Gift Ideas For Your Budding…Naturalist

What do you get for that child that loves to be outdoors? The one that watches the birds, listens for the squirrels, and hunts for flowers and leaves as you walk. All of my children love to be outside but my five-year-old is particularly interested in studying the various things he finds when we go on ‘adventures’ into the back yard, hiking in the park, or just walking down our road to the river. I love encouraging him to be observant of the world around him and help him learn about the plants and animals.

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The ideas here can help a student learn more about the natural world and encourage exploratory play. You could easily create a wonderful gift basic with a few of these ideas to encourage hours of outdoor adventures. I believe that when we encourage these young naturalists to learn more, we are also encouraging them to appreciate and respect all of God’s creations. As a bonus, they think they are playing and exploring and you get to mark science off the list for the day.

Gift Ideas For Your Budding… Naturalist

Preschool

Magnifying glass
Bug House
Fairy Garden
Bird House
Explorer Kit
Explorer Vest (My son always felt so official and he could store his treasures in the pockets.)

Elementary Ages

Peterson’s First Guides (These are shorter and a bit easier to use than the larger field guides. The wildflower one is a personal favorite but they are all wonderful.)
Pets in a Jar (We bought this book five years ago and my children have all enjoyed it!)
Nest for Celeste (fun book about Audubon for older elementary and middle grade students. We are getting the sequel this year for my son.)
Window Bird Feeder
Nature Journal (When they are young, we have ours draw the pictures and then dictate to us what to write. As they get older they do the writing themselves.)
Ant Farm
Butterfly Kit (This was a favorite with my older children and we are planning to do it again in the spring with my kindergartner.
Garden Tools
Seeds
Bird Song Book
Pressed Flower Art
Humming Bird Feeders (This was a big hit for us this summer and fall.)

Middle School/High School

Audubon Books
Edible Wild Food Cards (My children love these!)
Compass
Hiking Bag
Binoculars (at the time of posting their is a 20% off coupon for this pair.)
Nature Journal for Recording Observations
Handbook of Nature Study (can also be used to help guide younger students.)
Walking Stick (or work with them to make their own)

I have really enjoyed writing these posts this week and gotten most of my Christmas shopping taken care of! If there are other interests or ideas that you have, please feel free to share them and I will be happy to add another post to the list. You can also check out Educational Christmas Ideas (that don’t feel like school supplies), Clutter Free Christmas Ideas, and Twelve Christmas Adventures for clutter free Christmas ideas. If you have other interests or hobbies that you would like to see included, please share in the comments.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.