Nature Study

Between global warming, holes in the ozone, and the pollution of our seas and rivers, maybe it is best to keep kids indoors and pacified in front of the television....but probably not. If these aren't real threats then there's nothing to protect our children (or ourselves) from, and if they are real threats—all the more reason to instill a love of nature in the younger generations.

Kids have an inclination toward exploration and learning. Allowing them to do so encourages not only active bodies and active minds, it fosters a healthy imagination and love of beauty. Charlotte Mason understood this over a century ago, and developed a system of education in which nature study played a prominent role. It is in nature, more than in the classroom or the rec room or even the library, that children best learn by observation, and this habit once formed will never disappear.

The often-referenced "childlike wonder" inherent in all of us from a young age (though modern society seems to be stamping it out quicker and more efficiently) isn't just some esoteric feeling of awe. It's literal wonder—kids wonder how birds fly, why their pet dog's fur falls out in summer, where ants go in the winter, why it gets colder and harder to breathe the higher you get. The less contact they have with the natural world, the less wonder they'll have; but the reverse is also true, and kids allowed to roam and explore the outdoors will develop a sense of inquisitiveness that can only help them in the so-called "real world."

Preparation for the Real World of modern myth often takes on peculiar guises. Children are snatched from the fields and streams and placed in front of computer screens or television sets. They are crowded into classrooms and made to feel good about the fact that they are learning nothing at the same rate as everyone around them. They are given plastic toys with supposed educational properties and made to "play" with them under close adult supervision.

