April is Earth Month! There are so many wonderful activities and crafts to do with your family when you surround yourself with nature. Try this out together.
Color Nature Walk
Walk around your neighborhood or a local park with your children and search for things in nature that are in the rainbow! Talk with your child about what they see. Find items that are a mixture of colors. Write down or take a picture of what you find together.
For example:
- A red leaf
- An orange sunset in the sky (think about how many colors there are when the sun sets or rises!)
- A yellow weed
- A green stem of a flower
- A blue bird
- A purple rock
- A brown tree trunk, pinecone, acorn...
During your walk, pick up items that are interesting to your child. When you come home, take a look at your items and make a nature collage, opens a new window or write a story and draw pictures about what you saw together. You can prompt your child by asking these questions:
- What did you see? (Also hear, feel, and smell?)
- What did you find that had textures?
- What was similar? What was different?
- What was the most beautiful thing you saw?
Early Literacy Tip: Print Awareness
Drawing pictures and attempting to write letters and words help a child develop print awareness. When you encourage your child to draw and write about what they experienced on their nature walk, they have made the leap to understanding that marks on a page can carry meaning.
ALSO!
Talking about what you saw together creates learning opportunities for the child. Background knowledge about the world is built from a child's experiences.
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