Nature ABC Walk and Case Files for Nature Detectives

ABC Walk

After reading the book we are going on a Bear Hunt, Spiderman decided - it's a beautiful day outside, and we are going on an ABC Hunt! 
Why not? We love going on walks. Short ones, long ones, on feet, bikes, or scooters. Alphabet hunt sounds even better! Batman was given the task of recording observations. We decided to start with our backyard.
Don't forget your camera or phone, and nature bags to bring home the samples.

• A - apples, ants, acorns (asphalt - discounted by Batman as it is man made)

A for Apples!

Honeysuckle with Bees

• B- bug, bee, bark, buds, birds, butterfly
• C - caterpillar, crow, cloud, cat, car, creek
• D - dandelion, dog
• E - earth, eggs (from a bird's nest), eagle
• F - flower, fern, fly, feather
• G - grass, green leaves, gravel,
• H - hummingbird, honeysuckle
• I -  inchworm, iguana (if we had spotted one)
• J - jasmine
• K - kite, katydid (I don't think we spotted one, Batman did say that they are active at night, as he seemed to know something about it, I let it slide!)

L for Lizard

• L - leaves, lemon, lady bug, lizard



O for Orange Leaves

• M - mud, maple, mulch, moss

• N - nest
• O - orange leaves, owl (if we had gone out at night)
• P - pumpkins (decorations for fall), purple flower, (poop - from dogs, lol!), pine cones, palm trees, parachute seed, plants

R for Rose

• R - rose, rabbit

S for Snail

• S - stones, stump, seeds, squirrel, sun, snails, spiders, sand
• T - tree, twigs, trails made by above mentioned snails
• V - vine



W for web

• W - wind, water, weeds, worms, web
• Y - yellow flowers

The kids hypothesized that if we had gone for a nature walk near the lake, we would have seen dragonflies, frogs, fishes, turtles, ducks, tadpoles etc. All true!

Spiderman's thought - we should have taken a nature walk in the zoo, mom, then it would be real easy to come up with something for all the letters!

Here is a great extension to the ABC Nature Hunt:Make an ABC Nature book

Nature walks are great opportunities to engage all your senses. Here are some extensions.

 

Sound Walk

Extend your nature walk to a sound walk.What kinds of sounds do you hear? You can leave it open ended, asking them to record/draw 5 sounds for example.
Or you can have a checklist - 

1. Do you hear the wind?
2. Rustling of leaves?
3. Birds chirping?
4. Cars swooshing by? 
5. TV blaring?
6. Dogs barking?
7. Cats meowing?
8. Leaves crunching?
9. Baby crying?

Sensory Walk 

Feel the bark of the tree. How does it feel. Now feel the petals. Run through grass, wiggle your toes in the sand box, dip your feet in the creek, feel the sun on your back, and the wind in your hair...

Nature Detectives

We had so much fun, and Spiderman and Batman had so many questions to ask and observations to make, we decided to organize things a bit more for our next nature walk.
Presenting ...

Case Files for Nature Detectives

1. Space to record your ABC Nature Hunt from A to S - write or draw!
2. Sound Hunt
3. Two pages for Texture Hunt
4. Smell Hunt
5. Color Hunt
6. Color graph (see if their predictions match up with the graph)
7. Leaf rubbing page
8. Sorting - Plants or Animals
9. Venn Diagram - Living, Non-living, and Once-Living
10. A page to record the weather.

Download it for free, and have fun detecting and learning.
Please Note: This version is for personal use only. Teachers, please see my TpT Store.
 
The wonderful clip-art is from My Cute Graphics.

 

Montessori Inspired Tea Party - High Time for High Tea

I am all about gender equality! My super-heroes have the Green Toys Dish set with blue tea cups, and they are always having pretend tea parties with teddies, super-heroes, a few villains, and of course, mom and dad.

And Batman came across some pictures of mom having a High Tea on girls night out, or rather, evening out! So he wanted one as well. Why should they be left out, right?

This a great way to motivate the little ones to do all the pouring and transferring activities. The tea party could be their graduation ceremony, lol! Pouring the tea into the cups, while making sure the lid does not fall off takes concentration and co-ordination. Then there is the matter of holding the cup with thumb and forefinger, placing the cup gently on the platter without making noise, slicing the pastry, transferring it to your plate, picking up the cookies, and strawberries with tiny tongs, scoping the nuts and blueberries with spoons, you get the picture.

Not to mention the feast it can be for your other senses.

Venue for the high tea: the kitchen counter.

I had these black cappuccino cups - just the right size for tiny hands.  
Batman thought we should call it a cappuccino tea party!

