I don’t know about you, but I like to spend as much time outside with my kids as possible.
This is for a couple of different reasons. The first, and most selfish, is that I myself love being outside.
I also really believe that being out in nature calms children. I saw this in the classroom when children worked out on the deck in our outdoor classroom and I definitely see it with both of my own children.
I have very fond memories of taking daily stroller walks with my son when he was a baby. I have to say though, he never really loved the stroller. He would always rather be out exploring on his own. Now that he’s three (how??), he’s really not about the stroller at all.
Enter the toddler-led walk.
One of my favorite things to do is go on a walk with my son and let him lead the way, in terms of both pace and direction.
I particularly love doing this on the weekends when Lilah is taking her morning nap and there’s sort of a lull in the day before we get out and do something. (I admit though, it’s been hard to drag him away from his Legos for these walks lately!).
We recently turned our neighborhood walk into a nature walk through a very simple addition: a small bucket.
I gave James a little bucket and invited him to collect any interesting nature items he found along the way. He collected many leaves, different kinds of acorns, rocks, sticks, fallen flowers, etc. I just did it on a whim, but it really seemed to transform the experience for him.
Instead of constantly asking if it was time for a snack (seriously though), he was carefully scanning the ground and observing the world around him, looking for anything interesting or beautiful.
When we got home, he emptied out his collection on the back patio. We wound up doing a simple sink or float experiment in his water table, which evolved into making little boats from the leaves and seeing how many acorns they could hold. It was super fun!
A few other ideas for your child’s nature collection:
– Sorting: How many ways can you sort the items? By size? Color? Type?
– Art: Simple gluing, crayon rubbing, or nature weaving depending on what they’ve found
– Nature Journal: Use a blank notebook and let your child glue / take Polaroids of / draw / paint the items they found. They’ll have a log of the changing seasons.
– Loose parts: Provide a tray (love this one!) and encourage your child to save their findings for play in the sandbox / backyard
Sometimes the simplest activities really are the most fun!
Do you love being outside? Do your kids?
Montessori abc Book
My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.
The book also uses one letter and image per page. This helps the child focus and not be overwhelmed. Photographic images are used to spark curiosity and encourage the child to learn about the real world.
You can purchase the book here!
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