I love that with some simple intentional steps, it’s possible to encourage kids to learn through their natural curiousity. I don’t think that my kids are unique in that they are thirsty to learn about and understand their world; I see the same thirst in so many children. I just find it so exciting that I get to teach these three! I’ve shared in the past some of the ways that we use our nature plate and basically it’s using various parts of nature for learning and making life connections. Right now our nature plate is filled with little gifts from the sea; there’s a mix of shells, sea glass, dry vegetation, and rocks.
To this point we’ve kept it out of Kathleen’s reach due to her tendency to scatter the pieces at random. However, she has just gotten to the place where she is able to handle each piece with a bit more care as she explores. She’s particularly fascinated by the colors and texture of the sea glass. Every so often she climbs up on table and quietly(for her!) explores. In a couple of weeks, I’ll change it out with a few different objects, probably from collections on one of our spring truly has come walks. When it comes.
