Nature Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers

I mentioned last week that I made a few improvements to our nature books...I was planning a nature walk with my Joy School group and wanted to do nature books for our six kids. I knew that it wouldn't be realistic to stop and help each child tape his/her treasure onto a page every five minutes, so I came up with this idea:

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Materials:two sheets of construction paper6-8 sandwich size ziplock bagsstaplerfinger paint or markers Step One: Place a ziplock bag onto both sheets of construction paper and trace around the bag, leaving 1/2 inch on all sides. Cut out your two squares of paper (these will be the "jacket" for your nature book). Carefully place your 6-8 ziplock bags in between the sheets of paper, leaving the zipper side facing out for the kids to open easily. Staple along the "binding" of your book four or five times to secure the bags together with your construction paper on either side.

Step Two: I gave each of my students a paper plate with finger paint to decorate their nature books. We tried our best to make a tree by painting one hand brown, stamping it onto the paper for the tree trunk, and creating leaves with our fingers. But then they took off from their with their own creativity!



We headed off to a nearby park with trails (I LOVE Ogden) and I reminded my kids to keep their eyes open for a treasure to put in their nature books.


It didn't take long before each bag was full of seed pods, moss, rocks, leaves, sticks, and flower petals.



Pin It  It made my job a LOT easier without having to use tape. I still had to help them open and close their ziplock bags, but it was quick and easy.



We ended our nature walk with some great books about the fall:

*Leaf Jumpers is a great one that helps you identify the different types of leaves that are falling. What beautiful weather we're having!

Outdoor Activities for Toddlers

With the changes taking place outside as we transition into fall, it's a great time to explore the outdoors with your toddler. I love it when my kids notice something outside that is, in their minds, a true treasure. To help my two year old recognize and save these treasures from nature, we made an "outside book."

Materials:

5-7 sheets of construction paper

stapler

tape

*I'll explain the sidewalk chalk in a minute!

 I probably don't need to explain, but you simply staple your sheets of paper together, creating a little book where they can tape their treasure inside.  I'll be posting a more "advanced" version of nature books tomorrow that does not require tape, but this worked for us that day.

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It helps to start with something that is familiar to your child and discuss what they love about it. 

This is a leaf from our "umbrella tree" in our front yard that we love.

She was so excited whenever she found something new and while we taped it into her book, we discussed it's name and role in nature.

Since it was a very sunny day, we also took some time to talk about shadows. I had her stand in the sunlight as I traced her own shadow. Then we stepped back and looked at it together, talking about how it was her body blocking the sun from that part of the sidewalk.

We also traced a smaller shadow of a leaf from our favorite tree.My kids always help me to find joy in the little things and this was a fun way to capture that innocent appreciation in a little book that I can keep (at least for a little while).It was a good day...