Meanwhile, the real real world waits outside the walls and doors and windows with its fresh smells, its colors brighter and more unique than anything on HDTV or Blu-Ray, its real wind, and its endless mysteries. If you don't like answering questions, don't want your kids to grow or exercise, prefer fat and lazy to fit and intelligent offspring, by all means somberly prepare them for a life without questions, and consequently without answers. If you want children who will grown into thoughtful adults with a sense of the loveliness of Earth and their place in it, keeping them inside is possibly the most dangerous choice you can make on their behalf.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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568 Items found Print
Active Filters: 5th grade (Ages 10-11)
100 Things You Should Know about Mammals
by Jinny Johnson
from Barnes & Noble
for 2nd-5th grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
1001 Animals to Spot
by Ruth Brocklehurst
from Usborne
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
7 Continents: Antarctica
by Jo Ellen Moore
from Evan-Moor Educational Publishers
for 3rd-6th grade
in Evan-Moor Geography (Location: GEO-CUREM)
Africa's Vanishing Wildlife
by Chris & Tilde Stuart
1st edition from Smithsonian Books
for 5th-10th grade
in Africa (Location: HISMC-AFR)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
African Critters
by Robert Haas
from National Geographic
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
Alaskan Wildlife - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Jan Sovak
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Habitat Coloring Books (Location: COL-HAB)
$3.99
Album of Birds
by Tom McGowen
from Rand McNally
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in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Album of Dinosaurs
by Tom McGowen, illustrated by Rod Ruth
from Rand McNally
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Album of North American Animals
by Vera Dugdale, illustrated by Clark Bronson
from Rand McNally
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in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Album of North American Birds
by Vera Dugdale, illustrated by Clark Bronson
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
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Album of Reptiles
by Tom McGowen, illustrated by Rod Ruth
from Rand McNally
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Album of Sharks
by Tom McGowen, illustrated by Rod Ruth
3rd Printing from Rand McNally
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Album of Whales
by Tom McGowen, illustrated by Rod Ruth
from Rand McNally
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All About Animals and Their Young
All About Books #25
by Robert M. McClung
from Random House
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in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Birds
All About Books #11
by Robert S. Lemmon, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
1955 Edition from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Cats
All About Books #58
by Carl Burger
from Random House
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All About Dinosaurs
All About Books #1
by Roy Chapman Andrews
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All About Dogs
All About Books #42
by Carl Burger
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All About Fish
All About Books #34
by Carl Burger
from Random House
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All About Great Rivers of the World
All About Books #22
by Anne Terry White
from Random House
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All About Horses
All About Books #43
by Marguerite Henry
from Random House
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All About Monkeys
All About Books #26
by Robert S. Lemmon
from Random House
for 4th-6th grade
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All About Moths and Butterflies
All About Books #15
by Robert S. Lemmon, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Random House
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All About Mountains and Mountaineering
All About #41
by Anne Terry White
from Random House
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All About Strange Beasts of the Past
All About Books #17
by Robert S. Lemmon
from Random House
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All About Strange Beasts of the Present
All About Books #19
by Robert S. Lemmon
from Random House
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All About the Desert
All About Books #21
by Sam & Beryl Epstein, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Random House
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All About the Flowering World
All About Books #14
by Ferdinand C. Lane, illustrated by Russell Francis Peterson
from Random House
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All About the Insect World
All About Books #6
by Ferdinand C. Lane
from Random House
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in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About the Jungle
All About Books #29
by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
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in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Whales
All About Books #8
by Roy Chapman Andrews
from Random House
for 4th-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
Amazon Rainforest
Good and the Beautiful Library Level 7
by Elizabeth Theurnagle
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 4th-7th grade
in GATB Science & Health (Location: CUR-GABSc)
America's Deserts
by Marianne D. Wallace
1st edition
for 4th-6th grade
in Deserts & Grasslands (Location: SCI-ECO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Animal Architects
by W. Wright Robinson
from Blackbirch Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Animal Atlas
by Barbara Taylor
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-7th grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Animal Behavior
Life Nature Library
by Niko Tinbergen
from Time-Life Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Animal Tracks
from Waterford Press
for 3rd-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FG07)
Animals and Their Travels - Deluxe Edition
by Richard A. Martin, series editor Herbert S. Zim
from Golden Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Animals Nobody Knows
by Ivan Sanderson
from Viking Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
Animals on the Move
by Ann and Myron Sutton, illustrated by Paula Hutchison
1968 First Cadmus Edition from Hale-Cadmus
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Animals Up Close
by Igor Siwanowicz
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Animals Without Backbones: Invertebrates
Come Learn with Me
by Bridget Anderson
from Charlesbridge
for 4th-6th grade
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Another Field Guide to Little Known and Seldom-Seen Birds of North America
by Ben, Cathryn, and John Sill
from Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FG07)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Apes and Monkeys
by Deborah Dennard, illustrated by John F. McGee
from Northword Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Mammals (Location: SCI-MAM)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Aquarium Guide
from Answers in Genesis
for 4th-6th grade
