Do you want your children to do more nature study? Would you like them to even do it on their own time?

I’ve found one way to get my children excited about studying nature - We keep a Nature Bag packed and near the door. They grab the bag often as they head out the door to play, or rush in to get it if some cool discovery is made in the yard. It’s become sort of an adventure bag to them!

We’ve kept many things in our nature bags in the past. I’ll give you a list of fun things to include, but we never keep all these things in it at once. The bag would be way too heavy, and changing the contents keeps it interesting!

hand-held microscope

magnifying glass

identification books - trees, butterflies, rocks, wild flowers, birds, insects

sketch pad and colored pencils

small steno pad and pencils

crayons and white paper for rubbings

bug box

tweezers

binoculars

disposable camera

baggies for collections

how to draw __________ books

scavenger hunt lists

spray bottles of water - for spraying on a spider web or seeing if an ant will come to a puddle of water or cleaning off a dirty rock

sunscreen

bottle of water

I’d love to hear any other ideas you have. Our bag is always open for new nature ideas!

Related Tags: nature study, homeschool, science, fun