January Nature Calendar Freebie
My January Nature Calendar is filled with winter-themed outdoor activities, winter nature facts, and plenty of wonderful books. I’m thrilled to share it with you for free (the dropbox link is all the way at the bottom of the post – you can navigate using the table of contents, if you prefer)!
January is a month when homeschoolers often hit a learning slump. On one hand, you want to embrace the energy that comes with ‘starting over’ in a new year – but on the other hand, you just want to lean into the ‘slow’ and the cozy. It’s a conflicting time.
My hope for you is that this month’s Nature Calendar provides you with a little bit of both. I want you to be able to fully embrace the natural urge to rest and be cozy this season with plenty of read-alouds and time spent indoors exploring hobbies… but I also hope to encourage you to avoid the ‘January Slump’ feeling with easy, fun, and engaging activities throughout the month.
Inside each of my free nature calendars, you will find:
- nature facts with sources to learn more
- plenty of read aloud suggestions that fit the season
- weekly poetry tea time ideas that fit the season
- at least one idea for giving back to the community
- simple activities that have purpose (such as making a natural bird feeder)
- ideas to extend time spent outside or on nature walks
- questions that spark curiosity about nature (this can lead to so much learning!)
The Days of January Activity Links
Here is where I’ve broken it all down for you – you’ll find more information about the activities, nature facts and sources, and read aloud choices for each day of the month.
Disclaimer: The ABCs of Motherhood is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps me run my website. Read more about these links in my disclosure policy.
January 1st: Poetry Tea Time: Read “Winter Story” from The Complete Brambly Hedge and enjoy a charcuterie snack board.
I love that the year begins on a Wednesday, because that means it’s poetry tea time! What a sweet way to kick off the year – especially when paired with one of my favorite books ever – The Complete Brambly Hedge. If you don’t already own this one, you need to! It’s a home library must-have. Check out these gorgeous illustrations.
January 2nd: Find a park with a fireplace. Go on a listening walk with friends and make s’mores by the fire afterward.
I know so many of us are in desperate need of some quiet time spent in nature and with friends after a busy holiday season spent with mostly just family (and a lot of overstimulation).
A listening walk sounds like such a lovely way to decompress and the s’mores will be a great incentive to get out in the cold weather.
January 3rd: Some animals, like rabbits and weasels, grow a winter coat that is thick and white to stay warm and camouflaged in the colder months.
Animal adaptations are fascinating! I find it incredible that these animals have brown coats that molt into white winter coats over the colder months. This is a good conversation starter about the importance of camouflage for survival – take it a step further and search images of these animals in their summer and winter coats. (Source and Source and Source)
January 4th: String some dried fruit and cereal together for your backyard birds to enjoy.
Here’s a tutorial using stringed cereal.
Here’s a tutorial for using dried fruit.
January 5th: What are a few things you love about wintertime? Illustrate your answer in your nature notebook.
This activity will help your children build an appreciation for every season (it’s an activity we will repeat in our future nature calendar months) by focusing on the good things that each season can bring.
January 6th: Begin reading The Very, Very Far North.
They hype for this book is real. I cannot wait to begin reading it. I’ve heard nothing but good things with many saying they are wishing and hoping that it gets made into a movie, because it’s that good! Will report back after we read it with a review.
January 7th: Blow frozen bubbles. Afterward, warm up with blankets and read Over and Under the Snow.
These look like so much fun! Here is a tutorial. Apparently, it’s possible to blow bubbles and watch them freeze if the temperature is just right.
Afterward, read Over and Under the Snow – this whole series of books is fantastic and would make a great addition to any home library.
January 8th: Poetry Tea Time: Read Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months and The Year at Maple Hill Farm and make snowman sugar cookies.
These are two favorite books for us. Maurice Sendak wrote and illustrated Chicken Soup with Rice and is the illustrator behind the Little Bear series and the author/illustrator behind Where the Wild Things Are.
The Year at Maple Hill Farm is good to read any time of year as it goes through each month of the year, detailing the changes that come to the farm each month.
January 9th: Visit a frozen body of water: lake, river, pond, creek, etc. What do you think the aquatic animals are doing right now?
I love when learning can so seamlessly blend right in to outdoor exploration / playtime. This is a really good question for our kiddos – and one that can lead to a trip to the library to gather books about wintertime aquatic life.
When we chat about questions like this, I try to circle back in different seasons to the same question and compare to previous seasons. So I might choose that same hiking trail / park later in the summer months and say, “remember when we talked about what the frogs were doing in winter? What do you think they are doing now that it’s summer?” This helps them learn more about the world around them.
January 10th: Wintertime is the perfect time to try a new hobby or handcraft. Visit a hobby store and try something new today.
I will pretty much never say no to exploring a new hobby. Mr. 5’s current hobby is watercolor. He loves watching tutorials and trying new things based off of them.
