Nature is the best teacher

We have recently decided to try and get out in nature more often. It's amazing how much nature you can experience so close to home. We packed up our bags including our microscope, some field guides, books, and notebooks and headed to our closet nature trail. 

We were excited to see hundreds and hundreds of snails. We talked about decomposers and the habitat that is necessary for certain critters to live in. 

We found different varieties of moss.

We even saw a tree that had been struck by lightning and fallen down from the storm the night before. 

We saw a huge black slug.

The highlight was seeing these cute mini frogs hopping around.

We were able to identify some wildflowers and birds. We saw cardinals, golfinches, black vultures, and barn swallows. We were able to collect some standing water and saw many interesting algae and Protista under the microscope. I love that learning from nature is so natural and effortless, not to mention fun and refreshing!