Ordinary, regular walks in the neighborhood or visits to local parks can become “go wild for nature ” adventures. Today, we played Nature I Spy. With a set of paper roll binoculars (2 rolls from bathroom tissue attached together) the kids focused on some nature details.
In the backyard, Big Sister spied some strawberries red and ready on the hanging basket by the swing. She looked around for some birds that she could hear singing in the trees but couldn’t locate them. She also couldn’t find her sandals. There were a few clouds to see in the sky and rocks on the ground.
Later, we went down the street and Little Sister took a right-up-close look at the ground. Since she was riding her bike and had to wear a helmet, she left her pair of I Spy binoculars at home. She saw grass and dirt but no worms or bugs.
As we walked and rode, we played the I Spy game where one person chooses something and gives clues for the other people to guess. It was easy to guess “something green that looks like lines” to be grass (Big Sister) and “somethin’ gwey and onna gwound” (Little Sister) to be rocks.
That translates to grey and on the ground and she needed some help to give the clues for rocks instead of the just the answer.
Kids do not need big, wild spaces to encounter nature. It can be backyards or front ones, parks or balconies, and from the ground all the way to the sky. Things that kids see every day look different when they use binoculars, magnifying glasses, or even sunglasses.
For more fun, instead of I Spy Nature, you and your child can also play I Hear Nature. What kinds of things do you hear when you go outside?
(Q. Did you hear the one about how to tell that bees are happy?
A. They hum while they work.
Is there a nature adventure that would make you happy?
Share on 123kindergarten’s FB page.)