Young children are very interested in nature – especially when spring awakens. The small children experience the bright colors of nature, smell the scent of flowers and hear the twittering of birds. Positive experiences in nature promote the personal development of small children.
They strengthen their self-confidence, their perception, their aesthetic feeling and promote respect for nature. In addition, the toddlers train their attention and concentration as well as motor skills. Use this time of year to offer lots of ideas for toddlers.
Provide clothing that protects but not insulates
"There is no wrong weather, just the wrong clothes." This saying also applies to sensual experiences. Rainwear and mud pants are certainly useful on rainy days. If it’s just a little bit damp or windy, they’re over the top. How should the toddlers gather sensual experiences in nature when they are completely wrapped in plastic and can therefore not feel a lot?
Talk to parents about the fact that mud pants protect toddlers’ clothing from grass and earth stains, but also rob children of basic sensory experiences. Ask the parents to wear clothes that may also have a grass stain: a pair of trousers that can tolerate the toddler crawling across the floor and a cotton jacket that the child can feel the wind in.
Give the children time for sensual experiences
Infants are naturally interested in sensual experiences. They explore almost everything with their fingers on their own initiative. They smell plants and try a lot. They look for stimuli for their balance system on uneven ground or on fallen tree trunks and stones by climbing, balancing and jumping down.
Accompany the toddlers on their explorations and give them enough time to experience the magic of the awakening nature. Take yourself back and watch the experiences that each toddler experiences.
You may be interested in this free download
Checklist: Promote resilient behaviors in toddlers with your posture
The observations that you agree on at the moment are very suitable for documentation in the portfolio or for learning stories. Let the sensual impressions affect the toddlers and anchor themselves in the child’s consciousness. Once you realize that the toddler not yourself More focused on sensual experiences, start asking questions or explaining things.
Discover spring on walks
Set off together with the toddlers. Go to a meadow, in the forest or in a park. There is plenty to discover for toddlers there. Promote visual perception by inviting the toddlers to look consciously.
For example, look closely at the floor and, after a while, ask the children what is there. Invite the toddlers to dig through the ground with their fingers. There is so much more to discover. Smell the earth together.
Design invitations so that they can also be used by working parents. For example, schedule parent talks in the morning or late in the afternoon. Since you too on their If you are looking for free time and after work, reserve the dates primarily for parents who really need them.
Tip for your practice:
Capture your educational opportunities with the camera. Print out the pictures and write which areas you have funded. So the parents appreciate the value of your work even more.
Take advantage of the following offers. In addition to the awareness of nature, you also promote a variety of other skills of toddlers, as you can see in the overview.
Important NOTE:
Find out in advance which plants are poisonous. These must not touch the toddlers and certainly not put them in the mouth. Take a plant identification book with you. This offers you help on site.
Use the treasures found
Take the finds and the picked flowers to the daycare. The following usage options are available:
- Sticks are suitable for playing and handicrafts.
- All treasures found can be presented on a table.
- Place the flowers in a vase or bowl of water.
Take a close look at animals
In spring, many animals wake up from their hibernation or come back to our home from the warm south. Microorganisms frolic between grasses and flowers. Discover the beetles, butterflies, earthworms, caterpillars and ants with the small children.
Take a magnifying glass and go to your daycare center garden or go for a walk with the small children. Depending on whether you head for a meadow, a park or a forest, the toddlers will be able to discover other – even larger – living creatures. Again, take the time to observe and eavesdrop on the individual animals with the toddlers. Then use the observations for other activities in which the children imitate the movements or sounds of the animals. The overview on the right shows which funding areas you are addressing.
Watch the changes in the daycare center garden
The garden of your daycare center is particularly suitable for experiencing the spring awakening and changes in nature with the small children. Go out in the garden with the young children and choose a tree or shrub, the changes of which you will observe over the next few weeks.
Examine the tree closely with the toddlers. Check out the buds of the soon growing leaves. Show the toddlers how to unroll the young leaves from the buds. Gently stroke the toddlers’ hands and cheeks with the delicate leaves. The toddlers make exciting discoveries: the new leaves are so soft and tender! Let the children try out for themselves how the tender leaf emerges from the firm bud, and stroke the leaves themselves.
Invite the toddlers to smell the new leaves, flowers, stem and feel everything. So the children experience nature holistically. Talk about these sensory experiences. Use words like: "The trunk is smooth / rough. The trunk smells woody. The buds smell fresh. ”This consolidates the sensual experience and promotes language development in young children.
Document the changes in photos
Take a picture of the tree or shrub. Repeat this at least once a week. Do you speak about the changes. The toddlers will surely watch the tree or shrub by themselves when they are in the garden. Use words like "bald – leaves, buds – flowers and fruits". In this way you promote language development, visual perception and awareness of nature.
Develop the photos and look at them in a morning circle with the toddlers: what differences can the toddlers discover? How does the crop change? Glue the individual photos on the poster one after the other with the toddlers. How to document the changes. Hang the poster in a place that is clearly visible to small children. The children will keep a close eye on the documentation.
RELATED ITEMS
-
Project with children: hear and discover sounds
Lisa, Max, Steven, Nele and Robin sit on the corner in a "secret mission". Each of them alternately makes a noise with the building material and…
-
Best gifts for kids and toddlers ~ or love each other
ababywearingmom – October 23, 2019 October 23, 2019 It is October, Christmas is inevitably coming to our hearts. And maybe it says…
-
If the child does not want to hear – parent compass – your magazine for pregnancy, baby – family
Parents usually educate their kids to a certain extent the way they raise themselves [. ] Usually parents raise their kids up to one…
-
Street fashion: street style for children and teenagers for spring
View in gallery Street fashion: street style for kids and teens for spring | 1/39 street fashion for spring 2018 for kids and teens, here…