The super-heroes practiced pouring water from tea pots into cups before the party, so they were all ready! You can find them practicing here.
Don't worry, the sake cups and the tiny pot in the picture only has water in it. 
Spiderman chose a light weight pretty white teapot (the bigger one in the picture) to contrast with the black cups.

Next were the plates- beautiful pear shaped plates, and flower plates, to hold all the yummies.

Candles for setting the mood. Fresh flowers for the ambiance, picked and arranged by the super-heroes. Hint hint - Montessori Practical Life... 
And a tiny vase with one white rose as a place setting, one for each guest.

And of course, shiny spoons and forks, serving spoons and tongs, and co-coordinating napkins!!
 
Let's start with the tea - chamomile with honey (chosen with forethought, as chamomile helps with digestion, lol). 
Now on to the snacks...
We had slices of yummy cakes, heart shaped petite palmier cookies, madelines, gold fish crackers, chips, and some nuts, and plateful of strawberries and blueberries...

Of course, although the tea was technically for the kiddos, mom and dad also helped, especially with the snacks!!

They drank 3 cups or more of the chamomile tea per super-hero, (which is great, I am sure it helped them digest all their appetizers), and loved pouring their tea from the pot, and drinking water from their sake cups! No spills :)

Batman loved the High Tea - his comment at the conclusion of his High Tea - I am not sure I would like to go to too many of them, I ate too much! Sensible boy :)

  

 

Linking it to: Link & Learn, Tot School Gathering Place, Get Schooled Saturday, Show and Share Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, Montessori Monday, The After School Link-Up, Mom's Library

Montessori Manipulatives - Master of manipulation!

It is very important to train the next generation of super-heroes who will open that stubborn bottle of pickles, or jelly.

And even more important, that they co-coordinate their hands and eyes, learn about concentration, and develop their fine motor skills, all while having fun.

I tried to come up with things that will appeal to the super-heroes in training, and will have different kinds of closures - such as simple lids on the boxes and bottles, screw on lids, snap on lids, zippers, drawstring, latches...

Batman zipped through everything, I did not even get in one click. Fortunately, Spiderman took his time :)

We opened and closed an assortment of boxes, bottles, and a few other what nots. Spider-man's favorite were the hermetic jars. Surprisingly, it was the small black netted bag with string closing that was the toughest for him. Maybe it was the tiny black box inside the black bag. The picnic basket was a hit. The handle has to be just at the right position for the lid to stay close. Few of the boxes had surprises waiting for him, to reward him for all his hard work, and to keep him motivated. He loved aligning the hands just so, to close them, and thought the surprise inside was "cute". He loved the smell of sandalwood from the fan inside the green box.

Spiderman also found a sippy cup, and opened and closed that a few times, all the better to spill the water next time if so desired!



  
After that, we hung some fairy clothes to dry on the wash-line. The clips are kid sized ones, with just enough spring action so as to challenge Spiderman. and went on to some manly work with nuts and bolts.

Batman gave braiding a try.

Water play is always welcome. Big dropper, and then the smaller dropper to transfer the water from one bowl to another.

We then decided to do some pouring with more colored water. Tiny and medium sized pitchers, colored water, and go.

Linked up to:
Tot School Tuesday 

Asian Inspired Montessori Pouring and Transferring

It's Raining, It's Pouring....

The super-heroes love new presentations of the same concept, but then, who doesn't? So we added an Asian flavor to our Montessori Pouring and Transferring.  

It was a big hit. If you are doing the rounds of the continents, or visiting certain countries, this could be a great activity for a tie-in.

We started  with India, with water beads in the stainless steel Karahi (Indian version of a wok), and two small steel bowls with lentils/beans. The wobbly water beads require concentration, the beans, not so much.

Indian flavored transferring activity with Karahi and bowls

For pouring, we gathered some ceramic sets. 

Japanese flavored pouring using Sake cups and pot

We had the Sake pot, called tokkuri, and Sake cups from Japan. This is an extension activity, so a good one for kids who have already mastered the basics. We added some blue food coloring for fun. Batman had no spills, and neither did Spiderman. The notch in the Sake cup has to be aligned just so when pouring.

Next was a tea service in a traditional Chinese motif, with tea-pot and the cups being just the right size for small hands. Pouring from the tea pot needs extra care, as you have to place a finger on the lid to keep it in place, making it a bit more challenging. There were quite a few drips with Spider-man, although no spills. Batman did a perfect job.

We finished it with some play food from Japan and China, and chopsticks.

Transferring with Dimsums and Chopsticks

Montessori Transferring with a chopstick

The play foods gave Batman ideas! So we also served pizza and transferred nachos...

We are global citizens after all.

Montessori Transferring with pizza slices and nachos

For this and other great ideas, visit: