Every day we begin with circle time to discuss safety, exploration and sing our good morning song.
"Good morning dear earth, good morning dear sun, good morning dear trees and the flowers everyone, good morning dear bees and the birds in the trees, good morning to you and good morning to me."
From there, we plan different activities and let imaginations run wild. Each of our lessons incorporate respect for nature and all things big or small. In September, we planned scavenger hunts, practiced rope tying, talked about animal homes, and explored weather changes in the forest.
Shapes and Colours Everywhere
The forest was the perfect backdrop for discovering shapes and colours. Flowers, rocks, bugs, caterpillars. Some many colours and shapes to discuss! And we also brought our big triangle bell and baked rectangle cupcakes.
Texture and Patterns
Squishy, hard, rough and smooth. The children explored difference textures during their walkabouts. Rain created the opportunity to splash and squish mud while discussing snow melts and streams. The children were also able to create works of art by rubbing crayons on paper over different textures found in the forest, like bark or moss. Each work of art had its own unique pattern.
Imagination Reigns
Giddy-up! Our rope tying activity turned into an imaginative game, where the children rode their "horses" around trees and over logs. We also practiced tying knots in ropes around trees, while some children created swings and hung tarps.
A New Perspective
Near or far. Up high or down low. The children noticed that fallen trees provide a home to lots of different types of bugs. And high up in the sky, we could see trees sway in the wind, even though we couldn't feel the wind down on the ground. The children also played with magnifying glasses and kaleidoscopes to gain a new perspective in the forest.
Here are some of the books we read during our adventures:
The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
We’re Going on A Nature Hunt, Steve Metzger
Munch, Munch Crunch, Bugs for Lunch, Gwen Petreman
The Tree, Dana Lyons
A is for Autumn, Robert Maas
Under Ground, Denise Fleming
What a great start for our Forest Discovery School. We can’t wait to continue our journey in nature.
About Discovery Child Care
Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means, your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychid.on.ca
