6-12 years
Genre: plants, Great Lakes, kid’s guide, Nature guide, Botany, homeschool, kid’s activity book,
Available formats: Kindle, Paperback,
Received: Paperback
Reviewed for: Harbour Publishing

About the Book and Author

As a clinical and community herbalist, Philippa Joly has her hands in many pots. She works with individual clients, leads workshops and classes for children and adults, draws nature based pictures, and writes books. She uses her skills in a variety of ways just like all of us! 🙂 A fellow Canadian she spends her time out in British Columbia.

A Kid’s Guide to Plants of the Great Lakes Region is a middle-school friendly introduction to the plants of the Great Lakes Region. You’ll discover outdoor activities, games, activities and quizzes that make learning about nature fun. Dig up some roots! Make some jam! Create a salve to cure an itch. Discover new berries to eat and to definitely NOT eat! Foster a love of the outdoors, increase attention spans and physical well-being, learn about the plants the surround, and connect with nature. Contributing author is Danielle Gehl Hagel.

Looking More Closely

So let’s take a closer look at the treasures you will find in this lovely guide. Eight chapters as well as a chapter dedicated to parents and educators. Learn about the original peoples of the area, the regions covered, and so much more. You’ll see plant profiles (of some 50 plants), learn about some invasive plants and learn the do’s and don’t of wildcrafting. This reminds me of a facebook group I’m part of where people talk about the mushrooms they are harvesting from the wild. The encouragement is always to do no damage, but to harvest thoughtfully.

As you continue to work your way through, you’ll discover some easy crafts to make and activities to do. Have you ever thought of playing Burdock tag? Sounds like a sticky situation eh? 🙂

Make Plantain Salve to ease the pain of insect bites. Dig into some wild leek pesto! Find out how to measure a Bracken fern. Dish up some juices, oils, lotions, and jams from plants you discover.

Learn about all sorts of plants. I have to admit that I knew most of these, but would middle-schoolers? Probably not! Descriptive text written for the target age range, with a sense of humour. 🙂 Be prepared to discover interesting little tidbits and to read responses from other middle-schoolers. Learn some Latin. Observe illustrations and photos.

The Parents and educators section is filled with tips for making the best use of nature study. Not just tips for using this book in the best way, but more on how to introduce wildcrafting, and various skills. Skills such as handling a knife for cutting samples or making wood carvings.

My Over-all Thoughts

Should you add The Kid’s Guide to the Plants of the Great Lakes Region to your library? Yes! Find it, borrow it, give it a good read. Be inspired and watch your children/students be amazed at everything around them!

The plethora of illustrations, photos, and descriptive text make this an engaging tome. The engaging activities and crafts add a fantastic hands-on component that helps to hammer home what they are learning (and it’s fun!).

I do wish the invasive plant section had been a bit larger. But I can understand the brevity, the focus is on the plants of the Great Lakes Region, not on the invaders that don’t belong. One does not wish to create a massive book that would then be unwieldy.

This kid’s guide is just the right size to provide variety in activities and help provide assistance in learning regardless of where you are in the Great Lakes Region. That is what makes this book so valuable. It is a helpful resource whether you are living in city, town or country.

Outdoor School

December 10, 2022 By Annette1 2 Comments

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Outdoor School) through Raincoast Books. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated.

Did you know that in just a few short months spring will be upon us? A time for plants, and all outdoor growing things? AND we literally just finished fall… a season of exploring for mushrooms, and in the winter… berries to see on bushes! What do you need to help you in your explorations? Outdoor School by Mary Kay Carson. This lovely book is your definitive guide to tree, wildflower, and mushroom spotting.

The Basic Details

Title: Outdoor School: Tree, Wildflower, and Mushroom Spotting. The Definitive Interactive Nature Guide.
Author: Mary Kay Carson
Illustrator: John D. Dawson
Pages: 416
Publisher: Odd Dot
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books
Formats: Paperback
Intended Audience: 10-14 years
Type: non-fiction, interactive guide
Series: Outdoor School
Special Note: the corners of this interactive guide are reinforced with what feels like metal. Keeps the corners from curling when using this interactive guide.

Please note: I tried to make the colours in my photos match the book, but the photos turned out more muted than the original product. The colours are much more brilliant in real life.

