Educational Hobbies Backyard Resources
You can combine the basic wonderment of nature with the complexity of technology very easily right in your backyard, home, or school through educational hobbies. Nature provides a plethora of plants, insects, and animals as study material for this process. All you need to do is to have a simple basic digital camera and a way to print pictures of what you’ve taken.
One of my favorite educational hobbies is to look around my yard to see what I can of interest. Fortunately, I can sit and watch for a little while allowing the critters around me to settle and accept my presence before getting closer to them. Some animals have a natural fear so they will be harder to approach, but in time as long as they begin to sense no perceived threat, they will allow me to get closer and closer.
Exploring Insects with Photography
Some of the animals and insects are obvious because of their size. However, there are others that one needs to look closely to see. But if you look closely you’ll discover more than you might expect. One simple way to study these critters is to use a simple digital camera to snap shots of them. Take this little bee for example. You combine two educational hobbies…photography and entomology. Pictures often reveal more than the eye can see at a glance. The photograph provides a detailed record of not only the bee but the flower it is on.
Educational Hobbies Exploration
Now a trip to the library or a search on the internet for more information about both the little bee and the flower yields more information to expand upon in the classroom or the home “lab.” Being alert to the environment around you, you can find many creatures of interest. A spider in the garden. A field mouse seeking warmth and food on a cold winter night. A “Puff Ball” fungi is harvested from the backyard. All make great subjects for educational purposes. Isn’t it time you got started in any one of the many Educational Hobbies?