Backyard Naturalists

Image by Bessi from Pixabay

We're more than halfway through summer and if your kids are already moaning about school starting and want something to do, how about making them backyard naturalists?

I am always amazed at how many children and adults cannot name the species of the tree in the back or front yard or the kind of flowers growing around their neighborhood or the bird that landed on the deck or the insect flying or crawling nearby.

The NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife has created online learning resources for learning about our environment. They have some activities for kids to do while exploring, some outdoor Skills to learn and some species identification to help them become more familiar with the natural world.

There are good field guides to all these things and I have noted some below,
but a free, simple starting place can be this page:

nj.gov/dep/fgw/backyard_naturalist.htm