Wet and Wonderful – A Mud Puddle-and-Pie Activity Guide

Wet and Wonderful – a Mud Puddle-and-Pie Activity Guide

The season of wet-and-muddy is upon us, and with it, an opportunity to embrace all manners of sensory play, mud-puddle math, nature art and interdisciplinary integration!  Have boots? Will play!

Mud-puddle math:

Mud puddles provide endless hours of sensory fun, and an incredible opportunity for authentic learning!

How deep is the water? How much water is in a really big puddle?  What could it fill? A bucket?  A bathtub? How could we even measure it?!

In her blog Puddle Play – Rethinking the ‘Math Classroom’, Deanna Pecaski McLennan, PhD, elaborates the “measurement, counting, capacity, classification, time and quantity” that can all be explored authentically  in a puddle. This is rich learning where play and adaptive reasoning intersect.

Math can happen anywhere, and outdoors doing something most children love is the perfect place!

Tool tips? Try:

  • Turkey basters  That turkey baster that only gets used twice yearly?! An incredible (and FUN) instrument of transfer and measurement:  squirting distance, volume transfer – comparing between one container and another.
  • Measuring cups
  • Funnels

More math and measurement?! Try Mud Kitchens!

Mud Kitchen:

Cooking up delicious “recipes” in a mud kitchen requires only a few second-hand kitchen implements like muffin tins, metal bowls, collanders and spoons.  This can be on-the-ground immersive play or hands-in-a-sandbox in a wood or brick enclosure (pictured below).  Second-hand stores are inexpensive sources for utensils, and places like the Re-store offer inexpensive sinks and accessories for more elaborate builds!

PCFC Pathway Pop-Ups

PCFC Pathway Pop-ups

Peterborough Child and Family Centres (PCFC) are racing down the Pathway with PSK Pop-ups.  Ellen Mortlock shares how the Pathway has “popped up” within their 6 drop-in hubs – bringing creative and fun opportunities for exploration and play that engage young children and their families with the Early Years Landmarks.

130 families + 6 locations + 1 month + 9 ‘pop-ups’ = 23 total hours of playful Pop-up fun!

By Ellen Mortlock

The Peterborough Child & Family Centres were excited to be picked as a Pathway to Stewardship & Kinship pilot site. As the Early ON Centre for Peterborough City and County, we provide rich play and learning environments for children ages 0-6, their families and caregivers.  During the month of February, to highlight the three landmarks for children ages 0-3, we hosted uniquely designed Pathway Pop-ups.  These special events ‘popped’ up within our regularly scheduled programs.

130 families + 6 locations + 1 month + 9 ‘pop-ups’ = 23 total hours of playful Pop-up fun!

The families dressed up like animals, explored animal tracks and fossil rocks, played in a ‘frog pond’, among many other nature based activities. The nests, snake skins, and skulls on the touch table sparked many great questions and engaging conversations.

Another of our programs, the School for Young Moms, embraced the winter weather and the Pathway landmarks.  Our pregnant and parenting teens were encouraged  to “Go outside and play” with their infants. Each family was asked to take part in a nature scavenger hunt and the young women rose to the frosty challenge.  They documented their experiences to share with the group at the end of February. Pictured below is a young mom who brought her daughter outside to enjoy the cool air and bright sunshine while she searched for animal prints in the snow.

We have enjoyed snowy fun in our outdoor spaces and are looking forward to the warmer spring weather and the mud that comes with it. We’re ready to trade in our snow pants for splash pants and embrace the gooey, dirty, mucky exploration. Our staff are excited to implement more great nature-based activities with our families as the season changes.  Bring on the rubber boots!

Landmark #20: Exploring life cycles of the products we love

Landmark #20: Exploring life cycles of the products we love

Being on the Pathway is not just an experience in nature immersion. Millbrook South Cavan Pathway Pilots in Lisa Noble’s Gr. 7 class took a deep dive into the “cradle to grave” (a life cycle analysis from creation to disposal) of their favorite products.  As Sydney reveals, Landmark #20 is about lifting the veil on the production and disposal costs of things we use every day – to answer “who works on producing it, what by-products are produced and what happens to it after it is used?”

