Wildflowers — Montessori Nomenclature & Nature Study
Published on: July 26, 2009
Take a walk on the wild side. You can find so many beautiful and interesting things when you walk with your children. Our favorite things to observe are wildflowers — they blossom in spring, summer, and early fall, and discovering different types together is a wonderful shared activity.
Most parks don't want you picking wildflowers, so taking a photo is a lovely way to save their image. You can then match your photos to a set of three-part cards to build vocabulary and classification skills.
To learn how to assemble and use these cards, see How to Make Reading & Nomenclature Cards. For more nature-study nomenclature, try the Snail Nomenclature Cards and Roots activities, or the Sprouts & Grow-It-Again gardening newsletter.
Recommended Materials
If you want to take your wildflower nature study a little further, these two inexpensive tools pair beautifully with the cards and your nature walks:
- Wildflower Field Guide and Press for Kids (Hand in Hand With Nature) — a child-friendly identification guide with a built-in press, so children can identify a flower on a walk and preserve it to match against the nomenclature cards later.
- Kids Magnifying Glass (5X Handheld Jumbo, set of 2) — lets little hands examine petals, stamens, and leaf veins up close, turning a simple walk into real observation work.
Learning is Exciting!