About the Author

Mary Kay Carson specializes in writing non-fiction science books for children. She has some 50ish books to her credit. Living in Ohio with her hubby (a photographer), dog, cat and fish, writing books is her job.

About Outdoor School

This interactive field guide to plant and mushroom spotting includes:
– Immersive activities to get you exploring
– Write-in sections to journal about experiences
– Next-level adventures to challenge even seasoned nature lovers.

No experience is required – only curiosity and courage. Inside you’ll find easy-to-follow instructions on how to:
– Grow mushrooms with cardboard
– Compare bark types
– Count tree rings
– Survey leaf patterns
– Create fern spore prints
– Press and preserve wildflowers

Looking deeper into Outdoor School

You know how using a highlighter helps you find keywords in a text? And if you use differently coloured highlighters how it helps tie key ideas together? Well, when you colour code pages in a nature guide it helps you find the pages you need more quickly. Looking for how to identify flowerss, turn to the purple pages, or for mushrooms, the orange. How easy could it be eh?

So you’ll discover five parts in this interactive guide divided into

What is plant spotting
Trees and shrubs
Wildflowers
Mushrooms and other fungi
Ferns and mosses

Writing assignments, I found it notes, mini-tests, scavenger hunts, and more fill the pages.

You will find so much information trapped with these pages, a nice sturdy paper that will hold up to fieldwork. You can take this guide with you as you meander through the great outdoors.

Each page is loaded with images with the text presented in different ways. Mostly presented like in a textbook, and other times wrapped within images or highlighted within the Try It pages.

North American Based

You’ll find several plants to discover in each colour-coded section. All these plants are found in North America. One of my quibbles is you are asked to denote the state you found it in, I would have rather a generic location which is more inclusive to ALL of North America be used. Illustrator John D Dawson did a great job of demonstrating what each plant looks like. It’s a nice additional tool for nature study.

You’ll find room for note-taking, though the spacing might be a little tight for younger readers. I love how you learn about bark types, leaf shapes and margins, differences between mosses and ferns, and the importance of paying attention to the mushroom cap. All these little details will help create better observers of the nature around us. Good that eh?

My Thoughts

I don’t know if you’ll remember that I reviewed another book by Mary Kay Carson called Mission to Pluto. Having thought that book well done, I expected this one to be as well and I was not mistaken.

I like this book, it’s an excellent size to stow into a “meandering through the fields” backpack or bag. Has spots for note-taking, encourages the reader to understand what they are learning, and has plenty of helps. Outdoor School: Trees, Wildflowers, and Mushrooms is an excellent addition to your nature study in the spring, summer, fall or winter adventures.

Just so you know, there are other outdoor school books to check out.

Forest School For Grown-Ups

March 26, 2022 By Annette1 4 Comments

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Forest School for Grown-Ups) through Raincoast Books. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so, and is so much appreciated.

I don’t know where you live, but around here within the homeschool community there is a love and desire for Forest School. Groups of homeschool children gather and go for walks in the forest where they learn a love for nature. In the process they are, depending on the group, taught skills to help them with practical skills. But for children to learn these skills, they need adults who also know the skills. Hence the need for a book such as Forest School for Grown-ups.

ALSO with the upsurge in camping novices learning to enjoy forests, trail walking, and living outside a book like Forest School will be hugely helpful. If you didn’t know to build a campfire, use a compass, or make an emergency tent peg… you might be stuck, this book will help!

Not only that though, you can learn how to make an axe, read the rings on a tree, identify flowers, blaze a trail, engage in forest bathing, and even learn about forest gods. If it has anything to do with a forest, learn about it here.

The Basic Details of Forest School for Grown-Ups

160 pages, 8 chapters, resource page, illustrations, photos, maps, along with articles and step-by-step guides. Authored by Richard Irvine and illustrated by Paul Oakley, and published by Chronicle books.

At almost 2 lbs, it’s a heavier book. It feels nice and solid in the hand, and is well-suited to being a hardcover.

I am reviewing on behalf of Raincoast Books.

Looking deeper

As you can see, there are 8 chapters, running approximately 30 pages long.

