Sam Goldsworthy: Nature Based Play

My outstanding member Sam Goldsworthy Childminding not only features in our Wanderlust Nature Study Programme but is also one of our regular blog writers. 

We hope you enjoy her blog post this week!

This week we are writing about our favourite nature based learning ideas - as many of you are probably aware we absolutely love taking the children out and about to experience nature daily. We feel this has so many benefits such as building confidence, managing and taking their own risks, improves concentration and cognitive skills. It also provides many learning opportunities such as problem solving, outdoor maths, arts, literacy and many more.

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 We often visit the local woods. We go to the same woodlands each time as the children are comfortable with their surroundings and they have built a rapport with these woods. We talk about the different flowers and leaves that we can see growing or fallen from the trees. This changes with the seasons so there is always something new to spot and talk about.

The children always take a basket to the woods to collect the ‘treasures’ as they call them as well as our magnifying glasses to we can all take a closer look at nature.  We talk about the different leaves and flowers introducing them to new language which they learn very quickly.

We use these natural treasures for many different activities - we thought we would share with you a few of our favourite ones.

Firstly we have used our nature finds to thread and weave through shaped cardboards hearts that we have previously wrapped string around. This is a fantastic way to strengthen their finer motor skills as well as learning to be careful with nature. These are a great way to showcase their finds too. These can be threaded into different shapes to encourage shape recognition also.

Secondly we often take some art materials to the woods so the children can have the opportunity to participate in some observational drawing whilst sitting in nature. They can use many different materials - paints, pencils, pastels, watercolours - to draw what they can see.  We are very mindful that art is a process not a fantastic end product. It is mainly about seeing the outdoors through a child’s eyes.

Thirdly we have taken natural playdough to the woods. This is made from flour and water so is safe for the animals and wildlife who may encounter this after we have left. We use the dough to place on the trees to make a face shape. The children are encouraged to forage for natural materials to represent facial features such as eyes, nose, mouth and hair.

 However my favourite activity this year has been creating ice lanterns. We have collected many treasures and taken them back to the setting.  To create an ice lantern we filled a bowl with water then placed another small bowl inside the larger bowl and weighted down with some stones. We carefully placed our treasures which were holly leaves, berries and flower petals in the water then popped it into the freezer. Once it had frozen we released the bowls and placed the lantern on a plate with a lit tea light inside. The children were amazed by this and it sparked many observational questions about water, ice, melting etc which was discussed in greater detail.

We would love to see your nature activities please tag us on Instagram or Facebook - Sam Goldsworthy Childminding