Can You Give Me Ideas On How To Add More Natural Activities To My Daycare?

[permanentvacation]

Notwithoutjoy,

Yeah, I thought of that too! I went to my ex's shop (he's a marine mechanic) a little while ago to ask him if he could keep an eye out for me for a little boat that I could put in my yard or if he would build one for me but he was a bit busy. I'll ask him eventually when he's not too busy. If I hold off until the winter, he's usually not too busy then and might be willing to build one for me then.

[nothingwithoutjoy]

Notwithoutjoy,

Yeah, I thought of that too! I went to my ex's shop (he's a marine mechanic) a little while ago to ask him if he could keep an eye out for me for a little boat that I could put in my yard or if he would build one for me but he was a bit busy. I'll ask him eventually when he's not too busy. If I hold off until the winter, he's usually not too busy then and might be willing to build one for me then.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

THis is one of the reasons I am making an "outdoor classroom" in my carport. Then I can leave nature stuff there and it isn't in my playroom inside.

Pick some flowers they can paint with them or draw them. Set it up like a little art studio with nature as the subject.

I love pine needles in water jars. So pretty.

My littles love painting rocks.

In the fall we go on nature walks with bags and then come back sit on the back patio and create collages out of the items.

[Laurel]

I am not knowledgeable about natural things. I can't pick a leaf off the ground and tell you what type of tree it came from, I can't name the different trees in my neighbors' yards. Rocks are simply rocks to me. I have wanted to add natural things to my daycare for a while, but when I think of picking up something from outside, lets say a pine cone, and bringing it in, I just think of all of the bugs that are most likely in the pine cone that would then be in my house! And I don't know what to tell the kids other then, "Yep. It's a pine cone." ...and that's the end of my lesson!

So, can anyone give me ideas and suggestions as to how to add nature into my daycare, hopefully without getting bugs into my home, and what to teach them about the items they are looking at. I guess I will be doing a good bit of research online about the nature items I get.

I don't think you have to give 'lessons' per se. It is fun and relaxing just to observe and enjoy. Also, I have found that little kids rarely ask any questions. Any that you couldn't easily answer anyway. They don't care whether it is the leaf from an oak or a maple. I loved to take the kids on walks and just observe and let them explore. A neighbor on our street has a huge tree but I have no idea what kind it is. We used to call it the 'humongous tree.' The point is that we were enjoying nature. They would pick up leaves and we would notice how they were different and then some comment like "There are all kinds of leaves, aren't there?" Like someone else said, we took a bag and they could collect whatever they wanted.

Off the top of my head simple nature ideas:

-Collect leaves, twigs, etc. from the yard and then take a piece of contact paper and turn it sticky side up. I stapled it onto a piece of construction paper so it wouldn't curl (sticky side up) and then stick your nature items on it for a collage.
-After a storm we would have lots of sticks in the yard. We would collect them and just make a huge pile. They just liked watching the pile get bigger and finding them. They liked to break them too.
-Rock/pumpkin scrubbing. In a school I worked at we had an activity they loved. Get a big rock, a pumpkin in the fall and then scrub it with a little stiff brush. We'd have a bar of soap on a rubber soap holder. Then rub the brush onto wet soap and scrub.
-Make 'soup'. Put water in a bucket or old pot and let them add 'soup' ingredients like grass, leaves, pebbles, etc. and stir. I used to love this as a kid. Soup goes good with mud pies. Yum. ::
-Put a blanket on the ground and lie on it and watch clouds. A good book to go with this activity is called 'It Looked like Spilt Milk' about clouds.
-Scavenger hunt-Give them a list of things to find. The list could be in your head with littles. "Who can find a rock?" "Who can show me a bug?"
-Let them just dig. Mine just liked to dig a hole. You can also give them artificial flowers and pots to play 'florist' with.
-I took mine on rain walks (if there was no lightning/thunder). They love to walk with umbrellas.
-Just mention weather when you are out. "Oh it looks cloudy today, I wonder if it's going to rain. See how the clouds look darker and I don't see the sun." Listen for bird sounds too and point them out. You can go online somewhere and hear bird sounds and identify the ones in your area. I just forget where but you could Google it.

