Closing the Case for Nature Detectives

We finished our Nature Detectives theme this week.  Miss M and Littlest really seemed to enjoy exploring trees, water, air and dirt.  In addition to the calendar, reading stories, counting blocks
and singing songs we did some fun learning activities on Monday and Wednesday.

The kids love the theme posters and cluster around looking for things with their laminated magnifying glasses.  I think it would be fun to make our own poster as the month goes by, drawing or cutting out pictures that relate to the theme we are studying.  It's a great language activity and one they seem to enjoy.

One of the activities included burying letters in dirt or sand and then digging them up and identifying them.  I decided it was okay if they got a little dirty and we actually attempted this as written in my sandbox/planter but as luck would have it, it was quite windy and kept blowing the sand in their eyes so we stopped after a few minutes, even though they were really enjoying the treasure hunt for letters.

We were supposed to draw in sand or dirt but I had the genius idea (insert sarcasm) to use flour instead because for some reason I thought that would be easier to clean up (it's not).  At least the kids loved tracing the shapes in the flour and I know it would be a popular way to work on writing again.  I started this activity by tracing the shape myself and then having them trace my shape before patting the flour down (and up into the air, all over their clothes and faces...) and doing it themselves.  It seemed like a successful way to help them get the idea of making shapes other than spirals and circles.  Salt would have been a better medium to use since it's heavier than flour and would dust up so much.  I will do this again with Miss M and Littlest but not on a windy day, so we can take it outside.  I am also going to make a gel writing pad like this one, that they can use inside and on road trips.

The hedgehog art activity was fun, I let them roll the spiky ball in paint and then around a blank piece of paper while I painted their hands one at a time for the hedgehog.  They liked the sensory nature of this activity a lot and afterwards we watched a little kid's nature video about hedgehogs during snack to learn more about them.

The girls really liked the Mouse Maze activity, although Miss M needed a lot of direction to get started (she just wanted to draw a straight line from the mouse to his mommy).  They didn't know what mice ate so we watched another little video on mice (I'm started to love YouTube) in order to learn what they should draw on the pictures.

I was a little surprised by how much they enjoyed patterning with the cards.  They took turns making each pattern and repeating it out as far as they could.  At the library later, Miss M and I practiced some more with the blocks, using the different shapes.  I thought she was maybe a little too young but with as much fun as she had, I think we will be doing more of this.  I see colored pasta necklaces and patterned collages in our future.

The mushroom houses were adorable.  Since we only have an hour, there wasn't enough time to paint the tops and let them dry but they seemed fine with markers.  I kind of want to make some salt clay and create little critters for them.

That's it for July.  I am really excited for fables and folktales in August since I love stories and reading and want to pass that on to the girls.