Nature Walks are such a great part of homeschooling. We aim for once a week, which is much easier to do when the weather is nice out. Don’t know what to bring on a hike with kids? Read on!
Amazon Affiliate Links are used in this post. I may earn a few cents on qualifying purchases. Thanks in advance for helping with the costs of running this blog!
Take your nature study to the next level! Over the years, I’ve found these items to be light and useful when curiosity strikes. The kids know the items are in my backpack. Better yet, they might have even packed them in their own backpacks! We do have 4 or more of everything, so each child can have their own.
Pocket Microscope
This is the one we have: Carson Pocket Micro 20x-60x LED Lighted. The coolest thing we have used this for is to watch caterpillars hatch from monarch eggs!
It is not the fanciest one on the market, but is perfect for rolling around in a backpack. People have also recommended microscopes that can clip on to your phone camera.
Fire Starters
We attended a survival class for kids that included building shelters and using these fire starters. It takes practice and you have to strike the fire starters together with a lot of force.
Each fire starter doubles as a whistle and has a compass on it. Tools that have multiple uses built in are my favorite!
Mesh Bags
These mesh bags with straps were gifted to us and they are perfect for my leaf and rock-collecting kids. Now that I look at the description, they are called “shell collecting bags” for the beach!
Multi-Tool
These are such a great gift for when kids turn 8 or 9. My kids have a lovely Leatherman multi-tool while I like to carry around my slim, Victorinox Swiss Army Swiss Card.
Magnifying Glass
These are as slim as a credit card: Pocket Magnifier Fresnel Lens. My father-in-law bought this 20-pack and I think we have 8 of them. My kids can attest to its fire-starting capabilities, in our yard, and the ruler is super handy, too.
Binoculars
I have high-powered bird watcher binoculars, but the kids have their own decent ones. The cheap ones are useless, but we have found these kids binoculars to be durable and functional.