Halloween Nature Fun!

Last week at Nurturing Acorns, we explored Halloween Nature Fun! We started with a little bit of stickers in our nature journals--or a whole lot depending on who you were! :-)

The sensory bin was a hit with the addition of a few Halloween inspired items, like pumpkins and bats! We read books about pumpkins and worked on sequencing and the life cycle of pumpkins. 

Outside, we looked for fall colors using paint chips on a ring. We always love this activity for any age! 

One of the highlights of our walk was finding a walking stick! Great eyes! 

We had to investigate all the holes and the fungus!

For snack, we had string cheese ghosts, pumpkins, and a little popcorn. 

Later, we play Mr. Pumpkin Head and decorated small pumpkins. 

We also tried our hand at pumpkin pounding! 

We sorted by small, medium, and large. We also looked at various fall harvest and pumpkin words and pictures. 

Of course, the sensory bins were still a hit!

Teaching and Learning Outdoors

After I went to a workshop down at Conner Prairie on bringing nature inside the classroom, many of us stayed for Teaching and Learning Outdoors. Conner Prairie was generous to make this available to educators! Heather Mead, Director of Education, came from Heritage Museums and Gardens to lead the workshop, looking at the basic philosophy of the Nature Explore outdoor classroom. I had been to another training on this before, yet didn't realize it would rely so heavily on the concept. Still, it was a good refresher, nice to make connections, and helped stimulate brain activity on the topic. Heather Mead helped develop an outdoor classroom at her museum and gardens. It sounds lovely! I'm excited to see what else Conner Prairie is doing as they have some great natural spaces and developing nature play spaces as well.

Let the Outside In!

I went to a workshop down at Conner Prairie on bringing nature inside the classroom. Conner Prairie was generous to make this available to educators! The setting was right, with large open windows overlooking the trees and the facility. There were natural items on the tables. Heather Mead, Director of Education, came from Heritage Museums and Gardens to lead the workshop. What an interesting place! It sounds like they are doing great nature education there! I'm excited to see what else Conner Prairie is doing as they have some great natural spaces and developing nature play spaces as well. 

To introduce ourselves, we found nature pictures we could relate to for some reason and shared with the group. These were beautiful pictures of shapes, patterns, colors, and items from nature. They bring back memories and encouraged me to get outside and discover the magic of nature once again. It was a great collection that I'd love to have. I'll need to start collecting. 

Woodlawn Nature Center's Outdoor Class and Natural Playscape

I've been helping develop a lower budget outdoor classroom and natural play area at Woodlawn Nature Center in Elkhart. We call it Nature's Connection, with plans to make interactive learning spaces on the outside walls of the building as well and a start to a rain garden in the front of the center. I have been patterning plans off of the guidelines from the Nature Explore outdoor classroom concept after attending a training; however, plan to include additional details as an adventure path throughout the woods as well. With the Nature Explore concept, there are distinct areas for specific purposes with definitive edges between the areas.  The basic areas at Woodlawn Nature Center include:

1. Water Area--For now, the water area is a small pond that has been existing at the nature center outside the wildlife viewing window. There is a plaque in the center with people who helped donate funds and build the pond. It is not a place for open play, yet does allow for observation and interaction with the water. I've been looking at a few other options, including the low cost option of using clean detergent jugs filled with water that allow children to fill up containers for using water in the various play areas. 

Natural Playscapes

We have many natural playscapes within an hour drive of our area. Here are a few that I enjoy taking my children to. Seeing the diversity and variety of natural play areas reminds me there are many options. Natural areas in our own yards can be enhanced to have nature play spots like this as well. I included links to natural play areas in our region and resources that are available for developing natural playscapes below. Check it out!

Pumpkin Pounding

Last month we saw golf tees pounded into pumpkins at a fall festival at the Early Learning Center in Granger. Of course, we had to try it. This morning we tried it out at nature preschool at Woodlawn Nature Center; however, my 5-year-old had been itching to try it once he saw the golf tees . After school I let him pound away!

I found a big pack of golf tees online and figured we could find other uses for them as well. Some people may be working on carving pumpkins; we're working on fine motor skills, using tools, and building skills.

It was so popular that the older boys (8 and 10) wanted in on the action. The younger one (2) wanted more turns and has now learned the word goggles. We even had to bring it all down to Grandma and Grandpa's house so the fun could continue through the evening! It was a hit with all the boys from ages 2-10!

My tips:

1. I like the kids using the safety goggles. I'm not sure they are essential with the mallet, but having eye protection is helpful. Plus, it helps it feel more official. We used a real hammer while at preschool today. As I saw the claw heading back toward toddler faces, I was assured that they were wearing goggles.

2. Some of the heads ended up getting damaged. I wonder if we'll be able to use these tees again. Still it's been an interesting challenge for them.  

3. Child sized tools are helpful. We used what we had, but tools their size would have been better.

4. We can't wait to introduce rubber bands to these to make pumpkin geoboard shapes! I wonder how the children will help expand how these may be used or how they might embellish them more. 

5. My 5-year-old wanted to push the tees into the pumpkin enough to get it started. He's still figuring out how to hold the tee while it gets going. I started the tees for the 2-year-old. 

6. It seemed helpful to have a large pumpkin. 

7. For younger children, holding the tool closer to the head gave more control. 

Leaf Salt Dough Bowls

At church recently, I noticed the upper elementary girls making a fun project that I thought I'd document. They made salt dough in a variety of colors and squashed the colorful balls down to make a calico of colors. After rolling the dough out flat, they used leaves for a template and cut around the shapes. It's colorful and organic shaped!

They draped their cut out leaves over bowls to air dry as a bowl shape. These will be so pretty!