Sensory Walk

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  • March
  • Activities, Early Years Quick Activities, Landmark 3, Senses, Spring

Materials Needed

  • None!
Video Link

Size of Group

1-10

Age Range

Birth to 5 years

How to:

Young children need plenty of opportunities to exercise all of their senses while exploring their world.  Go outdoors together as often as you can, and give children opportunities to touch, smell, see and hear as many different items as you can.

Professor Mary Lou Lummiss of Fleming College explains the importance of sensory experiences for young children, and takes you on a walk through her garden (3 minute video).

Hunting for Squirrel Dreys

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  • November
  • Activities, Animals, Early Years Quick Activities, Fall, Middle Years Quick Activities

Materials Needed

  • Binoculars (if available)

Size of Group

1-25

Age Range

3-10 years

How to:

When the leaves have fallen from deciduous trees in autumn, it’s a perfect time to go hunting for squirrel dreys.  Dreys are the nests that squirrels make from dried leaves, situated in the crotch of tree branches.

Go for a walk in any nearby area with tall trees and see how many squirrel dreys the students can find and count.

This is a perfect complement to the Squirrel Nest game (see ‘Going Deeper’ activities for November.

Flying Like Geese!

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  • November
  • Activities, Birds, Early Years Quick Activities, Fall, Middle Years Quick Activities

Materials Needed

  • None!

Size of Group

8-30

Age Range

5-10 years

How to:

This is a great active seasonal game when the weather is getting chilly.  You might even see geese flying overhead while you play the game!

Explain that geese fly in a V-formation for many reasons.  They follow the lead goose to stay on course, and they conserve energy by raising their wings when the goose ahead of them pushes their wings down, so they can use the updraft.  Divide the class into groups of at least ten students and have them try to ‘fly’ around the schoolyard, running and flapping their wings, following the lead goose and staying in a V shape.  They can also change the lead goose periodically to give the leader a rest.

This is a hilarious activity that is more difficult than it seems! 

Outdoor Snow Kitchen

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  • December
  • Activities, Early Years Quick Activities, Winter

Materials Needed

  • A variety of kitchen implements and pots
  • Pieces of natural materials for decoration (sticks, leaves etc.)
Outdoor Kitchen Poster

Size of Group

2-6

Age Range

2-6 years

How to:

Here’s a winter version of a mud kitchen!  Gather some kitchen items (scoops, pans, muffin tins), and let the children use them to prepare some wonderful snow treats.  Natural items can be used to decorate snow cookies and cakes.  A great focus for imaginative play in the snow.

Evergreen Tree Friends

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  • December
  • Activities, Early Years Quick Activities, Intermediate Years Quick Activities, Middle Years Quick Activities, Plants, Winter

Materials Needed

  • Evergreen ID Sheets
Simple Evergreen ID Sheet

Size of Group

any

Age Range

5-18

How to:

As the colours have shifted to the browns, greens and whites of late fall, and the broadleaf trees have shed their leaves, this is a perfect time to explore the many conifers of our area.  Go for a walk together and look for nearby evergreen trees.  Can you find spruce, pine and cedar?  Use the introductory Evergreen ID Sheet to help you get started.

Snowkey-Pokey

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  • December
  • Activities, Early Years Quick Activities, Middle Years Quick Activities, Songs, Winter

Materials Needed

  • None!
Snowkey-Pokey Poster

Size of Group

any

Age Range

3-10 years

How to:

It’s surprisingly fun to bellow a tune on a cold day!  Learn a winter song, like the Snowkey-Pokey and get moving to the beat.  See the poster for words and actions to sing outdoors.

Hiding in Leaves

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  • October
  • Activities, Early Years Quick Activities, Fall, Plants

Materials Needed

  • Lots of fallen leaves!
  • Leaf rake

Size of Group

1-20

Age Range

1-6 years

How to:

This is an activity that even tiny children will enjoy.  If you have lots of fallen tree leaves, rake them into a pile, and see how many people can hide in the pile.  CAUTION:  Be sure your leaf pile is far away from roadways so the children aren’t hidden from drivers, and be sure to supervise the activity.

Autumn Bingo

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  • October
  • Activities, Bingos, Early Years Quick Activities, Fall, Middle Years Quick Activities, Scavenger Hunts

Materials Needed

  • Copies of Bingo Sheet
  • Clipboards
  • Pencil
Autumn Bingo PDF

Size of Group

any

Age Range

5-10 years

How to:

Who will be the first to find a line of items?  You can also use this card as a scavenger hunt, and see how long it takes to find all of the items on the card.  Go exploring together and have lots of fall fun!

Leaf Print Art

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  • October
  • Activities, Arts, Early Years Quick Activities, Fall, Middle Years Quick Activities, Plants

Materials Needed

  • Selection of fallen leaves
  • Paint and brushes
  • Paper

Size of Group

any

Age Range

2-10 years

How to:

An easy activity to celebrate autumn is to collect a variety of dried leaf shapes.  Use the leaves for printing by painting them various colours and pressing them onto a page.  For older children, this can be used to encourage the observation of various leaf shapes and to begin learning the names of trees.

Sunflower Senses

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  • October
  • Activities, Early Years Quick Activities

Materials Needed

  • Sunflower Heads
  • Paper
  • Paints

Size of Group

1-20

Age Range

2-6

How to:

Sunflowers provide young children with so many opportunities for sensory exploration!  This simple experience strengthens muscles in fingers and hands, helps teach kindness and empathy and helps discover colours, shapes and sounds in nature.

Children can remove seeds and take them outdoors for birds to feast upon.  Then, the empty flower heads can be used for printing by painting the heads and using them to press designs on paper.

Leaf Kite

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  • September
  • Activities, Arts, Early Years Quick Activities, Fall

Materials Needed

  • Twine and/or Ribbon
  • Coloured Leaves
  • Feathers or other found items
  • Small sticks
Video Link

Size of Group

any

Age Range

3-6 years

How to:

Make a beautiful kite to run with!  Find a selection of coloured leaves, feathers or other natural items to fasten into a ‘tail’ of twine that is attached to a small twig.  Children can run with their ‘kite’ and watch it flutter in the wind.

Watch Jessica Lindeman of Rowan Tree School describe making leaf kites in the video above at time 2:20.

Magic Herb Pouch

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  • September
  • Activities, Arts, Early Years Quick Activities, Middle Years Quick Activities, Senses

Materials Needed

  • Small cloth pouches
  • Variety of scented herbs
  • Scissors
Video Link

Size of Group

any

Age Range

2-10

How to:

Children love to exercise their sense of smell, and this is a perfect way to do it!  Assemble a variety of pieces of scented herbs (lavender, lemon balm, anise-hyssop, thyme, marjoram etc.), and let children select which ones they want to use in their pouches.  They can snip pieces and put them into their magic herb pouch.  They can smell their pouch throughout the day, or place them under their pillows at night for calming and a sense of comfort.

Watch the above video at time 3:05 to see Jessica Lindeman of Rowan Tree School assemble an herb pouch and describe how it can be used.