Nature Walks and Scavenger Hunts

 

One of the best ways to incorporate nature with young children is to go for a nature walk. A walk around the neighbourhood, forest trail or school yard is a excellent way to introduce the topic of nature. Based on prior knowledge children will be able to recognize things they have seen before, explore new objects, feel and can reflect with other classmates in small and large group discussions. According to the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program children will be able to enhance their development in the areas of personal and social, science and language development.

Personal and Social Development

• 1.3 - express their thoughts (e.g., from finding a nature object on the walk)

Language

• 2.6 - use prior knowledge to make connections (e.g., lots of butterflies in the summer)

Science and Technology

• 3.4 - participate in environmentally friendly activities in the classroom and school yard (e.g., nature walks)

Another way to assimilate nature into the curriculum for young children is to have an scavenger hunt.

Description: Use a paper bag, small gift bag or even a zip-lock bag print words and put pictures of items and glue it onto the bag. Children can work independently or in pairs of two in collecting the items labelled on the bag.

• Children will be able to explore the environment while looking for the objects listed on their bags 
• During the hunt children will notice, wonder, observe and play with new things they find 
• After the hunt children can be put into small or large groups and share their findings

According to the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program children will be able to:
Personal and Social Development

• 2.2 - demonstrate a willingness to try new activities and to adapt to new situations (e.g., participate in a new learning experience such as an outdoor scavenger hunt)
• 2.6 - use prior knowledge to make connections (e.g., relating to the nature walk they went on before)

Science

• 2.4 - communicate results and findings from individual and group investigations (e.g., explain what they found)

Understanding the Constructivist Approach

Lev Vygotsky
(1896 - 1934)

 Vygotsky was born in a small Russian town called Orsche, and is known for his Sociocultural theory. He "focuses on the influences of sociocultural factors such as ethnic back-ground and sex on development" (Rathus & Rinaldi , 2009, p. 31).  Lev Vygotsky also strongly believes social interactions are vital in the cognitive development of young children. "Vygotsky sees the child's functioning as adaptive, and that the child adapts to his or her social and cultural interactions" (Rathus & Rinaldi , 2009, p. 28). Vygotsky is considered a major contributor to the constructivist approach because he believes children should be left alone to explore and adults are there to assist children when they need.

Jean Piaget
(1896-1980)

Jean Piaget was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, and he is one of the first known psychologist who came up with the Cognitive Child Development Theory. The core concepts of his theory is "children adapt to the environment via processes of assimilation to existing mental structures (schemas) or by changing these structures (accommodation)" (Rathus & Rinaldi , 2009, p. 31). He strongly believes children think differently than adults and construct their own meaning. Piaget states "children are budding scientist who seek to understand and manipulate their own world" (Rathus & Rinaldi , 2009, p. 31). Piaget is considered an constructivist because he focuses on the way children adapt to their environment and how they perceive and interpret the world on their own.

Understanding the Inquiry Process

According to the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program, teachers must create a curriculum based on the inquiry process. Teachers must plan programming based on what they see children are curious in learning. "Children grasp ideas more easily and more effectively and maintain their interest in school when they an educational program that enables them to connect their learning to their own lives and the world around them" (FDEL-Kindergarten Program, 2010-2011, p.16). While incorporating nature with children, teachers can plan science, language, math and art experiences which will promote all developmental areas. As you can see the purpose of the inquiry process is to build children's knowledge based on what they already know from prior experiences.

Importance of Nature

Nature is important to young children and enhances their development because it: 

• Gives children a sense of peace and fresh-air
• Allows children to develop intellectually
• Children enhance their emotional, social and physical abilities 
• While engaging in outdoor activities and opportunities children can be creative with nature objects  
• Make observations and predictions (e.g., what the weather is like, what will happen next)
• Children are given the opportunity to explore, investigate and communicate with others
• Children can engage in real-life experiences (e.g., observe bugs, insects, plants)
• Allows children to develop new vocabulary (e.g., beetles, grass hoppers)

Nature Science Experiments

Planting Seeds
During this learning experience children can go outdoors or stay indoors and plant their own seeds. While doing this activity children will begin to wonder, predict, make observations and assumptions based on what they are doing and this will lead them to questions such as: when will my seed grow? While doing this activity you can leave it open-ended and let the children put their own measurements of soil and water. 

Materials:

• Clear plastic cups
• A variety of seeds |(eggplant, beans, flowers) 
•  Soil
• Shovel
• Water
• Gardening gloves

According to the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program Children will be able to:
Science and Technology

• 2.3- select and use materials to carry out their own explorations (e.g., plant a seed and see if it grows)
• 3.1- identify similarities and differences between local environments (e.g., between a river, pond and trail)
• 3.3- identify ways in which they can care for and show respect for the environment (e.g., recycling and reusing)
• 4.3- make predications and observations throughout the design process (e.g., how long will it take for the seeds to grow into plants, when will the leaves start to branch)

Art Opportunities Incorporating Nature

Leaf Collage

Description: During this activity children will use different types of leaves they find outside and construct their own collage. While doing this art experience, children will be curious and wonder what the different types of leaves are called and questions will arise.When each child is done doing their collage you can give the class the opportunity to discuss their findings in a large group discussion.  

According to the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program children will be able to: 
Visual Arts

• V1.1 - demonstrate an awareness of personal interests and a sense of accomplishment in visual arts (e.g., using leaves found outside to create a collage)
• V2.1 - explore a variety of tools, materials, and processes of their own choice to create visual art forms in familiar and new ways (e.g., using natural items such as leaves to create a collage)                                                        

To further extend on the above experience  you can provide children with different art supplies such as: crayons, markers, pastel, and pencils to create their own posters, pictures, collages and drawings of leaves. 

According to the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program children will be able to:
Visual Arts

• V2.2 -explore different elements of design in visual arts (e.g., colour, line, shape, textures, form)
  
                                                        

Language Ideas

Create a classroom nature book

Description: In this language activity you can facilitate a large group discussion with the children on the carpet about what they think the  importance of nature is and what nature means to them. After discussing this, you can give each child a blank piece of paper and ask them to use words and illustrations to explain what nature means to them and how they see nature. After this you can take all the children's work and bind it into a book and place it in the science area with the other books. Having this available for the children to access is important as they will feel a sense of self-worth and importance as they made a contribution to the book.

According to the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program children will be able to:
Language

• 1.5- use language in various contexts to connect new experiences with what they already know (e.g., contribute to large group discussions)
• 1.7- use specialized vocabulary for a variety of purposes (e.g., nature words such as; trees, branches, trunk, soil, minerals)
• 1.8- ask questions for a variety of purposes (e.g., can you help me do this?)
• 1.9- describe personal experiences, using vocabulary and details appropriate to the situation (e.g., during the nature walk I found a huge rock which was very heavy)
• 1.10- orally retell simple events and simple familiar stories in proper sequence
• 2.6- use prior knowledge to make connections
• Use illustrations to support comprehension of texts that are read by and with the EL-K team