Ainsley Arment (founder of Wild + Free) has an interesting looking book that I’ve had my eye on called “Wild and Free Handcrafts: 32 Activities to Build Confidence, Creativity, and Skill” that might be helpful. (I haven’t read it yet, so I can’t say for certain.)
January 11th: Set up a hot cocoa stand. Bake some cookies to sell too. Use the funds to donate to a local animal shelter.
I know my kids will find so much joy in this activity, as I’m sure yours will too. I can already see them using their fake cash register, setting up the table, and proudly dropping off their collected funds at a rescue.
Animal rescues can always use donated funds or items – especially as they gear up for the quickly-approaching ‘kitten season’ in March.
January 12th: Tomorrow’s full moon is called a Wolf Moon. Can you recreate the moon with watercolor?
Here is an interesting read as to why the January full moon is called the wolf moon. Might as well encourage your children to paint a wolf howling at their moon too. Why not?!
January 13th: Begin reading The Adventures of Sophie Mouse: Winter’s No Time to Sleep! under a cozy blanket.
Sophie Mouse is such a sweet early chapter book series. They are lighthearted and short enough that you could read-aloud a whole book in about 45 minutes. I highly recommend this series as a first-time chapter book read-aloud series for younger kiddos.
January 14th: Create snowflake art using glue, salt, and watercolor.
Both of my children (3 and 5) are obsessed with this form of art. You can create anything you want using this method – we’ve done spiderwebs during Halloween, hearts during Valentine’s Day, etc.
Here is an example of snowflake salt art. I actually find this form of artwork deeply satisfying and won’t hesitate to jump right in, too!
January 15th: Poetry Tea Time: Read “January” from A Year of Poetry and “Winter-Time” from A Child’s Garden of Verses and make Vanilla Snowman Milkshakes.
Both of these books are staples in our poetry tea time. A Year of Poetry is very whimsical in it’s illustrations. A Child’s Garden of Verses was illustrated by Tasha Tudor – need I say more? Her artwork is just beautiful!
For the milkshakes, I always just do:
- about 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream (1 1/2 cups give or take)
- about 1/2 cup of milk
- whipped cream
- sprinkles
Blend together, top with whipped cream and sprinkles, and enjoy! For the cups: I just used a sharpie marker and some ribbon. Very simple and lots of fun.
January 16th: Make a silly snowman, such as a Mouse Snowman with big mouse ears and a tail. Don’t forget a scarf!
Using Sophie Mouse as recent inspiration, make a Mouse Snowman or any other unique snowman you can come up with. You can use twigs, rocks, winter berries, moss, etc. for decorating.
January 17th: Donate hats or socks to a local homeless shelter.
Gather up any winter items that you’ve over-accumulated or spend a couple of bucks on some hats or socks and donate them to those in need this winter. It’s one thing to talk to our children about helping those less fortunate and it’s another thing to actually lead by example.
January 18th: It’s National Winnie the Pooh Day. Cozy up and revisit stories of your friends in the Hundred Acre Wood.
What a sweet day! Gather some of your favorite Winnie the Pooh storybooks and snuggle in for revisiting stories of this silly old bear. I love the beautiful classic color illustrations in the books linked in my booklist below.
January 19th: Can you spot a raptor “snow angel” made when they touch the fluffy snow when catching prey? Make your own snow angel.
I just think these raptor “snow angels” are so cool. I’ve never seen one in real life, but after learning about them, I really hope to stumble upon one soon! Here is an example.
January 20th: Begin reading Gooseberry Park. Create a cozy atmosphere by lighting a candle and making everyone a warm drink.
Cynthia Rylant is a treasure. We’ve not read this book yet, but I hear wonderful things about it all the time from friends. Will report back once we read!
January 21st: Lay underneath a snowy tree and observe. Later, recreate one with watercolor. Use white glitter or puffy paint for snow on the branches.
This is another activity that will be repeated throughout my nature calendars, as it allows our children to notice the changes in each season. Add each of these watercolor pages throughout the year to their nature notebook to compare in different seasons.
January 22nd: Poetry Tea Time: Read a stack of arctic animal themed picture books. Make frozen banana pops to share.
There’s no better time to do a unit study on arctic animals than in the winter!
These banana pops have been on my mind lately, so I thought, why not?! For winter, I’ll probably coat mine in blue and white sprinkles.
January 23rd: Bundle up and search for clues of animal life on a walk. Look for tracks, scat, and other signs of life.
My best advice for any nature walk? Have no destination or timeline in mind. I’ve learned that hiking with children is far more enjoyable if I just let them dawdle and explore. We observe more this way too!
Truly, on many of our hikes, we have spent hours on a trail only to have gone like half a mile in; but we greatly enjoyed our time and explored so many hidden nature treasures this way. Slow down. Don’t rush. Bring snacks and the right clothes and just let them set the pace.
