Introduction

Hi! I’m Natalie. I have two children that are both under the age of five and I’m a registered childminder. I was a teacher for eight years and felt it was time for a change. I also want to spend more time at home with my children. I’m planning on home educating them as I don’t always agree with the ethos and the pressures of our current education system.

It worries me that children can easily recognise logos, but can not identify trees, plants or birds. And it’s not surprising – when they go to school, they will spend about 6 hours inside in a classroom. Outdoor education centres have had their funding cut which means that children will receive even less outdoor education. Learning about the local environment just isn’t on the national curriculum anymore. And yet, the benefits of being outdoors and learning from nature are well documented. Children show improvements in other areas of learning and being outside can help to improve your memory and attention span. By helping children to develop a connection with their environment, I think they will be more likely to protect it.

(For more information about how being outside can improve brain function, look at this article http://www.rspb.org.uk/images/naturalthinking_tcm9-161856.pdf)

And, that’s why I’ve started this blog. I’m aiming to share the activities that we do and the adventures that we have. I want to encourage my children and the children that I look after to explore and engage with nature. I have a responsibility to meet the Early Years Foundation Stage (as an Ofsted registered childminder) so I will explain how each activity has opportunities for assessment against these milestones. I’m also interested in a different educational approach which looks at schemas. When talking about schemas in relation to young children and how they play, it refers to their developmental urges. This blog explains what they are: http://www.nature-play.co.uk/blog/schemas-in-childrens-play.

When I registered to become a childminder, I excitedly ordered a few catalogues from retailers of specialist early years teaching resources. When they arrived, I started flicking through them enthusiastically, looking for engaging toys and learning resources. And then I saw the prices… Wow! For someone who is just starting out, they are just not affordable, or essential. Using natural materials and the great outdoors is very cheap and much more environmentally friendly.

I hope you enjoy reading about what we do and find some useful ideas that you could do with your own children or those that you look after. If you have any ideas on how we can be more eco-friendly, I’d love to hear them as I’m always looking for ways to improve my practice. 

Woodland Walks

This week, we wrapped up warm and went for walks in the woods every day.

Here’s how I support all areas of children’s development on our woodland walks.

Communication and Language

·         Read and discuss picture books about being outside in the woods. We like Tidy by Emily Gravett, The Gruffalo, and Stanley’s Stick.

·         Hide objects and either give clues or describe where they were hidden to support the use of prepositions, e.g. “Betty has hidden the ball under the leaves” or “I have hidden the ball behind something.”

·         Model asking how and why questions to encourage the children to do the same. Wonder out loud why the leaves are on the floor, how they got there, etc.

·         Go on a listening walk. Keep stopping and asking the children to listen carefully. Can they identify any familiar sounds?

·         Teach key vocabulary such as branch, bud, trunk, roots and bark.

·         Point out any signs that you notice, whether they use words or symbols to convey a message.

Physical Development

·         Take a ball to practise throwing, catching and kicking.

·         Use natural materials to create homes for woodland animals.

·         Use sticks to write our names in the mud.

·         Climb trees and play equipment.

·         Get dressed warmly and talk about what we will wear to stop us from being cold. Encourage the children to put on their own coats, shoes, hats and gloves.

·         Do some yoga and be a tree!

·         Practise pencil control by drawing and labelling some of the things that we found on our walks.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

·         Encourage the children to work together to build a den or help to clear a nice space for us to sit and eat.

·         Take a ball to play with together.

·         Read and discuss picture books about being outside in the woods. We like Tidy by Emily Gravett, The Gruffalo, and Stanley’s Stick.

·         Plan some ‘unplanned’ time when the children can roam freely. It is during this time that children collaborate to make up their own games. On one outing this week, Betty decided that they were going to make leaf soup. She instructed the younger ones to gather leaves, they put them in a tree hollow which was full of rain water and all stirred it with a stick. 

Literacy

·         Play ‘I Spy…’

·         Read and discuss picture books about being outside in the woods. We like Tidy by Emily Gravett, The Gruffalo, and Stanley’s Stick.

·         Identify some of the trees that you find using a reference book.

·         Write names or letters using natural resources that you find in the woods.

·         Practise pencil control by drawing and labelling some of the things that we found on our walks.

·         Point out any signs that you notice, whether they use words or symbols to convey a message.

Mathematics

·         Sort leaves into piles according to shape, size, colour, etc.

·         Play games where we count steps, jumps, claps, etc.

·         Sing ‘Ten Autumn Leaves Hanging on a Branch’ to the tune of Ten Green Bottles.

Understanding the World

·         Take a magnifying glass to investigate things that we find.

·         Collect interesting things to take home.

·         Ask the children to close their eyes and put something like a pine cone in their hands. Can they use their other senses to guess what the object is?

         Teach key vocabulary such as branch, bud, trunk, roots and bark.

Expressive Arts and Design

·         Investigate the different textures of tree bark by making bark rubbings.

·         Make things using natural materials – and the children’s imaginations! We made magic wands, leaf soup and animals’ homes. 

Pumpkins

A bit late, but here's our pumpkin pictures!

We found white pumpkins at the farm where we went pumpkin picking.

 

 

And we drew on satsumas to create mini pumpkins for trick or treaters :-D 

The Weather

So, updating my blog has been on my ‘to do’ list for ages! It’s been weeks. I’ve been so busy – not actually doing anything, just making lists of things that I need to do.

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the theme of weather. First of all, we talked about the weather using pictures of extreme weather from around the world. We discussed what we already knew about the weather, what songs we know about the weather and which weather we liked and why.

Betty kept a weather diary to stick in her nature journal. We talked about the use of symbols and looked in Betty’s weather (non-fiction) book to find out more about relevant weather phenomena.

