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Environmental Snippets

© Angela Plumb

I've been writing several articles that involve a concept and an experiment to explore or reinforce that concept. I thought I would take the time to share some activities that can be done with younger children. It is important that we impart an appreciation of the natural world to little ones. Here are some quick activities that require almost no preparation:

Home, Sweet Home

Draw a picture of your home, showing all the rooms. Then draw a picture of the outside of your home - show the sidewalk, the street, the other houses, the park - whatever is near your home. Finally, draw a picture of all the places you go in a week - the mall, the grocery store, the playground, your friends' house. Using these pictures, describe to someone else where you live and your environment.

Next, choose a wild creature that may live near you - a bird, a squirrel, a deer, a spider. Draw a picture of that creature's home. Use your imagination! Where would the home be located? What would it look like? Would it have doors or windows? What would the creature eat?

Compare your home with the creature's home. What things do they have in common? What parts of the environment do your homes share?

Small Spaces

Find a rock of any size and flip it over. Do any animals scurry out? What type of plants grow under the rock? Are there are roots, or do the plants grow around it? What kind of animals might live under a rock? What does the underside of a rock look like? Why? Is there any life on the rock's surface?

When you're finished, be sure to put the rock back EXACTLY as it was.


Nature Walks
You don't have to live near a forest or a stream - just go outside!! :)

Shape Walk: Look for natural shapes around you. Find two of each: circle, square, rectangle, diamond, oval, triangle. Remember, they must be natural!

Change Walk: Make a list of all the things changing around you - bird flying by, leaves falling, twigs breaking as you pass. What changes are not reversible?

Question Walk: Ask questions and don't worry about the answers! The only answers allowed on this walk is another question. How many questions can be chained together? (e.g. One question leads to another) For example: Can you see that bird? Is the bird building a nest? What is the nest made of? Where did it get the material for the nest? Talk about the answers after the walk.

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