nature notebooks : the rose garden

we are so fortunate to have the rose garden as our neighborhood park. we load up our lunches, paints, & sketchbooks, walk two blocks, & there were are, surrounded by endless natural inspiration!

we try to do a nature journaling excursion, at the rose garden or elsewhere, once a week. we are learning to identify plants, insects, & birds, & also learning to watercolor. the children record their thoughts, observations, date, name of what they've identified/painted, & sometimes add portions of a poem we've read together. they are still learning to write, so when they tire, they narrate their thoughts for me to write.