The forest year comprises of the four seasons and how forests change with them. You’ll learn such things as how to make ink, identify insects and flowers and even make mushroom prints. Delving into some of the historic mysticism of forests and the joy of wolves returning to Yellowstone Park.
Survival Skills covers the practical arts of living in a forest: fire building, shelter, filtering water, reading the weather etc. You’ll discuss mystical beasts such as sasquatch.
Food and the forest covers food, foraging, cooking, making jams, fishing, etc.
Navigation: map-making, using a compass, reading clues from the trees, constellations etc.
Woodland skills has you learning about wood, cutting down trees, doing charcoal burning, etc.
Forest projects teaches you knot making, building a shelter, utensils and fireplace, and more.
Forest in Mind discusses the connection we have with forest and the community we build through exploring it.
The last chapter, forest fun and creativity, has the reader making a gym, searching for fossils, skipping stones and generally finding ways to engage with nature.

Each section contains some type of forest mysticism. People throughout the ages have made up creatures that live in the forest, forest gods that control them, hauntings and more. These sections are readily identifed with a green hued image.

Some little details

You’ll find exquisite lino cut art and illustrations running throughout. The detailed drawings do an excellent job of showcasing the text.

Occasionally instead of illustrations you’ll discover full colour photos. They are usually grouped together to demonstrate the variety of life to be discovered.

Add it to your shelves?

There is a whole lot that I like in Forest School for Grown-ups. I like the variety in subjects and how they cover not only the practical but also the mystical. There is more to study in forest school than one might initially think. BUT one of the things I didn’t see was how to prepare for backcountry camping!

This guidebook has a lot of text, and it’s purpose to educate adults into understanding not only the forest of day, but also the forest of the past. Understanding the history and the mysticism of the wood. But knowing how to navigate and survive in the forest… hugely important! 🙂 I love the focus on learning skills, and the images to help us learn them!

Occasionally the reading is a bit of a slog, but mostly it isn’t. Mostly it’s very informative and seeking to open the eyes of adults to the wonder of nature. The way it is laid out makes it easy as an adult to teach those skills to youth.

Hedgehog’s Home for Winter

January 26, 2022 By Annette1 4 Comments

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Hedgehog’s Home for Winter) through Ascot Media Group. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so.

Oh my…. I like this book! 🙂 Hedgehog’s Home for Winter is a look into seasonal change and how animals live through the winter. So if you are looking for a way to help your littles (or even introduce some olders) understand how animals survive the winter… this book will help. Hedgehog has much to learn, and so we can learn with him!

Learning about Hedgehog’s Home for Winter

Clever Publishing has put together this lovely book entitled Hedgehog’s Home for Winter. This hardcover book was written by Elena Ulyeva. And boy, it’s a cute book, while being educational! You’ll find the animals are rather anthropomorphized but it suits the style of the book. It provides talking points, at least it would for me, asking children if they really thought wild mice slept in bed like people. 🙂

The Illustrations are provided by Daria Parkhaeva, she has illustrated both of the Hedgehog books. You’ll find lots of colours, with about 1/2 the 32 pages done in full colour. The other half make good use of white space, showing action as Hedgehog moves from friend to friend. Children up to grade two will enjoy the excellent depiction of the various animals and the natural use of colour.

I love hedgehog’s heart desire. He wants to help his friends! Birds, fish, bear, squirrel and more. He takes the time to check in on all them. Itsn’t that thoughtfulness a wonderful thing to see?

You’ll find the font a great size to read sitting down in a comfy couch with child at your side, or reading with a large group of children gathered round. There are authomatic stopping points as you walk with hedgehog checking on his friends. Who might he go to next, what might he find? Do you think he’ll check on a toad or a bird next? Why don’t we find out together?

Should it be yours?

Learning about how animals make it through the winter is an important part of nature studies. Hedgehog’s home for winter is a good introductory book into learning about their survival skills. Since Hedgehog is the main character it makes me think this is European based (no wild hedgehogs in Canada at least!) 🙂 So it might also be a good introduction to learning a bit about European wildlife. I never knew that hedgehogs hiberate!

