Stan Tekiela and Karen Shanberg have created an amazing set of resources for children, which is ideally suited for grade school and middle school homeschoolers. Nature Smart, published by Adventure Publications, includes Plantworks, Nature Smart: A Family Guide to Nature, Nature Log Kids and Bird Log My twelve-year-old daughter fell in love with the logs immediately. Both logs are spiral-bound with card-board covers and sturdy pages. The publishers believe these to be the only subject-specific journals that exist for kids. The bird log includes a glossary of common bird-related words, and the definitions are simple enough for most older grade school students.

Sample:

"Territory: An area defended by one or several birds, usually used for feeding and often for nesting. The area may be small, only surrounding one bird, or as much as several square miles."

There are two pages where children can begin a life list of birds they have sighted and 30 log entries to describe the siting and the bird. Information that can be recorded on each bird include: season, weather conditions, location, number, distinctive markings, colors, wing shapes, tail and beak appearance, activity, sound, nest and egg description and a place to draw a picture. On the sides are activities or facts relating to birds. One page suggests children make up a new kind of bird, using the parts of at least three other birds. One fact page admits that the beautiful feathers we admire on peacocks are not really tail feathers, but actually grow out of the back. The end of the book has space for photos and drawings, an index of information by activity, and an index the child creates of her art work.

The Nature Log is very similar. It has tips to help children learn how to keep a good log. Each log entry has room to record what the child saw, the date, where it was and observations, as well as a space for a drawing or photo. To the side of each log page, the authors have included facts, games and service projects.

Plantworks is a combination field guide, recipe and activity book. The authors have chosen fifteen wild plants, usually considered weeds, which can be eaten. The introduction is a guide to organizing a group outing to gather the plants. The authors recommend starting with the food aspect, asking your children to choose one of the recipes in the book to prepare, and then asking if they would like to gather some of the ingredients themselves. Experience has shown them that children will even eat greens if they gathered them themselves. There are good rules to teach the children, including the need to be absolutely sure you have picked the right plant. The next chapter is on how to dry plants for storage by several methods. Then comes the good part: the recipes. The cookbook section is divided into categories: In the Skillet, (stir-fry and batter-fry), In the oven, on the stove, and no cooking required. They point out that cooking from scratch reduces wasteful packaging, reminding readers that about half the paper in the United States is used in packaging. After a day in the woods, (or the backyard), you can try acorn pancakes, fresh-frittered flowers (using dandelions), cheesy lamb's quarter quiche, Italian stuffed grape leaves, cattails and cheese, and rose petal candy, as well as many other interesting foods. Now you know what to do with those dandelions!

The Natural Histories section provides you with the information you need to locate each plant discussed in the book. There is a list of facts (half the world's food comes from three species of plants. Can you guess which ones?) The history of the dandelion includes the scientific name, the composite family, a labeled drawing and a photo. You'll learn what the name means, and that all species of dandelion are edible. There is also a history of the plant and how mistaken ideas about dandelions are hurting the environment.

The next section has hints for hiking with a group, and was written for adults who are taking groups of children out. It describes activities to break up the hike or gathering section, such as counting activities, making rubbings and prediction games. The book even suggests theme hikes for thematic units, such as a poetry hike. There are games, like bingo, and a variety of worksheet activities, such as bingo, coloring, word finds, and crossword puzzles. Finally there are hands-on activities to do when you return home, including crafts, like wrapping paper and planters, and even more recipes. (You will get to turn a nice healthy leaf into a chocolate junk-food snack.) You can even learn to make your own food dehydrator or leaf press. The book finishes off with a glossary and index.

Nature Smart is a nearly 300 page guide to nature which can be used as a text book for the unit. This book was written for children to read, and vocabulary words are in large blue print with pronunciation guidance. It begins with chapters on various ecosystems, such as wetlands, prairies, and woodlands. The vocabulary is rich, but may be challenging for younger children. However, the writing reads aloud very well. Here is a sample introduction, from the chapter on woodlands:

"In the past, travelers took elaborate detours around forests that they believed held monsters and demons. The forest was feared because it was not understood. This lack of understanding bred stories like that of Little Red Riding Hood. Timber wolves, in particular, were thought to carry away young children and kill just for the pleasure. That reputation led to the wholesale killing of this mammal, even thought the wolf has never made a documented attack on a human. In fact, this predator helps to protect the woodlands."

The chapter explains the values of forests, the history, the ecosystem, the types of forests, the levels, micro-habitats, and how to get the most from your visit. Following the ecosystems, there are chapters on birds, bugs, animals, herps, mushrooms, plants, rocks, stars and weather. The appendix includes lists of birding sites by state, Audubon offices, environmental organizations, and a certificate.

Many of the questions children answer are covered in this book: Will it hurt the tree if I take maple syrup from the tree? What's that green stuff on rocks? Can turtles really leave their shells like they do in cartoons? After telling children about each category and answering questions, the authors include field guides for each topic that help you identify rocks, plants, stars and other aspects of nature. There are suggestions for yet more hands-on activities and over 170 colored illustrations.

Although I accepted review copies of these materials, I was under no obligation to write favorably about them, and it would defeat the purpose of my homepage to lie. I loved these books. We're studying biology this year, and we will definitely be using these books. The first time we covered these materials several years ago, it took a tremendous amount of research to gather everything. I can easily create units from these four resources. My children looked them over as well, and pronounced them "totally cool." Everything is easy to understand and well-written, and the activities are fun and unusual. They are just the kind of things I like to use to liven up a school year. I'm a scientific idiot, but I understood these books.

Karen Shanberg has a master's degree in outdoor education and recreation from the University of Minnesota and an elementary teaching certificate. She is involved with Earth Day, National Association of Interpreters, MN Naturalists Association, Kids for Saving the Earth and MN Earthday Network.

Stan Tekiela has been studying wild edible plants for more than ten years and teaches through a variety of organizations in Minnesota.

Dee Brandt lives in Minneapolis, MN and has been as art director/graphic designer for 18 years. Twice she has won first place in a national contest by Child Magazine, NY. Seven photos of her "kidspaces" are included in a book In My World. She is also a fiber artist.

Plantworks has won the Excellence in Interpretation award from the National Association for Environmental Interpretation.

Adventure Publications
P.O. box 269
Cambridge, MN 55008
1-800-678-7006
1-612-689-9039