All Early Years – Groups

Landmark 2 (Animal Friends Monthly)

The toddlers noticed we had some friendly visitors to our bird feeder this morning! We were so excited to see the birds and so happy that they are enjoying our seed!

Trent Child Care (Kaawaate) – October 26, 2021

Landmark 3 (Exercise Senses Daily)

Nature ice! The toddlers gathered some natural materials from our yard and we froze them in ice! We then used our squirt bottles that were full of warm water and salt and squeezed the water on the ice to melt it! The children were so excited when they saw the natural materials falling out of the ice and continued to pour on the water until all the ice was melted!

Trent Child Care (Kaawaate) – October 22, 2021

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

The toddlers picked natural materials from our yard like cedar leaves and pine cones and we brought them inside to paint with! We loved seeing all the marks and lines we were able to make with the different textures of the natural materials!

Trent Child Care (Kaawaate) – October 21, 2021

Landmark 4 (Favourite Place Weekly)

Students explored in the Enchanted Forest. They noticed the leaves on the ground and we wondered what trees the different leaves belonged to. We noticed that some trees were losing their leaves and changing colours while other trees still had green foliage. Students learned we have several tree names in the Enchanted Forest and began learning some of the names of the different species of trees.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 25, 2021

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

Every day on our morning walk the students have been excited to collect all kinds of nature items. We were inspired by all the interesting sticks, leaves, and rocks to create nature collages, using just nature items and lots of glue!

Explorers – October 15, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Students enjoyed learning and playing in the sand. After the rainfall from this morning, they noticed a change in the composition of the sand.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 15, 2021

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

For International Take Me Outside Day the infants brought out mirrors and markers for the children to explore with. Noticing their reflection in the mirror the infants used their fine motor skills to draw on the mirror. Placing the mirrors outside in the natural environment gave them a different perspective and light. They also were able to see their environment through the mirror.

CELC-Peterborough – October 20, 2021

Landmark 4 (Favourite Place Weekly)

Two besties just fishing, with cornstalks. What creativity!

Sunshine Daycare – October 21, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

Students read a story under the magic tree and afterward were challenged to find ten nature treasures with a partner or on their own.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 22, 2021

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

After reading Leaf Man, students collected leaves and nature materials to create their own Leaf Man.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 22, 2021

Landmark 3 (Exercise Senses Daily)

Nature soup! We collected natural materials from our yard and around our child care centre to create our nature soup! We loved mixing the materials together and smelling how each had a different smell to it!

Trent Child Care (Kaawaate) – October 20, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Nature sorting! We used our containers and buckets outside to collect and sort our natural materials!

Trent Child Care (Kaawaate) – October 19, 2021

Landmark 2 (Animal Friends Monthly)

The toddlers observed a small green caterpillar on the yard today! We observed how it moved and how it felt as it was crawling on our hands. The children became worried that it would get stepped on and get hurt so they carefully moved it to a safe location and surrounded it with leaves and mulch to protect it!

Trent Child Care (Kaawaate) – October 22, 2021

Landmark 3 (Exercise Senses Daily)

The JSK class at St. Joe’s in Douro were greeted by Mr. Handsome the puppet as they started their morning of outdoor exploration with Nature Nancy. Using their senses throughout the morning started with a storyboard visit with Leaf Man, continued with a game of hide and seek with some bugs and animals, and made mini-parks in the forest for the smallest of creatures.

Think Outside with Nature Nancy – October 20, 2021

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

What can we do with a log? Make a teeter toddler of course!

Sunshine Daycare – October 15, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

We usually go to the Pumpkin Patch this time of year. But due to Covid we can’t so we brought the pumpkin patch to us! Our yard is decorated with hay bales and cornstalks and lots of pumpkins for us to ‘pick’ ourselves.

Sunshine Daycare – October 19, 2021

Landmark 7 (Books, Songs, Games Weekly)

A great loose parts activity. Alaya picks kernels off this corn cob and counts them as she puts them in her scoop.

Sunshine Daycare – October 19, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

The Preschool room went on a nature walk to the butterfly field. We used magnifying glasses and binoculars to take a closer look at nature. On the walk, we heard birds singing in the trees. Saw many different colours of leaves. We looked for bugs and ants on sticks.