This is a wonderfully illustrated book with tons of talking points, and a hedgehog showing compassion to others. Well worth reading whether looking at animal survival skills or character development. It’s must have been hard for a hibernating hedgehog to stay awake and then run all over the forest checking in on his friends. But because he cared… we got to learn about how his friends manage the cold. A good premise for a book yes?

Willodeen

November 10, 2021 By Annette1 2 Comments

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Willodeen) through Raincoast Books. Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so.

I have been WAITING for Willodeen to get to the top of my review pile of books. This book was sent to me in the prettiest, most intriguing packaging…I almost thought it was a gift! But alas, not a gift. Once I realized that I was so sure that I had taken pictures of it all, or at least a short video. But find those pictures? Not to be! Growl…. you’ll just have to believe me I guess! 🙂 AND you know what? Willodeen lived up to it’s packaging.

The facts about Willodeen

Children 8-12 years old will enjoy learning about hummingbears and screechers and following the life of Willodeen. Willodeen, a bright young girl, orphan, living with two older ladies, who runs free and rarely attends school. She is a lover of all things in nature, particularly of the unlovable Screechers. This illustrated edition starts off with a bit of a fairytale beginning, but quickly turns into sweet story. The story brings to bear how closely connected we all are with nature, and how upsetting it’s balance is potentially dangerous. Ecology, nature, fantasy, and friendship are all part of this engaging story.

Digging Deeper

The story starts off like this: “The little creature appears late one afternoon on an old carousel in the village of Perchance. She is propped, dazed and damp as a newborn, on the saddle of a wooden unicorn…… Her head turns this way and that. She seems to be in fine condition. But where is she? And more importantly, WHY is she?” And so, we are plunged headlong into Willodeen’s story. As the story continues you learn of the hatred folks hold for the Screechers, and get introduced to the hummingbears which are greatly loved. This dichotomy creates issues that need to be resolved by book’s end.

THIS is a Screecher! Doesn’t the artist do an excellent job of bringing this beastie to life? The illustrations continue randomly throughout the pages. All the illustrations were in grey-scale, and I just love the attention to detail. I’m like the main character, thinking Screechers make for a fascinating beast!

Most chapters are introduced with this tree, though occasionally a snail shows up. If you want to know why a snail, you’ll need to read the story! Snails play an important role for sure!

Most of the time the text is standardized, but when something different is happening, the font changes to highlight that. A very easy read. None of the words are overly complicated, but there is enough challenge to make it interesting. I expected Willodeen to take me 3-4 lunch breaks to read through, but after my first half hour I was hooked and needed to finish it as soon as I got home from work. 🙂

Willodeen, does it belong on your shelves?

I would be happy to give Willodeen as a gift to any nature-loving, mystery intrigued, young person. It would be a fun read-aloud to a group of children. There is nothing particularly objectionable, the older ladies that Willodeen lives with have a very loving relationship but I don’t recall anything in your face problematic. It is fun watching this young lady develop friendships (both human and animal) and grow more into herself.

I think the age range is appropriate, though I’d be more inclined to present this to a youth 8-10 years old rather than 11-12 given the language and brevity. That said though, I, as an adult, thoroughly enjoyed this book. The freedom granted to Willowdeen so she could explore and learn what she truly needed. She learns the importance of speaking up for those who can’t speak for themselves. Following that, the importance of education and friendship.

Oh, if you are about to embark on a study of nature or ecosystems or how we need to be careful with the world we live in. This lovely tome would make an excellent introduction to the topic and provide lots of talking points! 🙂

Insects at the beach

May 31, 2021 By Annette1 11 Comments

Affiliate links will be used in this post.

Two challenges face me this week… insects (crew challenge) and the beach (online book challenge)! The question is, how do I combine these challenges? As I considered the word beach I remembered a book I read last fall called Beach Music. In that hardcover read I was introduced to the plight of sea turtles, and how they slapped mosquitos at the beach. Ergo a good combination would insects at the beach… don’t you think?

Now the insects that one finds at the beach kinda depend on where your beach is. I find more insects readily available on the beach near small lakes. Insects are somewhat less prevalent I find at the beaches from the great lakes, but if you look for them, you’ll find them. It could also be that I’m not paying as much attention as I’m usually at Lake Huron to swim and socialize, not relax and notice nature! 🙂

Insects at the beach that annoy

I know when I go to the beach at Lake Huron the sandflies irritate me! Annoying little pests that go after my ankles. A small fly, they pack a nasty bite. They seem to be worse when the weather is humid, so going to the beach when it’s just slightly chill, or there’s a wind blowing is ideal for avoiding them.

