For this kindergarten readiness and nature fun activity kids don’t even need to go outside.
1, 2, 3, what can you be?
To help children connect with nature, ask them to be items found in the environment. For example, can your child be a tree? Or a rock? Or a seed? In order to play the game, children need to think what the item looks like and also what are the important characteristics. Trees have branches, rocks are hard lumps and seeds grow into plants.
When it comes to animals, sometimes kids only have experience of them from books and tv. How many preschoolers have seen a real elephant? But kids know they have long trunks.
- making a nest
Children need to mentally search their background knowledge for how the animal moves. When playing this game, a 3 year old was being a whale, spouting and swimming, but she was quite puzzled and asked her mother, “Mommy, how can I be a whale with feets?” Not knowing something can spark kids’ interest in learning more about nature.
Although this is a game where we ask kids to be something in nature, all of us already are part of the natural world. Nature play is based on learning, knowledge and connection. What part will your child be?