Wilson and Charles Darwin relied heavily on nature walks and journals to not only track their progress, but to review and think philosophically about the intertwined nature of all things. For now, the most important thing is to pay attention and investigate something that interests you.įamous scientists like E.O. There are many formal ways to record and analyze animal behavior, including ethograms where every action and behavior an animal does is recorded for a set period of time.

There are different types of biology – botanists study plants, zoologists study animals, and ecologists study how different populations interact – but all of them rely on observation. Scientists who study the natural world are called biologists. Record your observations in your journal. Watch what they do and count how many you see. Where does it go? How long does it spend in each flower? Do you see yellow powder or pollen on its back? Are there other bees around? Look for ant colonies or other insects. As long as you are cautious and keep your distance, bees shouldn’t bother you.

Ants and bees are easy to watch because you can find them everywhere. The best way to find out what busy insects are doing is to observe. What insects do you see, and what are they doing? How many trees are in your park or on your block? What is the shape of its leaves? What does the bark look like? What is the overall shape of the tree? Write a description and draw pictures. You may not know the name of a tree, but you can find differences by observation. Write it in your journal and, over time, you may see a pattern of behavior or the life cycle. Visit the same place every day and see if there is something new or changing. Pick something outside that interests you, like a patch of flowers, a tree that attracts a lot of birds, or an animal that hangs out in the same spot. Try to observe these changes as they happen. Plants and flowers grow, birds make nests, and spiders and mosquitos seem to appear out of nowhere. One of the amazing things about the natural world is it changes every day.

Make a game of it by using our Nature Bingo card.

Give yourself a nature challenge by trying to answer the questions below.

You can even make your own by cutting pieces of paper and stapling them together.

Find a notebook to use as a nature journal.

But even in our own backyards, on sidewalks and in the park, there are lots of amazing living things. There are living things everywhere! It’s easy to think about nature in wild places – like herds of elk in the Rocky Mountains, alligators in Florida or elephants roaming the African savannah.

Nature bingo free