Drawing Fun!

Today was a beautiful day! The kids and I were able to get outdoors and enjoy the sun. I thought it would be fun to have them keep a nature journal. Charlotte Mason recommends that children have this type of journal, so they can draw everything they see in nature. It will help them later as a reference and would be something fun to look back on.

They quickly gathered their art books, pencils, and colored pencils and hurried outside. We took a walk around our house to see if we could find anything interesting to draw. I felt slightly limited since we live in town. I think a park or somewhere out in the country would have more to offer. Though it is only early spring, and everything (no matter where we go) is still a little brown and most plants are just now starting to shoot up out of the ground. However, we do have some crocus flowers in our front yard. I just had to ask them to draw those.

They are so pretty!

I know it's not quite Mason's teaching; I should have let them choose what they wanted to draw. Next time I'll let them pick anything they want. This time it was my choice. ;-) As they worked on their drawings, we heard lots of birds chirping and saw a few cardinals. It was quite enjoyable to do something different for a change. We also took our Miniature Magnifier/Microscope outside with us. I love that thing! We looked at our chive plants, sand, seeds, moss, and a worm.

~Drake's picture~
His drawing focused on showing not only the flowers but the bush beside them too. He was careful to draw nature exactly as he saw it.

~Ava's picture~
Her drawing focused directly on the flower and also included detail of the crumbled leaves that were scattered around on the ground.

I hope to incorporate more fun days like this into our school!