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Square Foot Nature Survey For Kids with Free Nature Journal

The backyard is the greatest science classroom ever. You can launch studies of plants, animals, insects, weather, physics, and more right there at home. All you have to do is open the back door.

One of the easiest ways to start an open ended nature study is with a nature survey. They are easy, cheap, fun, and can teach so much.

What Is A Nature Survey?

When scientists do a nature survey of a section of land, they are basically taking inventory. They are listing all the plants and/or animals in that area. Scientists use this information to learn about the biodiversity of an area. This data is useful in conservation efforts, migration studies, and wildlife management.

For example, when I was in college, I participated in a plant survey of an area of land that was going to be cleared for a bicycle path. The survey was done so that we would know what types plants were being displaced. When the path was completed, naturalists used the survey results to choose the plants that would be added back to the area along the trail.

Citizen Science

There was a time when scientist or naturalists were the only people who carried out nature surveys. They were the only ones the scientific community felt was qualified. These days, scientists have tapped the power of the people.

Citizen Scientist projects have cropped up all over. These enlist average citizens with a love of nature to observe and report what they see. Our family participates in the E-bird project from Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. We simply observe birds in our backyard or favorite park and report what we see online.

There are so many citizen science projects that your family can be involved with.

Backyard Nature Survey

Large scale nature surveys can be too much for kids (and adults). I’ve found it’s best to start small and local.

Your backyard is the perfect place for your first nature survey. It is safe, contained, and easy.

Square foot nature surveys are great for all ages. They are small enough that all kids can get involved, yet they can launch a huge nature study if that’s what you want to do.

This video explains how to set up a square foot nature survey in your backyard.

Square Foot Nature Survey

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Supplies

A ruler
String
Magnifying glass
Garden trowel or other digging tool
Notebook or the free nature journal you can request below
Field guides
Procedure

Procedure

Choose a grassy spot in your yard and measure one square foot with the ruler. Using the string, mark the square foot that you just measured. This is your survey area.
Now, your job is to observe what is in your survey area. Start with the green stuff. Is it all grass? Are there other types of plants or fungi mixed in? Move the grass around to see if there might be other plants hiding.
Record the types of plants you see. If you don’t know, look in a local wild plant field guide or a common lawn weed field guide.
Next, do you see any animals on or in the grass? Look on the blades of grass, at the base of the grass, and on the dirt. You might see ants, bees, caterpillars, millipedes, or other creatures. Record what you see. Again, field guides may be helpful with identification. You can even take your nature survey a step further.
Take your garden trowel and dig a few inches into the ground. Do this in a small section of your survey area. There is no need to dig up the whole thing.
Notice the roots of the grass and the dirt beneath them. Do you see anything living? You might find worms or pill bugs or other creatures depending on where you live. Record the living things you see.

After you have completed your nature survey, look at the list of plants and animal you created. This is a representative sample of the plants and animals you can expect to find in the land surrounding your survey area.

Can you categorize this list? Living vs. non-living things? Plants vs. animals vs. fungi? What other ways can you categorize what was listed? (Green vs. brown items?)

What if you marked the area with sticks or rocks and then checked it throughout the seasons?

I think you will be amazed at how much life really is in your backyard! You might want to do this in a couple of areas of your backyard. Your results may be different if the areas have some variance. For example, the sides of my lawn are shaded and near the woods. A square foot survey area here will have species common to other parts of the yard that are shaded and near the woods, but will probably have some different species than the middle of the lawn that is sunny all the time and is completely surrounded by grass.

Use this square foot nature study to get your kids interested in nature, to build their observation skills, to kickstart a biodiversity study, or to just learn to appreciate the nature in your backyard.

So, grab your notebook and your field guide and get outside!

Our Nature Journal printable is a 26-page nature printable that I created for you and your children. Each page is a different design dedicated to one part of nature for your children to observe and record. Hopefully, it will spark a love of nature within them.