January 24th: Spend this week documenting which birds visit your backyard feeders. Make graphs with the results.
We invested in a window feeder this year and I can’t recommend it enough! We see so many birds up close while we are at the table each day (which is where we eat, craft, read-aloud, and do lessons!)
This would be another good activity to repeat during different seasons and compare results and dive into a chat about migration when observing results.
January 25th: Find a big hill to go sledding on or an ice rink to go ice skating on.
This is a bucket list item for us! I’m hoping to find an outdoor ice skating rink (fingers crossed).
January 26th: The term “evergreen” means a tree that stays green all year. Can you spot one on your next nature hike?
If you wanted to take this a step further, you could check out picture books from the library about the different types of trees.
January 27th: Begin reading “A New Friend and an Old One” from The Burgess Bird Book for Children.
A homeschool staple! You can take it a step further and search videos and pictures of the birds from the story – their images, their bird song, etc. for further learning.
January 28th: Make a snow cone sensory bin: Bring snow inside into a bin and create colorful snow cones using droppers, scoops, and dyed water.
This has somehow become an annual winter tradition in our house. On the first day that it REALLY snows a lot, I run out in my pajamas and scoop a bunch of snow into sensory bins and bring it back inside.
I give them scissor scoops, mini tin pie pans, droppers, and cups of dyed water and they make ‘snow cones’ in their pie pans using the scissor scoops and dying them pretty colors with dropperfuls of colorful water.
It’s one that can be dumped out and repeated all day long. I just lay old towels underneath the sensory bins and let them have at it.
January 29th: Poetry Tea Time: Read a stack of Julia Donaldson picture books including Stick Man and The Gruffalo’s Child. Make chocolate covered pretzel rods.
Julia Donaldson is an absolute favorite in our house. Stick Man is more of a December read – but totally can be read anytime. Notice in The Gruffalo’s Child that she has a ‘stick man’ toy.
Our top three Julia Donaldson books are:
- The Spiffiest Giant in Town
- A Squash and a Squeeze
- The Gruffalo
January 30th: Search for evidence of woodpecker cavities made in trees.
These are always fun to search for. Look up pictures and videos of woodpeckers starting a new cavity and head out to the woods to spot some!
January 31st: Read Little Owl’s Snow. Which hibernating animals do you miss seeing the most in the winter?
This entire series will always have a special place in my heart. Little Owl’s Snow is just magical – promise me you’ll check out the whole sweet board book series.
This question is a good one that lets you circle back to chats you had back in fall about hibernating animals – and it allows them to keep it on their mind as we have just about another month or so before we may see some of those animals emerging from hibernation.
January Nature Calendar Booklist
Here is the booklist associated with this month’s calendar. Most (if not all) titles should be able to be found in your local library. I provided links if you’d like to buy your own copy of any of the titles, which I greatly appreciate you using, as it helps with the costs associated with maintaining my website. Thank you!
Disclaimer: The ABCs of Motherhood is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps me run my website. Read more about these links in my disclosure policy.
Here are the books in order of how they are presented in the calendar:
The Complete Brambly Hedge – Jill Barklem for “Winter Story”
The Very, Very Far North – Dan Bar-el
Over and Under the Snow – Kate Messner
Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months – Maurice Sendak
The Year at Maple Hill Farm – Alice Provensen
The Adventures of Sophie Mouse: Winter’s No Time to Sleep! – Poppy Green
A Year of Poetry – Anne Grahame Johnstone for “January”
A Child’s Garden of Verses – Robert Louis Stevenson for “Winter Time”
The House at Pooh Corner – A.A. Milne
Gooseberry Park – Cynthia Rylant
Arctic Animal Book Ideas:
Polar Bears – National Geographic Kids
Penguins – National Geographic Kids
Narwhals are Awesome – Jaclyn Jaycox
Snowy Owls are Awesome – Jaclyn Jaycox
Arctic Animals – National Geographic Kids
First Animal Encyclopedia Polar Animals – Simon Holland
The Burgess Bird Book for Children – Thornton W. Burgess for “A New Friend and an Old One”
Julia Donaldson Book Ideas:
The Gruffalo’s Child – Julia Donaldson
The Spiffiest Giant in Town – Julia Donaldson
A Squash and a Squeeze – Julia Donaldson
The Gruffalo – Julia Donaldson
The Snail and the Whale – Julia Donaldson
Little Owl’s Snow – Divya Srinivasan
Enjoy Your January Nature Calendar
Grab your FREE copy of the January Nature Calendar by clicking here. You can print your own copy. I suggest printing in color, laminating, and hanging it up on your fridge within eyesight!
I hope this encourages you to banish the wintertime slump in your homeschool and inspires you to get outside and enjoy the season!
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