Explore the Outdoors
We are now in spring and the weather is starting to brighten up. As we are unable to venture too far at the moment to explore the world around us it is a great time to be able to explore nature in our own gardens and the outdoor spaces you may see on your daily walks.
Here are some great ideas which you could do to explore the nature and wildlife that lyes around you.
Nature Scavenger Hunt
Most children love the outdoors and exploring nature so what better way to explore the world around us than going on a mini scavenger hunt in your gardens or whilst you are out walking.
Scavenger hunts are a great way to use your senses, discovering what you can hear? Smell? Feel? And see? Here are some things which you can look out for. Let’s see how many you can find.
Nature Puzzle
Nature puzzles are a great way for children to explore and search for different sized pebbles, rocks and stones which they may find lying on the ground in the garden and on the paths. Before you play with them, make sure they are washed and cleaned first. Using a pen and piece of paper you can draw different shapes to fill with stones or you can draw around each different shaped pebble and afterwards see if you can can fit them in the correct space. This is a great way to develop spatial awareness with simple and beautiful nature puzzles.
Spring Nature Collage
This is a great simple and fun activity for children. They can go on a hunt for different leaves, flowers, twigs and other natural media they may find on the floor, building up a collection. When they have a good amount, they can spread glue on a piece of paper and use the petals etc they have found to create a lovely natural spring collage. This activity allows children to learn skills such as gluing and sticking, experimenting with different resources and being creative.
Simple sink and float Science Experiment
Children show great interest in exploring different media, using things in different ways and predicting and testing their own ideas. This is a good activity for children to find different natural resources, differentiating heavy and light. Place the items into a bowl or tray of water to see if they will float or sink.
Make your predictions first and see if you are correct.
Painting with Mud
Playing with mud is a great way for children to engage in sensory play outdoors, expressing their creativity, whilst developing upon their fine and gross motor skills, making marks using paint brushes and their fingers. Place small amounts of mud in different containers and mix using a paintbrush or stick. You can also add food colouring to create different coloured mud and then let your little ones get creative in making and creating their very own mud artwork.
Going on a Colour Walk
Whilst you are out for your daily walk, observe things around you and see if you can find different objects, cars, buildings, flowers and animals of different colours.
When you get home see if you can colour and draw the different coloured objects you have found.
Can you find something of these colours
