The mercury is starting to drop and the clothes are getting longer and thicker. It's a excellent time to get kids out into the great outdoors with nature and let them experience the change of seasons.
Children love exploring and finding new things to show their friends, parents or Educator and nurturing this behaviour is a fantastic and simple way to encourage learning.
We thought we'd share a few ideas that some of our Educators do with the little ones in their care.
Here's a few games that might inspire you to get out and about on the weekend, have some fun and build learning into the activity:
The leaf game: See who can find the biggest, smallest, brightest, brownest, yellowest or reddest leaf… then hunt again
Leafy tracing: Put different leaves under a piece of paper then rub a crayon over the top. Ta daaa!
Leaf stamps: Paint leaves then carefully stamp them on your paper
Sifting for Gold: Have children pretend to be gold miners. Paint very small rocks, gold. Hide them in the sand (if you're at the beach. Give your children small sifters to sift through the sand looking for gold. This little game works just as well in a park - a bit like an Easter Egg Hunt.
Hop Scotch: An oldie but a goodie - use chalk to create a simple pattern of squares on a flat concrete surface and number each block. Use a piece of bark or flat stone as the marker and teach numbers and participation - see a quick link here for how to play
Learning outdoors is active and increases children's physical, mental and social health. It has also been shown to support children's learning development and decrease stress levels. It's great for Mum's and Dad's too ; )
Happy playing everyone!
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