Celebrating the Seasons: Nature Advent {Review}

Our beloved nature curriculum Exploring Nature With Children (by Raising Little Shoots) just released an advent guide, and I was so pumped to hear it! I eagerly downloaded it right away and couldn’t wait to see what it was like. I’m starting to see our advent plans take form alongside of this open-and-go guide!

If you’re curious and looking for something to share with your family this advent season, hopefully these FAQs will help you decide if it’s a good fit for you. I am an affiliate and receive a small commission if you decide to purchase through my link. In this post I’ll share what exactly is involved and how I’ll be adapting it in our home.

Click here to download a free sample (look for the “preview” link under the purchase options). 

What is it?

A 90 page PDF guide, currently listed for $12, with a section for each of the 24 days leading up to Christmas. Each day includes a brief scripture reading, prayer to read, outdoor activity, indoor activity (think: a craft or something that ties into what the outdoor activity directed you to do), and a journal prompt (copywork or nature journaling).

What are some examples of the activities?

Outdoor Activity: Take a “textures walk” in nature. Look for things that are rough, prickly, smooth, dry, or slimy. Take a rubbing with a crayon of something textured. Indoor Activity (same day): make Christmas cards using cut out shapes from the rubbings you took.

Outdoor Activity: collect some nature treasures that could be used as paint brushes. Indoor Activity: make natural paintbrushes and create home-made wrapping paper.

Some days’ activities are super simple– address Christmas cards and pray for the recipients; read Christmas stories while sipping hot cocoa; go on a simple picnic with mugs of soup (indoor picnics are fun too on the living room floor!); create an aromatic stovetop simmer; make paper snowflakes.

What are some of the nature themes it explores?

• Create a nature table for your month’s findings on your nature walks
• Traditional Christmas plants– evergreens, Holly, English Ivy, Mistletoe
• Nature themed Christmas carols
• Identifying coniferous/cone-bearing evergreens by type
• Exploring the scents of Christmas
• Temperature tracking, lengths of shadows
• Snowflakes
• Winter solstice, signs of winter
• Winter nighttime sky

How much prep and supply gathering is required?

Not much. The guide itself is “open and go” and the majority of the supplies are common household type items– art supplies like colored pencils or paint, glue, scissors, paper (a large roll for making wrapping paper is suggested one day), maybe some glitter. One activity is creating seasonal playdough, then using it to create ornaments in future days; this requires salt, flour, oil, optional food coloring. Another activity is creating evergreen infused oil which requires a carrier/base oil (like sweet almond or olive oil) and a jar. Journals for each participant are optional but prompts are given daily. These could be simple dollar store notebooks; handmade with paper you have; or something more elaborate if you so choose.

Families are encouraged to create an advent wreath (the first week’s activities are centered around creating this, and weekly lighting of advent candles is used to mark the themes of each week). Lynn provides several examples of simple advent wreaths her family has used over the years. You can gather 5 candles (one for each week of advent plus a central candle that is lit on Christmas Eve), and decorate your space with greenery found outdoors.

What’s the journal all about? Do I have to do this part? My kids are young/don’t want to write.

I am planning to skip this section with my kids because they are writing and drawing averse, and on the younger side. However, the intention is for the journal to be a way of documenting or commemorating the season with your kids. Lynn encourages adults to create alongside of their kids, both participating in the activities for their own sake but also seeing it as a time capsule or scrapbook of sorts. The journaling is often connected to observations in nature (sketching what was seen). It’s more of a nature sketching journal with occasional copywork of Christmas carols, not a traditional journal with writing prompts to practice Language Arts skills.

I hope that gives you a glimpse into this guide and helps you decide if it’s a good fit for your family! Something I always appreciate about Lynn’s curriculum is that you can very easily adapt by picking and choosing what works best in your home, with your energy level, with what your day looks like. Take it as a list of suggestions for connection rather than a list of things to accomplish and you’re in business! Click here to purchase or download a free sample. 

Do you have any questions for me? Feel free to drop them in the comments or connect with me on my Instagram or Facebook pages.

You may also be interested in my advent plans for last year, or my Christmas booklists, especially my Christmas Books for Nature Lovers booklist.

Happy Christmas!