CELC-Peterborough – October 15, 2021

Landmark 3 (Exercise Senses Daily)

It’s time to make some soup. Mixing the ingredients together then place it in the oven to cook it. Yummy can’t wait to have a taste.

CELC-Peterborough – October 20, 2021

Landmark 5 (Garden/Care for Animal)

All this wet weather has brought out worms and slugs. The preschoolers love to explore with the worms picking them up and feeling how they wiggle in their palms. We talk about how they help the soil and environment and placed them back in their habit.

CELC-Peterborough – October 12, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

For international take me outside day the preschooler went for a nature walk. We brought clipboards and magnifying glasses. We found dandelions with our magnifying glasses and drew pictures of them.

CELC-Peterborough – October 20, 2021

Landmark 3 (Exercise Senses Daily)

We have to stop and smell the flowers.

CELC-Peterborough – October 11, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Today we added new natural loose parts and materials to our toddler yard and our outdoor kitchen. The children smelt and felt the cedar leaves, the pines cones, and the hydrangea flowers. They used buckets and tins to transfer the natural materials and to cook with using the kitchen tools. We loved investigating the different smells and the various textures of all the natural materials!

Trent Child Care – 10/19/2021

Landmark 3 (Exercise Senses Daily)

Foamy fun! We added some dish soap to our puddles on this rainy day! We saw as the bubbles started to form and we felt the foamy bubbles in our hands!

Trent Child Care – October 13, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

What’s that in the sky! The toddlers noticed something very interesting in the sky today! We heard and saw a plane in the sky and shortly after we observed a long white line! We were very curious about how it got there!

Trent Child Care – October 19, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

Here at Kaawaate we get to see a lot of construction work happening, along with many construction vehicles driving by! This day we saw a large crane lifting heavy materials and we were excited to hear all the interesting sounds that it was making!

Trent Child Care – October 19, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

We traveled just outside our schoolyard and went on a leaf hunt. Students discovered a hill they rolled down and raced across the big field to get to another wooded area.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 20, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Students cooperated, shared, dug, explored, examined, and played together in the outdoor space.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 20, 2021

Landmark 5 (Garden/Care for Animal)

G enjoyed exploring the broken pumpkin in our yard. He scooped the seeds and watched as the bugs crawled around. We look back each day and see what the weather and the bugs have done to change the pumpkin.

Strath MacLean Toddler – October 20, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

B explored the plant growth on our hill. He would get closer and closer to it letting it touch his cheeks and then lean back and giggle. He spent most of his morning playing and exploring the hill.

Strath MacLean Toddler – October 7, 2021

Landmark 5 (Garden/Care for Animal)

Our friends at school love to find insects around the yard. We were looking at our yard and noticed some free space where we could make a garden. We have been working to dig the rocks away and then we will add soil. This fall we will plant wildflower seeds and maybe a few bulbs and wait…Spring will be so exciting to see what flowers come up and what insects are attracted to our new garden. Friends at school have been working together on different occasions to dig, dig, dig. It’s a joy to watch the cooperation of one friend holding the wheelbarrow as another fills it. Good job team!

Lakefield CNS – October 14, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

We had an exciting addition to our playground! Our teacher found us a hollow log to explore. Through the month of October, we have spent a number of hours outside discovering many things about this log. We’ve transferred water from the water table to the top hole and watched it trickle through, we’ve discovered new holes in the log where water seeps through and of course, we’ve climbed and balanced on it. The fun has just begun!

Lakefield CNS – October 6, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

Friends helping friends. Sometimes you need a helping hand to get through all the leaves!

Sunshine Daycare – October 18, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

Checking out the new cornstalks in our yard.

Sunshine Daycare – October 19, 2021

Landmark 8 (Nature Art Weekly)

Today we tried a science project using nature objects we found outside! We tried to make fall leaves that we collected DANCE! We placed the leaves in a big bin of water and we noticed that they FLOATED. We thought we would put in some Alka-Seltzer tablets to see if they would dance, they didn’t but it was fun to try and the children enjoyed seeing the fizzing action of the tablets!

