Skills and Natural Exploration
Readiness Skills and Natural Exploration with a nod to Susan Gallagher for beginning this list
Fine Motor Skills:
- Pick up small acorns, pebbles, sticks, and pinecone
- Find small invertebrates, insects
- Draw in dirt/sand with sticks
- Scissor skills
- Cut or hole punch leaves
- Cut Grass
- Cut garden plants
Gross Motor Skills:
- Open space for running, jumping freely
- Climb a low tree
- Play with a ball
- Move tires and stumps
- Jump in leaves
- Sled
Eye-Hand Coordination:
- Toss a ball through a hoop, into a basket, or to a person
- Dig and dump
- Stack sticks to make structures
Language and Literacy Skills:
- Letter Recognition, Upper and Lower case
- Letter sound walk
- Read books
- Look for letter shapes in nature
- Make a nature alphabet book
- Draw letters in the sand/dirt/air
- Sequencing
- Talk about the order of doing things
- Discuss being prepared for outside in all weather
- Discuss how animals forage for and store food for winter
- Look for pinecones that have been nibbled on
- Matching
- Match natural items by color, size, shape and sound
- Opposites
- Explore a variety of textures in nature and describe them
- Visual Discrimination
- Classify and group objects
- Same and different
- Positional words
- Use words to describe, above, below, up, down, next to
- Rhyming
- Sing nature related songs and fingerplays
- Make up songs
Math Skills
- Counting
- Count natural objects, sticks, rocks, pinecones, leaves, acorns, seeds, flowers, trees
- Sorting
- Collect and sort natural objects
- Graphing
- If you can collect it, you can graph it
- Graph how something feels
- Graph experiences
- Graph flavors if you’ve grown vegetables
- Measuring
- Bring measuring outside, rulers, cups, thermometer, rain gauge
- Use a balance and a scale
- Number recognition
- Draw numbers in the sand/dirt/air
- Count objects you find
- Use natural objects to create numbers
- Size recognition
- Compare natural objects
- Patterns
- Look for patterns, scales a pinecone, the rings on a tree stump
- Makea nature pattern, one acorn, one pinecone, try more difficult patterns
- Shapes
- Have a shape scavenger hunt
Science
- Properties of water in different seasons
- Watch the tree, plant, insect, animal, and water cycles
- Explore temperature
- Watch the clouds
- Plant a garden
- Name the parts of plants, animals
Self Help Skills
- Hang up coat
- Put on coat, mittens, hats
- Carry food bag
- Open food containers, wrappers
- Clean up
Do you have questions about child led curriculum?
This is how we “do” curriculum at FG. Our curriculum is child-led and play based meaning the children choose or show interest in topics and with our support the delivery is through play. First, we observe the children. Next, we consider the season that we are experiencing in our outdoor program. We then make a rough outline for the week. We include activities that incorporate the MA Learning Guidelines and Standards in the areas of small and gross motor skills, the arts, language and literacy, self-help and science. We add activities that we think the children will find interesting based on our observations. If they do not, we might re-introduce an idea or we might watch and choose to scrap it.
We continue to observe and introduce new elements that might extend play and learning. This looks like children playing all day with not much teacher intervention. The children make hypotheses and test theory. They explore natural and man-made sensory experiences. They are read to and read to each other. They paint and draw with many mediums. They listen to music, they play music. They explore sound with their own voices and objects or they use objects to make sound!
They eat when they are hungry. They get emotional and explore feelings both with adults and each other.
If you have any questions about our curriculum, please ask us.
Toddler Problem Solving
The Boot in the Can. A toddler tossed his boot into the metal can on the playground. He laughed as he did this. He looked about smiling, he was quite pleased with himself. Soon his facial expression changed to a quizzical look. He looked into the can, tried to reach in but the boot was at the bottom, too far in for him to retrieve. He smiled, no longer laughing. He tried several times to reach the boot.
He looked around, he saw where I was sitting and got my attention. This toddler does not yet speak in full sentences. He showed me the boot in the can. I responded that I saw the boot in the can and wondered aloud how he would get the boot out noting that he was responsible for his actions. I retreated to continue observing. Soon enough he figured out tipping the can over and crawling in to get his boot which he brought over to have put on with a big smile on his face.
If I had helped retrieve the boot, what would he have learned? I am so thankful I allowed him to problem solve, be accountable and successful!
Made Up Games
When we give children resources they create their own games. This group of children used materials to create a “basket ball” game up off the ground.
We too often limit children’s imagination with our own constraints. The joy of children making up their own games and playing them teaches so many skills at once. Collaboration, communication, consequences, risk assessment, eye hand coordination and other skills are innate to play. These skills are skills we think we should teach. We do not need too if we just let the children be.
What will you allow children to do today?
Rivers and Lakes
After a rainy morning, the children discovered some dry “river beds” that the heavy rains left. They thought of a variety of ways to recreate the flow only to discover that the earth kept soaking it up.
The activity did not last long however the children involved worked together cooperatively to test their hypothesis that they could re-create a river and lake. Natural resources science lesson for the day, check! We must continue to follow the children as they create our curriculum based on their interests.
How often do you use what is naturally occurring around you as your curriculum?
