When The Big Explorer was first becoming interested in letters, I thought it might be kinda fun to create our own ABC book. And being the nature lover that I am, it seemed fitting that I would opt for a nature-inspired theme.
What started out as a fun way to learn the letters and get outdoors turned into much more, as you’ll see below. To make your own nature ABC book, you’ll need:
- Digital camera
- Checklist of the ABCs (so you’ll be sure to snap a picture to represent each letter)
- Printer and photo paper (or use an online service to print your photos for you)
- Scissors or a paper cutter
- Tape or photo mounts
- Photo album (to save money, use white or colored paper bound together with a loose-leaf ring)
- Markers
What to do: Go on a nature hunt with your little one – around your neighborhood, backyard, park, garden, local zoo or aquarium. Your goal is to find something on your adventure to represent each letter of the alphabet. Then take a picture of that image.
The Big Explorer and I started snapping away on our nightly walks around the neighborhood. Here’s the snail we spotted on our front porch to represent “S”:
We didn’t try to take all our pictures at once — it was more fun to continue our hunt at the Los Angeles Zoo later that same week. There we found one of The Big Explorer’s favorites to mark “G”:
After collecting the images, print them out. I bought a special photo album just for the occasion and The Big Explorer and I put the pictures in the album together – one page per letter. Then I printed each letter as well as the word describing what’s pictured.
Here are some of my favorites:
Total cost: About $15 for the photo album
Reward: The Big Explorer and I had a ton of fun figuring out what to take pictures of as we walked around our neighborhood and the zoo. He was proud to have helped create the book and soon made it one of his favorites.
Even better, he wrote me a little message I just discovered tonight – more than a year after we created our book.
Priceless.
