Finding Nature: Identifying flowers, plants and trees

Also see at /https://eileenmoynihan.wordpress.com/kids-and-teens-fan-club/

This time of year is my favourite time of the year, when nature is bursting out everywhere, bringing colour, joy and hope to all. I love finding out about flowers, trees, plants, insects, birds or animals I don’t recognize. I want to find out their names, their habits, their special differences. Where did I get this love for nature and why does it spark my curiosity?

I think it was because my mother would point out different flowers and trees and creatures as we went for walks in the countryside. Sometimes we picked flowers and put them in jam jars or pressed them between some heavy books, when we got home. These days some wild flowers are protected and you shouldn’t pick them, so that is something else to find out.

When we got home we often looked for the flowers and trees etc in books about flowers and trees. ( You can find some in my book, ‘A Posy of Wild flowers’.) Books are a great source of information.

You can also buy posters to put up in a classroom or bedroom.

Recording finds to identify them and remember them

There are many ways these days to record what you have found in nature, some traditional and some using modern technology.

1. Pressing flowers
2. Keeping a journal, drawing pictures and writing notes
3. Photographs with traditional cameras or on smart phones
4. Using a phone app to identify a photo or common features

Blowing dandelion seeds clocks

Whatever age you are, finding out new things in nature can be interesting, exciting and fun. From learning the names, what colour they are, what they smell like, what plants might be used for, when they come out, what form their seed or berries take and what shaped leaves they have or number of petals…and so many other things.