Activities
Nature Crowns
Equipment you will need:
Card, stapler and double sided tape
This activity can be done when your out at the park or the woods or simply in your back garden. To set up this activity you will need to make a crown shape and cut out. Older children may like to help with this process its a great way to practice scissor control. Once you have made the crown attach together with staples or tape. The next step is to put double sided tape all the way around the crown and head out to nature. As you collect things slowly pull the double sided tape back to reveal the sticky side and attach the objects you find to your crown. this is a great talking point for children they may ask questions about different kinds of flowers or leaves. Younger children may start to learn colours of plants and flowers, encourage the children to describe the things they are picking up such as is it bumpy or smooth, this will help develop language skills. When we done this we then wore our crowns around the park and pretended to be nature queens and kings.
This activity could be changed to do nature bracelets or nature wings, ask the children what they would like to create next with nature.
Mud Painting
Equipment you will need:
Paint brushes, paper, mud and water
It is in the title, grab some mud and get painting. Children will get messy in this activity. Let them mix water and mud together and start creating their masterpieces. You can either attach some paper to the side of a shed or the house or just let them paint on the floor. Gather some paintbrushes, mix the mud and the water together, and see what you can design. This activity is great for mark making. It helps children make patterns and letters. Through this activity your child will be developing their fine motor skills. It is important to focus on activites that help fine motor skills especially in the toddler years as this will help them develop pencil grip for when they are ready for school. Want to extend this activity? Why don't you give your children a challenge to make their own nature paintbrushes, with sticks and leaves.
Nature Hunt
Equipment you will need:
Pen, paper, and a bag or a container
Who doesn't love a nature hunt? Nature hunts can be done in a park, forest or simply your garden. A nature hunt can be adapted and changed in many ways. This is one reason I love them. You can do them so regularly but they can be different each time. I have created some simple nature hunt bags. These are paper bags and attached to the front is a list of things to find and look out for. I have included leaves, sticks, rocks, flowers, and acorns to find and to look out for squirrels, birds, a large tree, a small tree, and logs. This activity was planned for a garden or a forest but a nature hunt can be adapted to be completed at the beach or even simply walking around your neighbourhood. You can also make a colour nature hunt to see if your children can collect and look for objects that are the colour of the rainbow. Nature hunts are a great thing to encourage children to talk about what they see in the environment around them. It can also be used as a team building exercise where they are in teams and children work together to fill their bag and complete their list. By adding in things like the longest stick or the smallest stone it helps develop mathematical language. With younger children asking them to find coloured objects can help extend their vocabulary and link the colours with the objects, like green for grass.