The same goes for mosquitos! A slight wind, and they stay away. And the bonus is, on somewhat windy days, the beach is way less crowded too!

Of course one can use a variety of repellants as well to hold them off. I don’t really like using repellants, particularly at the beach since it just washes off in the water and I’d rather not poison the water critters.

Insects that Delight

Water striders. I will always be fascinated by these crazy insects. They are just too cool floating on the top of the water. You won’t find them on busy beach days at Lake Huron or where the waves are coming in rough at all, but those calm glassy days…the striders will be out! But by smaller lakes and ponds you’ll find them, and in streams going along nature trails you’ll find them in abundance.

I’ve also seen water beetles at our local beach. I freely admit that I don’t know the names to all these beetles, some are water bugs, others are boatmen, some bite easily, others avoid contact at all costs it seems, but they are really neat to observe as they dart around in the water. Again, calm, quiet days are best to observe them. Sometimes I wonder where they go when the waves are rushing in.

Moths and butterflies flit about, as do dragonflies chasing after the mosquitos and sand flies. I thoroughly enjoy watching the dragonflies, they are so quick and precise in their movements. You’ll find all sizes of them, but note, not all that look like dragonflies are, some are actually damselflies. Canadian wildlife will help you tell the difference.

Over the years we have caught several as my lad was quite fascinated with them for quite some time. They don’t keep well in captivity due to their need for food, but to catch and observe and then release, works really well.

OH! I shouldn’t forget the ants. I always find ants at the beach regardless if at Lake Huron or out camping. There are so many different types of ants it’s actually quite amazing. We also find tons of small spiders as well, but they technically aren’t insects what with lacking wings and having too many legs. 🙂

Things to help in your observations

Something you might want to do is make a Pooter… it’s a device you use for catching small insects and spiders. Very simple to make. You just need a jar with a lid and some flexible tubing. Some lung power to suck the insect up and voila! A chance to closely observe insects with the equal ability to let them go free afterwards.

For larger insects like dragonflies and butterflies you’ll need a good bug net and patience. Word to the wise, avoid the kids bug nets… they fall apart so easily and really aren’t worth the money. Get a good quality one and it will last you until your children are no longer interested in insects. 🙂

In fact, if you are going to the beach to just look for insects you’ll want to bring along all your nature study tools, and even a bug collecting tent. We got a lot of use out of this collapsible one and eventually learned to make our own out of old tenting mesh and wire clothes hangers.

If you have a fascination for ants (or your children do) make a formicarium or glass ant farm to keep them in. Keep them well-fed with mealworms and honey and make sure they have water. Catching a queen means it will last far longer as ants need a leader and a job to do in order to live well.

This post is part of the blogging through the alphabet challenge as well as the online Book club.

Fellow Participants for the Online Book Club are

Nature Study Bring Alongs

August 11, 2020 By Annette1 13 Comments

I was chatting with a gal in my Facebook Group the other day about nature study and things to bring along with you when you go. I thought it might be helpful to share with you what my nature study bring alongs would be.

Bring alongs would include such things as sketch pads, cell phone, nature books, writing instruments, magnifying glass or travel microscope, and a note pad. Let’s talk about why these things are important. This post will include affiliate links where possible.

Nature Study Bring Along, tiger bee fly on a wall

As I wrote this post I was thinking about 10 ways you could engage in nature study summer. I was thinking about how have a go to nature study bag is vital to that. I know the summer is a bit more than half way through but pretty soon autumn will be here and that’s a SUPERB time to get out into nature. It’s so important to have a bag ready to go, meaning that on those hard to school days you can just grab up the kids and hit one of the local trails.

Sketch pads

Why do you need a sketch pad? Because you need one!

Jotting down notes, doing a quick outline so you can remember important features of the plant/animal/insect/bird/fungi/water thingey so you can look it up when you go home.

OR to simply take time to do a detailed drawing of that interesting leaf, to do an image in relief of tree bark, leaf, etc.

