Your Preschoolers And Nature
Engaging your preschoolers in nature-based activities will help them to understand the natural world around them. Closer contact with nature will help preschoolers to appreciate nature, birds, and other living things around them. Varied nature activities for preschoolers provide opportunities to explore the beauty of nature and how they add color to our daily lives. Activities using flowers of different colors can help preschoolers to handle delicate things like petals with care.
Pressed Flower Mats – For this activity, ask your preschoolers to collect flowers of different colors and allow them to press the flowers to create placemats to decorate your picnic table. First, ask your preschoolers to remove flower blossoms and leaves. Let them arrange the flowers on the contact paper, approximately with the size 9” x 12”. With the sticky-side up on your picnic table, press the flowers on the contact paper. Now cover the placemat with the contact paper with pressed flowers. Remove air bubbles or any wrinkles on the placemat and trim away uneven edges on the mat.
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Nature Bracelets – This activity can be done when you go along with your preschooler for a nature walk. First, wrap your child’s wrist with a piece of masking tape with the sticky side up. Along with your preschoolers, collect colorful flowers, leaves and buds and stick to the tape. Once done, you can displace these nature bracelets on the wall, shelf or the bulletin board at home.
Making Tree Feeders – This activity will help your preschooler to learn more about different kinds of birds and their food habits. Help your preschoolers to pick pieces of fruits, berries, raisins, and popcorn and attach them to a sturdy piece of any string. Adults can help them to needle the food items on the string. Tie this string around a tree and enjoy watching birds come and feed on them.
Bonding With Nature For Preschoolers
Nature walks along with your preschoolers will help to develop a strong bonding with nature. Nature activities for preschoolers not only teach them about plant and animal life, but also help your preschoolers to understand the role of bees, flies, and worms in ecology.
Bug Hunting – This activity will help your preschoolers to observe the bugs and learn about them. With a magnifying glass, you can observe bugs closely and know about their colors, their habitat, and their food habits. Insects fly, leap, buzz, and sting. Sprinkle a mixture of fruit with brown sugar on the tree barks. You can regularly check for new bugs with your magnifying glass. You can help your preschooler to store the bug in a container with some water and green leaves. Cover the container with a net or some waxed-paper with holes. After watching it for a while, return those bugs to the place from where you have collected.
Nature Hunting – For this activity, your preschoolers will have a paper bag and a list of objects to be collected. They can collect bird feathers, green leaves, smooth rocks, and wildflowers. You can give different lists with different groups of natural objects. Now set the time to collect the objects in the list. The preschooler who finds all the items on the list will be the winner.
Exploring New Activities For Your Preschoolers
Rock Art – For this activity, you may need rocks, a box with lid, points, poster board, paintbrushes, glue, felt or scrap fabric. A visit to a nearby beach or park may help to find out new nature activities for your preschoolers based on collecting small stones or bits of rocks with different colors, sizes and shapes. Help them paint animals or funny faces on those little bits of rocks. Leave them to dry and then store them safely in a container. Your preschoolers can give their rock art as gifts to their friends, grandparents, and parents, or present a rock art in their home garden.
Magnetic Seashells – For this activity, you may need seashells, dried flowers, magnetic strips, and a glue gun. When you go along with your preschoolers to the seashore, you can help them to collect seashells. Your seashells may be changed into magnets to be placed on your fridge. Help your preschoolers to arrange flowers in the opening of the seashells. With the glue gun, secure flowers carefully in the shell. Then fix the magnetic strip on the back of the seashell with the glue gun. The magnetic seashells can be used to display family pictures.
Building A Terrarium – For this activity, your preschoolers will need small stones, a glass container with a wide neck, sponge, moss, soil for the pot, and activated charcoal. A terrarium presents a self-supported ecosystem. You can help your preschooler to build the terrarium by sprinkling on the floor some gravel, and activated charcoal. Cover the floor with soil and then place your plants.