Trent Child Care – October 12, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Students read a book under the magic tree. Afterward, they were invited to balance the tires and logs and explore the yard while engaging in cooperative play.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 19, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Today we practised some of the toddlers pouring skills OUTSIDE, by pouring bubbly water from one bottle to the other using a funnel. This was a lot of fun for the toddlers and kept the mess outside. The best part is that when we were finished we dumped the bubbly water out which created a HUGE bubbly river that the children happily splashed in for most of the morning!!

Trent Child Care at St Luke’s – October 13, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Today we filled squeeze bottles with the toddlers favourite thing- bubbly water! We brought the bottles outside and the children enjoyed washing their outdoor world. They used their small motor skills to wash cars, and squeeze water into scoops and then transfer it to a bucket. They enjoyed the bubbles for a sensory experience as they used the bubbles and their hands to clean their outdoor Toys.

Trent Child Care at St Luke’s – October 14, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

The children loved using squeeze bottles and bubbly water yesterday to transform their outdoor space so today we used paint rollers. The children found this just as fun and more challenging to maneuver. They were engaged for an hour and a half outside with this activity!!

Trent Child Care at St Luke’s – October 15, 2021

Landmark 2 (Animal Friends Monthly)

The children have been very interested in this poster we have in our playroom about local birds. You can scan the code to hear all their different calls, and the children love to listen to them. We talked about what birds eat, seeds, nuts, berries and fruit, and sometimes fat! We want to make bird feeders now and are collecting supplies but in the meantime, we purchased a store-bought feeder. The children were thrilled as we took it outside to hang in our tree. They waited and waited under the tree all afternoon shouting for the birds to come and get their snack. The next day they were asking to check to see if the birds came while they were at home.

Trent Child Care at St Luke’s – October 15, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

Students were challenged to explore the Enchanted Forest and find different sizes and shapes of leaves. Several of the students found large and small leaves of various types. They also used their bodies to explore the various areas in the forest. Some of the children climbed on the limbs of the trees, some balanced on the branches while others explored and ran through the forest noticing various structures in nature.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 18, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

Students read a book and then engaged in cooperative play in the sandbox and schoolyard.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 15, 2021

Landmark 3 (Exercise Senses Daily)

Students read a book under the magic tree and discussed what makes a good friend. We followed up the read-aloud by using our senses along with magnifying glasses to explore and observe nature specifically focusing on sight.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 15, 2021

Landmark 6 (Play in Nature a Full Hour)

The toddlers at Strath-Maclean Child Care Centre explored with Nature Nancy for a couple of hours on a beautiful fall morning. They discovered worms, made mud soup, put on a puppet show, used ropes and pulleys, played hide and seek with some animals but the most intriguing activity was when they got to explore animal tracks and animal scat (rubber versions of course). I am sure the afternoon naps were full of dreams of outdoor play and of course rubber poop.

Think Outside with Nature Nancy – October 5, 2021

Landmark 3 ( Exercise Senses Daily)

Tracy Parker’s class was dressed and ready to explore the station trail in Millbrook. They were excited to see all of the colours, the smells, and the textures that the fall day had to offer. The chickadees were chirping and the squirrels were warning of our arrival in the woods. We all discovered so many different mushrooms but the most interesting was what we think are shaggy mane mushrooms found in the grass. So Cool! Even this little bumblebee was noticed by one of the children exploring that morning.

Think Outside with Nature Nancy – October 15, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

During our Roots of Discovery program in Jackson Park we learned how to make leaf baskets from a maple leaf. After this child’s mom showed him how to fashion a little basket from a leaf he then taught me how to do it! The beautiful leaves made lovely little baskets.

Peterborough Child and Family Centre Play to Learn – October 18, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

The Preschool room went on a nature walk to the butterfly field. We used magnifying glasses and binoculars to take a closer look at nature. On the walk, we heard birds singing in the trees. Saw many different colours of leaves. We looked for bugs and ants on sticks.

CELC-Peterborough – October 15, 2021

Landmark 1 (Explore Together Weekly)

Students read a fall book under the magic tree and learned about the changes in the season. We followed up with a song and a fall walk to explore the leaves. Students loved jumping in the leaves and exploring the big tree in the big yard.

R.F. Downey Public School – October 14, 2021