Summer!  Hot weather, nesting birds, growing crops, no school, swimming, hiking, or just lying outside in the grass and looking at the clouds!  That's what summers all about.

 So, how can you incorporate environmental education at this time of year?  Try the following activities from the KinderNature website!    For preschoolers, try Honey bees, Nature Nuts – plants butterflies, salamanders, fish, owls; Night, Nature Tots Reptiles and Beavers  For toddlers, try  Over in the Pond, Birds, Mudluscious, Splish Splash, bees

Look for new activities to be posted in July!

Playin’ in the mud! That’s what I did growing up! Mud, a sandbox, a playhouse, and the cherry tree to climb are my memories of childhood. Today, it seems that our children are not encouraged to participate in these activities.  Being clean, watching TV, and spending time at the computer seem to be a higher priority.

Story County Conservation decided to do something about it!  KinderNature was created to help early childcare educators, care givers, and parents incorporate nature into their curriculums and lives. All the activities were reviewed for age appropriateness and the multiple intelligences. Representatives from the Iowa Association for the Education of the Young Child, childcare providers, preschool educators, and kindergarten educators made up our advisory team. 

KinderNature's long-term goal is to have a website targeting preschool teachers and child care staff to assist in learning, developing, and implementing a well-balanced environmental education (EE) preschool program.  The intent is for childcare providers to have developmentally appropriate programs which incorporate a variety of learning styles and stimulate within the child an excitement for learning.  Environmental preschool programs can spark an environmental awareness and lay a solid foundation for the school-age environmental education building blocks that result in adults having the ability to make sound environmental decisions.  

• Summer Fun

Dumping, Filling, and Pouring

Simply sit and play with the toddler modeling different things to do with water. Use milk jugs with holes punched in the bottom for sprinklers, funnels, and cups and containers of all sizes.

Skills developed: fine motor, creative play

Alphabet Sand

Draw lines, shapes, letters, numbers, or pictures in the sand. Have the toddler trace them. Can they duplicate these? Show the child how to make handprints or footprints. What if you use a stick? a rock? a leaf?

Skills developed: fine motor, letter recognition, creative play

Sand Combs

Cut combs out of cardboard. Use different shapes for the “teeth” of the comb. Rake the combs through the sand.

Skills developed: fine motor, creative play

Baster (or eye droppers) Play

Fill a bowl with water and add a few drops of food coloring if you like. Show your tot how to place the meat baster (or eye dropper) in a bowl full of water and squeeze the bulb. Watch the tube fill up with water. Show your tot how to hold the meat baster over an empty container and release the water.

Skills developed: fine motor, creative play, color recognition

Squish!

Take off your shoes! Jump right in the mud and wiggle your toes! How does it feel? When you get out, walk on the paper and make footprints. Try wet sand. How does that feel?

Skills developed:  Gross motor, sense of touch ---- a wonderful sensory experience!!

Footprints in the Mud

When the ground is covered with mud, it is fascinating to walk outside and study footprints. Take your toddler outside and look for prints in the mud. Near water or a food source are good places to start.

Try to figure out what bird or animal made those footprints. Let your toddler put his hand in the mud and look at his handprint. Put your hand in the mud and compare your print with your toddler’s print.

Compare shoe or boot prints. Do this inside with clay.

Skills developed:  Observation skills, nature appreciation, thinking skills, sense of touch

We want to hear from YOU!

We encourage early childhood educators to send “nature/science” activities that have worked in the classroom or at home to lzaletel@storycounty.com.  We’ll review them and give you credit on the KinderNature website. 

We hope you will check out our links page, too.  There are many other exciting sites to visit!