Category Archives: Nature play

Save the stuffies!

Posted on by
Reply

Today we challenge you to create a simple “Save the stuffies” obstacle course. You need just a few materials:

1) a log or two – sticks also work! If indoors, use pillows or placemats as stepping stones. You just want them to be within a step’s reach of your youngest player.

2) stuffed animals or magazine/pictures of animals

3) a home base (a tree, step, chair, etc)

The goal of the game is to save the stuffies by balancing along the logs or stepping stones and picking up and taking each stuffy (one at a time) to home base without losing your balance. Repeat to save as many stuffies as you can. Have fun!

Nature Portraits

Posted on by
Reply

Making art from natural objects is so much fun! For this activity, collect any natural items that are appealing to you and your child like twigs, acorns, walnuts, invasive species, garden flowers, etc. and arrange them into portraits on a canvas. A paper plate or cardboard work well as a canvas (both outdoors and indoors) as do flat stumps in nature as well. This activity is a great conversation starter about different emotions and feelings. It’s so beneficial for our children to hear (over and over, so many times) that all feelings are okay and all feelings pass. We ALL have big feelings every day – especially right now during this time of uncertainty. Ask your child questions about the faces they create on their canvas and to remember a time they felt that emotion. Create different faces and play a “guess that feeling” game with your kiddo- it’s sure to have you both laughing in no time!

Number Ride

Posted on by
Reply

The Number Ride game is really simple and totally customizable. All you need is sidewalk chalk (or markers and paper indoors). Make many sets of the same 3 numbers a short distance apart. The goal is to bike ride (or hop or jump) on whichever number chosen that round, from the start to the finish. Vary the distance of the numbers based on age and ability and plan for your child to be able to hit the same number 5 or 6 times. It’s great to start with consecutive numbers like 1, 2, and 3 and you can quickly move to playing with concepts like evens (2, 4 and 6’s) and odds (1, 3 and 5’s) as well as using the numbers to show children how to count by 5’s and 10’s. Have fun with the Number Ride!

Nature twists on fun games

Posted on by
Reply

It’s easy to add a little nature into play!

We are all spending a lot more time at home these days and while it’s always wonderful to spend time in nature, it’s extra important right now to find a way to bring nature into our lives to help calm, center and soothe us.

Our amazing staff at the Audubon Nature Preschool is excited to share a fun activity to help bring more nature into your lives each weekday. All activities are geared toward young children and are adaptable based on age and whatever outdoor (or indoor) spaces you have available to you. Here’s a sneak peek at the type of activities we’ll be sharing each day. Leave us a comment if you try it out! Have fun, everyone!img_6325

Step-scotch: a nature twist on hopscotch…with steps!

This activity is super fun indoors or outdoors. If outdoors, just add one action idea to each step with chalk. You’ll also want to mark a starting point and ending point on the sidewalk if possible. Then gather rocks, seed pods, or pine cones and toss the nature item on the steps. Take up to three tosses and whichever step your item lands on is the action you try!

If you’re indoors, just add the actions to each step with paper, markers and tape. You can tape off a starting and end point on the floor for the actions and use natural items to toss if you collect some items on a nature walk. Enjoy!