Nature Field Notebook for Little Muslims

Assalamu alaikum,

The Fall means crisp weather and countless beautiful things to observe that happen in the natural world in this season alhamdulillah. Depending on where you live, you may experience leaves changing colours or migrating animals. This is a key opportunity to take children outdoors (before it gets too cold) to observe, first hand, the changes that the plants and the animals make in preparation for Winter.

This little book, The Little Muslim's Field Notebook, can be used to help children record their observations of all of the wonderful things that happen in the Fall alhamdulillah. They can draw what they see and use simple words or sentences to describe what they saw insha'Allah. If you can, collect some items on your walk to bring back to give children extra time to draw what they saw insha'Allah. For leaves and twigs, only pick up the ones that have already fallen to the ground. Also, be aware of any health concerns related to the plants you observe (or touch). Poison ivy, for example may be lurking in places that you are not aware of.

The book is small (kid sized), and I tried to make it versatile. You can add the pages as you'd like or assemble the entire book at one time (shown below insha'Allah).

Here's what you'll need to assemble the book insha'Allah:

* The Little Muslim's Field Notebook file

* Scissors

* Paper Fasteners or a stapler

* Glue Stick (optional)

The reason I mentioned the glue stick is because when you assemble the book insha'Allah, the page that has space for writing will not be directly across from the page that has space for drawing (it will be on the next page). I wanted my notebook to have the pages across from each other so I used the glue stick and glued the pages together (back to back) on the edges (a very light coating of glue) so that there were no blank white pages in the book. I hope that made sense. If not, maybe the pictures below will help insha'Allah.

We will also use my book, Allah Created Plants, to read before (or even after) we go for our Fall Nature Walk insha'Allah.

I hope this little resource is helpful and fun for the kids insha'Allah. I've also created a label for Kindergarten (*smile*) and this little book is the first activity in that category. Insha'Allah, they'll be lots more in the future.

Enjoy insha'Allah!