The Child’s Spring Book

Posted April 13th, 2008 by Jen in arts & crafts, book reviews, education, family life, features, giveaways, science

Spring is here! It came, then ducked under a series of freak hailstorms and a blanket of snow, only to emerge this weekend for good. The kids and I basked in a perfect April day on Friday, obeying the chipper call of the season to go for a hike.

I present to you today the fruit of our outdoor adventure. We made several ziplock-bag-books yesterday, full of specimens of Central Oregon, in particular, Smith Rock State Park, where we had our outing. For those of you who already have your children keep a nature journal, you’ll find this project to be a perfect companion. (I’m giving away two of our books – an Oregon one and a blank one; leave a comment below by next Sunday if you’d like to enter!)

The Zip-Lock Bag Book

Supplies:

• A large bag for collecting your specimens outdoors
• 6-10 quart size ziplock plastic bags per book
• Cardstock or thin cardboard – we cut up old cereal boxes
• Glue stick/glue
• Hole punch
• Twine, string, or metal rings
• Markers, pens, paints, whatever you need to decorate the cover
• Regional wildflower/plant book or Internet

How To:

The Pages:

• Child should separate all the items she collected into type
• Cut cardboard into various sizes, all small enough to fit inside the ziplock bag
• Child should glue one or two specimens onto the cardboard, leaving room for writing
• Using your sources (books, Internet), help child identify each specimen
• Write the location of the find, the date, and the names of the plant on each piece of cardboard/cardstock.
• Place one piece of cardstock with plants/specimens glued on, into each bag.

Assembling the Book:

• Cut out 2 Cardboard/cardstock covers for the front and back, about 1/4 inch larger on each side than your ziplock bags.
• Align the ziplock bags sideways, with the bottom of the bag at the left for binding, the zippered opening at the right for access.
• Hole punch 3 or 4 holes along the side for binding your book, being sure not to punch too close to the edge – I like a 1/2 inch margin.
• Make sure you align the holes so the book binds up neatly!
• Using twine, string it through and tie at each of the 3 or 4 holes; or if you’re using rings, snap them on.

Voila, you have a lovely child’s spring book! One neat thing about this style of book is that it allows such easy access to the items. Each piece of cardstock can be taken out and handled (as children can’t help but do), and easily returned to its proper place. And of course, the see-through ziplock bag is an essential as well, giving full visual stimulation.

JoJo is so proud of her book, and slept with it last night. She couldn’t wait to decorate the cover with the foamy letters she received for her birthday. The other kids chose to use markers and pens to create their cover art.

Some other ideas:

• Include several empty bags at the end of the book for future discoveries
• Add in several sheets of blank paper for any sketches the child creates
• Staple the book together instead of hole-punching
• Use this book for other themes, like leaf or feather collections

The hardest part about this project was the identification. Now, is that an arnica mollis or an arnica parryi? Sometimes, we just made our best guess. The rest of the project took no external motivation at all – this was such a delight for them. But certainly, the identification was one of the most valuable pieces of this book. The kids learned to look critically at a plant and really notice things they hadn’t before. The shape of a leaf, the texture, the number of petals. By the way, we are not done with the identifying – we need to check out a few books from the library.

Like I said above, I’m giving away two of our homemade books, one filled with Central Oregon specimens and the other one blank for your region. Keep in mind that when I do crafts, it’s a fairly practical endeavor – just whatever is on hand – so these books will not be perfect, beautiful things! My 8 year old son will probably be doing most of the work.

This is my plan: I’d like to give these two books to someone with a child who’s interesting in learning about Oregon plant life, and who will use the blank book to create his own regional book. I’m hoping that this child will then create an extra ziplock-bag-book from his region, and another blank one, and pass them on as well. And so on. Leave a comment below by next Sunday, April 20, if you’d like to win these books. My son will draw a random name and I’ll email the winner.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about our spring ziplock-bag-book! I think this is an ideal science/nature/art project for students of all ages. If you have any ideas to add, let me know.

Resources:
How to Identify Plants by H.D. Harrington
A Field Guide to Pacific State Wildflowers by Peterson Field Guides

Technorati Tags: art activities, art for children, Central Oregon, giveaway, home education, homeschool, outdoor play, ziplock bag book, nature journal, Smith Rock, spring