By Sydney

I am a student from Millbrook South Cavan Public School. Our class is taking part in the Pathway to Stewardship and Kinship project.  It is working on raising healthy children for a healthy planet. What we had to do for our project was “research a product of any kind that interests you”. What can you discover about how it is made, who works on producing it, what by-products are produced and what happens to it after it is used?” Then we had to create a presentation to help other people learn what we learned.

We started off by watching “the story of stuff” then we all picked a product of our choice and had to answer all of those questions. I chose to talk about Nike Flex trainers and the most surprising thing I learned was that the bad part of making shoes is not just the leftover scraps that go to the trash but also all the bad toxins that go into the air.

I think that this is a really good project because it teaches kids if they should buy a certain product or not and if there is another/better option.

Frozen Sun Catchers

Frozen Sun Catchers

A recipe for easy mid-winter magic

January 23, 2019

Ingredients

  • Found nature objects – Twigs, leaves, berries, pine cones
  • Container to freeze the water in – aluminum pie plates are perfect!
  • Water
  • Something to hang them: twine, yarn, ribbon
  • Freezing temperatures

Steps

  1. Lay out your nature objects in the base of your container for freezing
  2. Lay the twine amidst the nature objects with a large loop or two loose ends hanging out – this will be your hang or tie 
  3. Place your creations on a flat outdoor surface where they can freeze undisturbed (window sill, picnic table, etc.)
  4. Slowly pour in water until the container is full and ensure your twine/ribbon are still submerged
  5. Set the outdoor temperature to below freezing 😉 **freeze overnight for best results

Hang this ice art from a tree branch in a sunny spot where the sun will shine through and slowly melt it away, transforming your creation throughout the day.

Tips

  • play with colours, textures, patterns… Eating oranges?  Add visual a-peel with pieces of rind or slices interspersed 
  • Make minis in ice cube trays
  • Fancy a rainbow catcher? Add food coloring
  • Use bundt pans for a frozen wreath


Warning: This recipe will quickly become a staple on your nature crafting menu!


Stories in the Soft Snow

Stories in the Soft Snow

A lesson in animal tracking with Jacob Rodenburg

“We humans often think we’re the only ones who write stories, but in truth animals write stories in the soft snow every winter, and we can follow them and learn what they were doing…It’s just nice for us to know that animals have a life – they’re looking for food, they’re finding shelter.  It’s great to get out in the cold winter with your family and follow tracks.” 

Jacob Rodenburg, Executive Director, Camp Kawartha and co-author of The Big Book of Nature Activities: A Year-Round Guide to Outdoor Learning

January 23, 2019 – Some animals hibernate but you don’t need to!  In this lovely video lesson in Animal Tracking, Jacob Rodenburg, Executive Director at Camp Kawartha shares the joy and rich learning that arise when a fresh blanket of snow reveals the oft-hidden lives of animals all around us, through their tracks in the snow.  All we need to do is venture out and follow along.

VIDEO: A Lesson in Animal Tracking with Jacob Rodenburg

Watch as Jacob introduces us to animal tracking in the snow, demonstrating a great winter tracking activity we can all try with the children in our lives, as well as what to look for as we venture out and onto a fresh blanket of snow.  This clip is both a playful demonstration and chalk full of fun facts and important naturalist insights.

Ready to try?  Jacob shares two great steps for getting started:

Step 1 – When you look at an animal track, try to figure out what direction it was going in?  Often when animals walk they have a scuff mark at the heal which is a good hint which way it was going.

Step 2 – How was it moving? Walking? Stride is close together.  Why is this stride so long?  Was the animal running?

As you follow its trail, what was the animal doing? Look for: was it running, was it walking, was it eating?

Look alongside the sidewalks or the trails you travel.  Have you seen the tracks Jacob stamped in the snow?

Thanks to Jacob for sharing the stories of animals in the snow!

Follow an animal Pathway – where will it lead?

Want more info?  Enjoy these articles: Take it Outside: Enjoying the Gifts of Winter, by Jacob Rodenburg and How to be a Winter Wildlife Detective, by David Bree of Ontario Parks.