In the Woods for Preschoolers

Time for a new post folks! I've been slacking way too much and I bet you guys missed me just as much as I missed you. So here is a little something to chew on...

Last week, we worked on a thematic called "In the Woods". I brainstormed all around it and came up with camping, forest animals, woodlands, starry nights, and the likes so you can expect this theme to be broad. :)

A lovely bonfire for our campsite

Of course, I had Adrian gather the wood for our bonfire. I dispersed the toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls around the room and then we assembled the fire and made the flames with some scrunched silk paper. I explained what people usually do around bonfires since we've never been camping with Adrian yet. We later had some more dramatic play with a makeshift tent under a table covered with a big sheet. :) I fluffed some pillows inside and blankets. It was quite cozy and we read a nice book by Karma Wilson; Bear Snores On. Quite nice to explain hibernation actually...

Pinecone Forecaster Science Experiment

A beautiful science experiment done with a simple pinecone found outside. We started with the one you see above; fully open and dry. We took a picture. I explained to Adrian that when it's warm, sunny and dry, pinecones are all opened and that when it gets moist, wet and snowy, they close up. As such some people used to use them to forecast the weather to prepare for trips before they had better ways to know what was coming. To prove my point, we immerse the same pinecone in a bowl of water and closed it for an hour. After an hour, it was already partially closed. See picture below. After 2 hours, it was so sealed that it looked like it had been glued. Adrian loved checking back on his pinecone several times. :) I read about this idea on Science Sparks.

1 hour later - pinecone has started closing

Mushroom picking in the yard

Something we did earlier this year but it was very well loved and deemed appropriate with this theme as well so I took it out again. It was loved just as much this time around and requested again later as well. I hid them around the yard and asked Adrian to find all 11 of them (dotted 0 to 10) and later, inside, he rowed them from 0 to 10). I made these myself using unpainted wooden drawer pulls! :)

Rhyming Words - Woodland Themed

Well that didn't go too well...I was looking forward to it and was very excited about it. I was so sad when I realized it was too advanced for A. Oh well. I'm still trying to challenge him more in the literacy department but this was definitely too challenging. If it isn't for your child, e-mail me and I'll send you a copy of my work. It features several forest animals and several rhyming words that need to be matched with the creatures. E.g. Fox - socks, moose - juice, deer - ear, etc.

Rock Painting

I wish our rocks had been bigger but rocks are sort of rare around here despite that fact that it's quite rural. Anyhow, Adrian and I decided to make ladybugs with our rocks since Zahavah will be hosting a ladybug birthday party in a few weeks. we figured it would be nice decorations beside the fact that they are easy to paint, cute AND also found in the woods.

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This post was shared on Discover & Explore.