A Sketch pad is an invaluable addition to your nature study book bag. I learned that for me and my lad that the smaller ones worked better for us than the big pads. We could fit two into a smaller bag making for lighter travelling. We tended to like the side bound ones but we have friends who like the top bound.

You can get good quality pads, or do the cheapies from the dollar store. whatever fits your budget. The important thing is the preservation of what you see, and the… taking of the moment to really look at what’s out there.

Cell phone

Do you HAVE to have a cell phone? Of course not. We did plenty of walks without the phone but I found it easiest to answer the lad’s questions immediately and I loved using the notebook feature to jot down questions I couldn’t quickly answer. Answering one question would often lead to another question, whereas taking notes and saying let’s look when we get home stifled further questions when the desire was right there!

But having a cellphone with an active data plan was great for those spontaneous questions that I didn’t always have the answer to.

My current phone is a umidigi f1 and I love it! No bloat ware, fast, does everything I want it to for the fraction of what some of the name brands cost. An excellent phone that I am so glad I got the case for as this one goes with me everywhere. It has saved my phone more than once.

Nature books

Okay, honestly, we never brought along nature books. We occasionally brought nature cards along with us and a couple times “make art from things in nature” books along. Mostly though, we just grabbed pen and paper and off we went. BUT I know that some people greatly benefit from bringing along their nature books.

When we go camping I bring along these books.

Mushrooms of Ontario (simply because I have a love of fungi)
Field guide north American birds.
Mammals of North America.
Reptiles of North America (my son’s influence)

Writing instruments

You will need something to write with. I like bringing along both pen and pencil. My preference is for pencil but they so often break that having a working pen along just helps with notetaking. The pencil though serves not only for taking notes but for making quick sketches as well. I never bring my best along with me because losing things is something TOO easy for me to do. Always bring along one extra. You’ll need it! 🙂 An eraser might be a good idea too!

bloom blooming blossom blur — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Magnifying glass or travel microscope

You know those cheap little magnifying glasses you can get? They work GREAT for nature study. Looking into the cracks on trees to find small insects or spiders, getting up close to mosses, examining the spores on ferns, and just about anything else. Take the time to examine the minutae. You won’t regret it. God has provided so much variety, and yet, so many interconnections between species. It will blow your mind.

IF you want a slightly more indepth look on your nature studies… then bring along a traveling microscope. They make them in all size now it’s amazing. The first time I saw what a small hand-held microscope could do I was stunned.

You can get pocket microscopes or digital microscopes. These allow for greater clarity and closer inspection of what you are looking at. I wish I’d had one when the lad was little. The amazement we could have shared! 🙂

Note pad

A note pad, scratch pad, old paper, whatever you want. Have something on which you can take a quick note, particularly if you don’t want to the waste the paper is a good quality sketch pad. Jot down those questions from your children (or even yourself) so you can look up the information later. You will never regret having spare paper along with you.

Anything Else?

What you bring along depends on where you are going. If on a longer hike you’ll want to bring water and some sort of travel food with you. If going on QUITE a long hike, a compass, map of the area, extra clothing, an emergency blanket and a first aid kit would come in handy.

But for your average, let’s go to the park or the local small bush type hike, these are the basics of what you’ll need. I’ve learned it’s great to bring along a plastic bag for garbage you see along the way. And another bag for any not damaging to nature items you want to bring home… like a pretty rock, empty pine cone, or some deadfall leaves.

Plan to leave the world a better place than you found it right?

Have I missed anything you consider essential to doing nature study? What nature study bring alongs would you add?

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses shares My Must Have Homeschool Resources.

Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach shares Homeschooling Must Have Resources and Supplies in Our Home.

Annette @ A Net in Time shares Nature Study Bring Alongs.

Jessica @ My Homeschool with a View shares My Top 5 Homeschool Supplies.

Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag shares Must Have Supplies … For Mom.

Vicki B @ Tumbleweed News shares Homeschool Must Have Resources / Supplies.

Yvonne @ The Life We Build shares her Top 5 Favorite Homeschool Supplies and Resources.

Lori @ At Home: Where Life Happens shares Homeschool Supplies… Squirrel.