What to do with Little Ones ~ Nature Study

Well, what a long time it has been between posts!  I am determined, however to continue my series on What to do with the Little Ones.  I've been reminded lately to be more intentional with my time with my little ones.  My youngest daughter is 6, and my son is fast approaching 4, and is eager to learn and "do school." 
One of the first things we did when the big girls were about 4 and 5 was to go on nature walks.  We would go for a walk around the block, or to the local park, and pick up different leaves or cones to bring home for identification.  We would also try to identify trees by their leaves, or the birds and insects at the park and in our backyard.  If you have access to a good beach, go and look at shells and try to identify them. Sometimes we would draw our finds in our nature books, but almost always we would look them up in our nature books. 
Here are some helpful New Zealand nature books for identification of New Zealand flora and fauna:

This is just one of a series of pocket guides to New Zealand wildlife. We own this one, as well as one on native trees and shrubs, and one on New Zealand birds.  They are great for identifying common species, not just natives.

This book is from another GREAT series by Andrew Crowe.  They include life-size photos of common species in New Zealand, and you can get books on insects, native trees, birds, sea-life, wild-flowers, or for ease of use, some of them come in a plastic-covered fold-up pocket guide, for while you are at the park or the beach.  These books are readily available from your local bookstore or you can buy online at Fishpond.

Dave Gunson also has a great series of books on NZ nature.  I recently picked up the above book on sale at our local bookstore for $10.00.  This book not only has lovely illustrations of shore life, but also includes information about each species, and its location within the different tidal zones. 

We have many more books on NZ nature, many of which I have picked up at library book sales for just a few dollars.

So get out there and enjoy the beautiful natural world that God has given us here in New Zealand!  Your children will love it, and I believe, they will have a life-long love and interest in God's creation.

Autumn Haiku

I have often started my girls off with nature diaries, but they have never really taken off. Not that we dont' "do" nature study, but I've been a bit fussy about trying to find the "ideal" notebooks for the girls to use.

One of the other problems was the reluctance of one of my girls to draw, but after several drawing workshops with Graham Braddock, and some basic art lessons, she has gained a lot of confidence.

In our little co-op yesterday, we gave the girls their new notebooks and sent them outside to draw whatever they liked. Then with the help of our collection of NZ nature identification books we helped them identify their pictures so that they could label them in their books. In addition, inspired by "Poem in your Pocket Day", I had the girls write simple Haiku poems to go with something they had drawn. I found a helpful webpage here. Instead of announcing to the girls that I wanted them to write a poem, I asked them to write down a few little notes about the things they drew. Then we picked out several of the descriptive words and formed them into Haiku poems, which they wrote into their nature notebooks. Here are some of the results:

Purple Hebe growing

On the big green bush

Sunset Boulevard

The Red Robin leaf

On our hedge around the front

Growing very well.

Three heart-shaped leaves

Growing along the stone path

Oxalis flowers.

Red velvet petunias

Spilling over the sides of

A terracotta pot.

Very fluffy seeds

Dandelion on the lawn

blow the seeds away.

Pohutukawa, the New Zealand Christmas Tree

This is a Pohutukawa tree, native to New Zealand. Because of its beautiful red flowers it has come to be known as the "New Zealand Christmas tree." This is also partly because it flowers in summer, mainly in the northern parts of the North Island, which is around our Christmas time! The image of the flowering Pohutukawa on a beach is a typical scene at this time of the year.

See The Bushman's Friend for more information on the Pohutukawa tree.

Pukaha Mt. Bruce

A few weeks ago we visited Pukaha Mt. Bruce with my sister, her husband and their two little boys. Pukaha Mt. Bruce is a Department of Conservation reserve, specifically set up for the purpose of captive breeding in order to preserve the kiwi, our most popular native bird. The reserve also looks after other native birds and houses the elusive tuatara.

It was difficult to take pictures of the birds as they were amongst bush and too far away, but I will show you some pictures we did get.

These are not birds (obviously!) but the children all found the eel feeding interesting. These NZ native long fin eels swim all the way to Pacific waters near Tonga to spawn. The larvae return to NZ in the ocean currents. They only breed once in their lifetime and are considered to be a threatened species.

Undoubtedly, the highlight of our day was the Kaka feeding. The kaka are a cheeky native bird and are lots of fun to watch at feeding time.
They were fed a spread of jam-water, fruit, nuts, veges and seeds. The kaka know to come to the feeding area at 3 pm each day. We arrived there just before that, and not long after between 30 and 40 kaka came swooping into the feeding green from the trees around us. They would swoop right across our heads into the feeding stations.
The kaka are known as the "clowns of the forest" as they bicker over their food and tumble through the trees, hanging from their feet or bills. They were lots of fun!

A kaka nesting box.

The Takahe are a funny looking bird. They have beautiful bright coloured feathers and came out for viewing this day!

There are less than 200 of these flightless birds left in New Zealand.

These little New Zealand natives are also quite cheeky, and love to spend their lunchtimes rolling down hills ;-)

I must give credit to Bethany for most of these photos.

Nature Talks to New Zealanders

I just received an email through the CMandFriends-ANZ@yahoogroups.com list to say that Nature Talks to New Zealanders by Philip Crosbie Morrison is now available as an e-book. You can find it at Down Under Literature. Thanks Michelle for making this great book available again!

Favourite NZ Nature Study Books

Here are some of our favourite New Zealand nature study books:

The Life-Size Guide to Insects and Other Land Invertebrates of New Zealand and others in the series by Andrew Crowe have life size photos of many common species. This makes it easy for you and your children to identify the nature you find in your own backyard!

Philip Crosbie Morrison's books are lovely too. He was a naturalist and hosted a radio programme back in the 1950s or 60s. The titles we have are called The Junior Naturalist - Nature Talks to Australian & New Zealand Children, published 1966 and Nature Talks to New Zealanders, published 1962. The books have chapters on different nature topics, from "The 'humble' bumble-bee" to "The Immaculate seagull." The books also have lovely illustrations.

We also have some little books by Murdoch Riley, Shrubs & Small Trees, New Zealand Wildlife, and Know your New Zealand Birds. These have lovely illustrations by artist Peter Scaife, who was a customer of ours when we had a picture framing business in the Wairarapa. Great little books for learning and identifying common NZ species.

We have also enjoyed The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. Although it is English, it still has beautiful illustrations of many of our common plants & birds. We also refer to our copy of Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock often.

New Zealand Nature Alphabet

I have been inspired by Geninne's watercolour alphabet here so I tried my own New Zealand version. Here it is: