Nancy B’s Nature Keeper and Tree Diary – Review

Nancy B’s Nature Keeper & Tree Diary from Learning Resources is a great way for children to learn about nature, and document their findings in a journal packed full of activities and guidance on things to look out for.  Also included in the set are a flower press, tweezers and a leaf press cutter.

The set includes a 28 page Nature Keeper & Tree Diary booklet, which is very informative and full of information for children to learn about trees and leaves.  Every page has activities to follow, things to observe and note down and spaces to stick samples of leaves. There is a lot to learn but written in a simple, easy to understand way, with plenty of illustrations and colour pictures to help maintain interest. Recommended for 8+, I think this was perfect for Miss M who’s a few months away from being 8, to engage her interest in nature and she was eager to collect samples.

As well as the nature journal is a flower press.  This proved very popular with Miss M and she collected a whole bag of samples for us to use inside.  The press is very easy to open and close with velcro fastenings and inside has layers of card and paper with which you place the samples within.  We had a selection of small flowers and a few leaves which we carefully laid on the sheets and then closed the press tight to let them dry out.

We left the flower press for 3 or 4 days before opening it to ensure the samples had plenty of time to dry out but couldn’t wait to see the results.  The items we had  placed inside had become incredibly thin and flat, and importantly retained their colour.  Miss M was fascinated as she hasn’t seen anything like this before so I explained that they were very delicate, hence why the tweezers were included to enable us to pick them up.

The dried leaves and flowers can then be used for art projects, pictures etc.  Miss M is currently making a birthday card for her Nanny at the end of the month using these, which I think will look very beautiful once finished.  What a great way to incorporate nature into crafts and this Nancy B nature kit is a lovely introduction into nature, trees and flowers with a mixture of facts and activities to keep children engaged but learning at the same time.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the nature set in order to write the review.