This is the second year the boys and I have done Nature's Little Explorers at the Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center. It's a very gentle preschool nature study program. For a Charlotte Mason family without access to like-minded families with whom to study nature, it's a tremendous resource. We love it!
Every week there is a simple theme. Our naturalist introduces the theme to the children in some kind of tactile way (this week, it was soil). After that, we hit the trails and practice our observation skills - mostly independently - but sometimes assisted by prompts from the naturalist. Although we try to focus on observations related to the theme, we often make digressions for things of interest to the children: a chipmunk hole, an antler, a turtle on a log, etc.
About half way through our walk, we stop for some read alouds.
After our read alouds, we trek back to the education center for some kind of craft work. This week, we made patterns on paper out of glue and soil. I very much appreciate that most of the art projects are process, not product, focused, so there's no pressure on the boys to reproduce something perfectly.
If you want to get outdoors with your kids and are discouraged from doing so because you can't get a group together, I encourage you to try researching the offerings within your county park system. The Great Swamp is mere minutes from our house, but there are similar programs at several parks and preserves near us if we wanted to make some short drives.
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