We read the story about the sun and the wind. Then, we sorted out a box of props into hot weather things and cold weather things. These were then left out for role play opportunities.

We used tissue paper to make rainbows. This didn’t work so well – there was tissue paper and glue everywhere and the kids didn’t like it sticking to their hands!

Finally, we watched some examples of weather forecasts and talked about why we have them and why they are useful. The children then had a go at presenting their own weather forecasts; the range of weather predicted across the UK was unlikely, to be honest.

Leaving it so long has meant that I’ve forgotten a lot of what we did. Oh well. At least I can cross it off my ‘to do’ list now.

EYFS Links:

Talking about weather using varied vocabulary, singing songs and rhymes and offering varied role play opportunities supports children’s communication and language development. Talking about why we need to wear warm clothing and practising putting on and taking off clothing supports physical development. Discussing what weather we like and what we don’t like and noticing how it affects and impacts on our daily life supports personal, social and emotional development. Reading books about weather and keeping a weather diary supports literacy skills. Making a rain gauge (although it didn’t rain on the day we made ours!) supports mathematical development. All of the activities help children’s understanding of the world. Using different craft materials aids creativity and role play supports imagination. 

Ponds

This week, we have followed the Exploring Nature with Children’s suggestion and we have been all about ponds.

We went to Coombes Valley Nature Reserve and did some pond dipping. Despite it being autumn, there was an abundance of wildlife in the pond. We found numerous pond snails, pond skaters, damselfly nymphs and a leech. There were lots of tiny creatures in the water too that we could see moving but were too small to identify. And, much to the children’s excitement, we caught a frog! I made a sheet of things that we might find in a pond and Betty looked through them and identified the ones that we had found to cut out and stick in her nature journal.

 

 

At home, we made our own little ‘pond’ for some small plastic frogs which inspired some imaginative, small-world play. We also used the frogs as props when singing ‘Five Little Speckled Frogs,’ practising our counting skills. I read Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Jeremy Fisher to the children, whilst we were on the subject of frogs.

Whilst looking for books about ponds at the library, I found James Mayhew’s Katie and the Water-lily Pond. This inspired an afternoon of art work. We had a go at copying Monet’s famous Water-Lily Pond painting and experimented with the way that adding lots of water made our painting go all fuzzy.

Finally, we went to the pond in the park to feed the ducks. This prompted more counting songs – Five Little Ducks! We read a story called ‘The Lost Little Duckling’ and, because we had seen lots of people walking their dogs near the pond, we read Smelly Louie, which is all about a dog who jumps in a smelly pond.

EYFS: Reading stories and singing songs supports language and literacy development. Whilst at the nature reserve, we listened to the sounds and tried to identify familiar sounds to develop listening skills. Pond dipping and playing at the park aids physical development and encourages children to risk assess. Counting songs support mathematics. Painting and learning about famous art work aids children’s creativity. Being outside and visiting different environments helps the children to understand the world; this is further developed by creating small world replicas for the children to play with. 

Autumn Leaf Crafts

So, Pinterest is totally awash with crafts that you can do with autumn leaves! Too many to choose from.

After making the obligatory leaf hedgehog, we had a go at making leaf butterflies.

I really enjoyed making a leaf butterfly and I’m particularly proud of my attempt!

We used a hole-puncher to make holes in the leaves, threading wool through them to make autumn leaf necklaces.

We made leaf crowns, but I didn’t get any pictures so here’s a picture from two years ago. Two years!!

I don’t think that we do enough musical activities or singing, so I have tried to rectify that this week by teaching the children an autumn leaves song. I also played Vivaldi’s Autumn and we danced around trying to imitate the movement of falling, swirling leaves.

Sing to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down

All the leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down

All the leaves are falling down,

Because it’s autumn!

Get a rake and rake them up, rake them up, rake them up

Get a rake and rake them up,

Because it’s autumn!

Make a pile and jump in them, jump in them, jump in them,

Make a pile and jump in them,

Because it’s autumn!

There are so many more fun things to do with leaves, and so many cool ideas on Pinterest, but the kids are starting to pull a face every time I get the bag of leaves out now!

EYFS: Teaching the children songs helps them to develop communication and language skills. Dancing and threading supports physical development. Dancing, music and arts and crafts encourage creativity. 

Conkers!

We have had lots of fun collecting conkers – we’ve got loads. We decided that at 2 and 4, Betty and Louie were a bit young to be playing conkers so I had to think of lots of ideas for what to with all of those conkers! Here’s what we did:

We drilled holes in them to make conker necklaces, practising fine motor skills and hand – eye coordination at the same time. To further support physical development, I put a bowl outside and we practised throwing the conkers into the bowl. We discussed the best way to throw the conkers as if we threw them to hard, the conkers bounced back out again. 

 

 

 

  

We made the dinosaurs an autumnal world using leaves, conkers and twigs, using our imaginations.

We made conker shakers and sang a song about Conkers, helping children to develop their communication and language skills and their creativity.

We had lots of fun making a ‘conker run’ using old cardboard and the toilet roll tubes. It’s quite a clumsy attempt compared to the ones we saw on Pinterest but it was fun!

Finally, we used the conkers to help us with some Maths activities. I asked the younger ones to pass me different amounts of conkers to assess their counting abilities and asked them to choose the cup which had the most conkers in it, counting the conkers aloud.

I asked Betty to fill the labelled cups with the corresponding amount of conkers. As her number recognition is getting pretty good, I showed her how to do some adding. She used the conkers to help her to work out what would happen if she added 1 and then the wooden counters with numbers on helped her with her number formation.