Indoors

-Save seeds from apples, oranges, avocados, etc. and show the children how seeds look so different. Then a brief discussion of "this tiny apple seed grows into an apple tree", etc.
-Follow up outdoor activities with nature related crafts. Give them cotton balls to glue onto blue paper for clouds. Have them draw (or you can if they can't) a simple house and show them how to make it look like it is raining around the house. They love to bang the crayons on the paper and make rain.
-Books, of course
-House plants to water or just appreciate (but I always kill them)
I also am not into pets but maybe an ant farm (not for me though )

Laurel

[CalCare]

An easy- no mess activity is to simply wrap yarn around sticks. Some people don't allow kids to play with sticks (depending on the kids!), BUT if you are okay with giving them a basket of sticks (that perhaps they collected themselves on a walk or from the park or yard), and a basket of pre-cut yarn about a (foot long each), the children can wrap the yarn around and around until you get a colorful stick. You can help them tie (or tie for them) the beginning and end of each yarn piece. This activity can be good for fine motor, social (sharing space and materials), connecting with nature, cognitive (learning colors), etc! Once you have a wrapped up stick, you could display it by hanging it somewhere out of reach (so you don't have kids running around with sticks if you don't want them to). I've done it (working at a center) and called them magic wands and tied a few extra pieces off the end. Then the kids did get to play with the magic wands.

You can also do a great big one with branches as a group and hang that up.

[nothingwithoutjoy]

I A neighbor on our street has a huge tree but I have no idea what kind it is. We used to call it the 'humongous tree.' The point is that we were enjoying nature.

And the kids' connection to "the humongous tree" was probably a lot stronger than it might have been to "the oak tree," because by naming it, they had made it theirs. That deep connection to nature is far more what they need at this point than a lot of facts.

[childcaremom]

We do a lot of things with rocks. We are on the coast so I will often bring home pails of rocks. We clean them (wash outside), let them dry and then bring them in. Lots of things to do with rocks. Lots of shells, etc and other goodies from the beach.

We also have done stick art. Paint the sticks, wrap with yarn. We've even made a mobile for our room with a large stick and then hung other nature items off of it.

We do a lot of playdough with loose nature parts.

We collect items from outside and use them to paint with.

Make bird feeders and watch for birds.

I put an old aquarium outside and we can observe insects/bugs and then let them go at the end of the day.

I have two large logs that we move periodically to check for bugs.

Lots of water and sand play (outside) although I just got an indoor water table. Garden that we plant. Seeds that we sort, etc.

I have tree branch blocks, natural wooden blocks, etc to play with inside.

[FCCLife]

We use kinetic sand. I got 11lbs from fatbraintoys.com for $30. Much cheaper than the store and it's awesome. We love to collect rocks and sticks at the park. Leaf rubbings. Rocks and shells in play dough. I'm ordering natural wood blocks from mothergoosetime.com. And definitely check out your dollar tree or craft store they sell lots of nature materials. I have gotten shells, rocks and all kinds of things at dollar tree.

[Laurel]

And the kids' connection to "the humongous tree" was probably a lot stronger than it might have been to "the oak tree," because by naming it, they had made it theirs. That deep connection to nature is far more what they need at this point than a lot of facts.

I agree.

Laurel

[permanentvacation]

You guys have given me a lot of great ideas! Thank you! I have also been researching online myself for ideas. I found the website, www.naturallyeducational.com. If you look through the browse categories on the right about halfway down on the main page, you can will get a drop down list of all sorts of categories, each with some really neat ideas.

I have already started typing up my September newsletter and am informing my parents that we will be incorporating a lot of natural (and often messy) methods of learning this year.

I'm going to start out with us planting some Chrysanthemum for fall. I love mums! Of course, as is typical for the first month of school, we will learn about ourselves and our families, but we are also going to get down and dirty by planting plants, creating a rock garden, painting rocks, and whatever other things I come up with.

I am all excited about going to the store this weekend to buy our mums, soil, and a variety of rocks! I do believe that I will buy planters instead of planting in the ground. That way, I won't have to weed the garden constantly!