Natural History Club- Wildflowers & Flowerless Plants

Round two!

Again, we'll be continuing with the AO nature study rotation.  As the weather warms up I'm hoping to gain some momentum.  The Handbook of Nature study is the go-to resource for us parents.  It's not a great read aloud, but will give you knowledge and confidence as you guide your children into a relationship with nature.

I suggest, on top of reading the opening section on how to study nature, page 453 on "How to Begin the Study of Plants and their Flowers."

As the sections are laid out I suggest a course of study as follows, taking 2 weeks for each:

Flowers Anatomy
Spring Wildflowers
Ferns/ Horsetail
Mosses
Mushrooms
Mold/Bacteria

These special studies time should only take 20-30 min per week.  You could add more time for older students.  Also, it is only natural that the youngest of children will be more interested in flowers, whereas the older ones may have more capacity to study bacteria/mold.  Don't worry too much and let the children take what they will from the "feast."

This is a wonderful time of year to be considering plants!  Many of us are getting gardens ready, starting seeds, and visiting plant nurseries.  Perhaps you could plant some natives in your yard?  I've heard that Sargents has a good selection.  Involve the children in whatever you can.  Learn the plant anatomy and use the correct terms in conversation.  The HONS talks about this.

Wildflowers of Minnesota has been a useful field guide for our family as we've gotten aquatinted with flowers over the years.  It's very easy to use and narrows down the choices to search through, versus a general Peterson or Audubon guide.

Make daily observations around your yard to see what is coming up as the season changes.  Encourage weekly nature journal entries, including not only drawings but also notes and observations.

This is a subject where you could play around with flower pressing or printing.  You could also start an herbarium!  So many fun examples if you search google images!  Like this site!  These kinds of things would be fun to share with each other, too.  It is my hope the kids (and adults!) would have journals and such things that they would be proud to exhibit to each other.

Consider the relationship between insects and plants.

Whitewater and Carley have some fun flowery/mushroomy activities you may enjoy as a family.  https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/event.html?id=54959
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/events.html

Again, you can look at Sabbath Mood's science book suggestions for living book ideas.  Feel free to share on the FB page as we go along, any books or resources you're finding helpful or fun!  We've been enjoying the "Let's Read and Find Out" science book series here.

ADE's podcast episode on special studies may also be of interest.

This website has some tips on what wildflowers to look for during the term.  There are also a couple of Facebook groups here and here that are good places to connect with local wildflower enthusiasts.

The dates for our monthly outings are:
4/17 Nerstrand State Park
5/22 Carley or Whitewater (depending on the bluebell blooming time)
6/19 Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

(*Note*  I altered May's date to be the 4th Tuesday since my family will be in the middle of theatre production week on the third week.)


Also hoping to have a naturalist share for a short time before each outing.  Will update via FB.