in Old Edition Science (Location: OSCI)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Arctic and Antarctic Life - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Ruth Soffer
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Habitat Coloring Books (Location: COL-HAB)
$5.99
Atlantic Fish - Coloring Book
Educational Read & Color Books
by Peter & Linda Spizzirri
from Spizzirri Press
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in Water Life Coloring Books (Location: COL-WAT)
$3.95
Audubon's Birds of America - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Paul Kennedy
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Bird Coloring Books (Location: COL-BIRD)
$5.99
Australian Wildlife - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Ruth Soffer
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Habitat Coloring Books (Location: COL-HAB)
Avenging the Owl
by Melissa Hart
from Sky Pony Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Baby Whale Sharp Ears
by John Y. Beaty, illustrated by Helene Carter
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$80.00 (1 in stock)
Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible
by Sally Roth
from Rodale Press
for 5th-Adult
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Backyard Nature - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by Dot Barlowe
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Habitat Coloring Books (Location: COL-HAB)
$4.99
Barn Owls
by Wolfgang Epple, photographs by Manfred Rogl
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Beetle Is Shy
by Dianna Hutts Aston
from Chronicle Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Nature Study (Location: NAT-GEN)
$16.99
Biography of a Grizzly
Thrushwood Book
by Earnest Thompson Seton
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bird Watchers and Bird Feeders
by Glenn O. Blough, illustrated by Jeanne Bendick
2022nd edition from Purple House Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$12.99
Bird Watching Answer Book
by Laura Erickson, Illustrated by Pedro Fernandes
from Storey Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
Birds - Coloring Book
Educational Read & Color Books
by Peter & Linda Spizzirri
from Spizzirri Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Bird Coloring Books (Location: COL-BIRD)
Birds and Their Feathers
by Britta Teckentrup
from Prestel Verlag
for 3rd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
Birds and their Nests
by Olive L. Earle
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$9.99
Birds at Home
by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Jacob Bates Abbott
from M. A. Donohue & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Birds Every Child Should Know
by Neltje Blanchan
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Birds of Prey - Coloring Book
Dover Coloring Books
by John Green
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-6th grade
in Bird Coloring Books (Location: COL-BIRD)
$4.99
Birds of the Air
Eyes and No Eyes #4
by Arabella B. Buckley
from Yesterday's Classics
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$15.95
Birds of the Air
Eyes and No Eyes #4
by Arabella B. Buckley
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$8.99
Birds of the Pacific Northwest
by John Shewey & Tim Blount, edited by Hendrik Herlyn
from Timber Press, Inc.
for 5th-Adult
in Field Guides: Birds (Location: NAT-FG01)
$29.99 $18.00 (1 in stock)
Birds of the Pacific Northwest Coast
by Nancy Baron & John Acorn
from Lone Pine Publishing
for 4th-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FG07)
Birds of the Puget Sound Region
by Dennis Paulson
from R. W. Morse Company
for 3rd-Adult
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FG07)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Birds: Nature's Magnificent Flying Machines
by Caroline Arnold
from Charlesbridge
for 3rd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$7.95
Birds: Nature's Magnificent Flying Machines
by Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne
from Charlesbridge
for 3rd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Birdwatching Notebook - Grades 3-8
by Jenny Phillips
from The Good and the Beautiful
for 3rd-8th grade
in GATB Science & Health (Location: CUR-GABSc)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Bolivar
by Sean Rubin
from Archaia
for 3rd-6th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Book of Birds
by Sarah Jo Davis & Kalee Miller
2nd edition from Memoria Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$20.50
Book of Birds - Set
from Memoria Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$83.49
Book of Birds - Student Workbook
by Sarah Jo Davis & Kalee Miller
from Memoria Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$17.90
Book of Birds - Teacher Guide
by Sarah Jo Davis & Kalee Miller
from Memoria Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$20.05
Book of Eagles
by Helen Roney Sattler, illustrated by Jean Day Zallinger
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Birds (Location: SCI-BIRD)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Insects - Package
from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Insects & Arachnids (Location: SCI-BUG)
$59.26
Book of Insects - Student Text
by Arabella Buckley & Julia McNair Wright
from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$17.90
Book of Insects - Student Text (old)
by Arabella Buckley & Julia McNair Wright
1st edition from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Old Edition Science (Location: OSCI)
$9.00 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Insects - Teacher Key
by Laura Bateman
from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$20.05 $13.00 (2 in stock)
Book of Insects - Workbook
by Laura Bateman
1st edition from Memoria Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Memoria Press Science (Location: SCICUR-MP)
$17.90 $11.50 (1 in stock)
Book of Small Mammals
by Ted S. Pettit, illustrated by G. Don Ray
from Garden City Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Botany Coloring Book
by Paul Young
1st edition from Harper Perennial
for 5th-9th grade
in Botany & Mycology (Location: SCI-BOT)
Bringing Back the Wolves
by Jude Isabella; illustrated by Kim Smith
from Kids Can Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ecology (Location: SCI-ECO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Bubo: The Great Horned Owl
by John L. and Jean George, illustrated by Jean George
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bug Dictionary
from Tangerine Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Bumper Book of Nature
by Stephen Moss
1st edition from Crown Trade Paperbacks
for 1st-Adult
in Hiking & Outdoor Adventures (Location: NAT-HIKE)
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$12.95
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
Color Edition from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$19.99
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$18.99
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$28.99
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
2nd edition from Little, Brown & Company
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$19.99
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$18.99
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$28.99
Burgess Seashore Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$12.95
Burgess Seashore Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$19.99
Burgess Seashore Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$29.99
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