This is the space where I share what we’re doing in nature preschool. My work as an Early Childhood teacher inspires my writing. Enjoy!
Day 1. This crazy year of 2020 keeps delivering the unexpected. In true fashion, we had to stay indoors because of poor air quality on a beautiful sunny day. Wildfires in Washington brought smoky skies to Victoria and we spent the morning indoors, finally going out on the trails after lunch. Happily, we met the caretakers of the trail, who allowed the children to help water one of the seedlings.
Day 2. What a pleasure to be giving these children such amazing experiences. The opportunity to slide down a giant rock was loved by all!
Here you can see my flower press. I’m saving these for children’s open-ended art projects…they’ll be great with a little glue. And once we’re underway, I hope the children will bring in their own flowers and leaves for pressing.
What’s on our bookshelf? Our preschool room is shared with out of school care for K/1 children. Here’s what we had to begin with but we are planning to have two separate book shelves; one that we think will appeal to our preschoolers and another that may appeal more to our K/1’s. But will be able to choose books from anywhere!
Mid-Year Update It is February now and we’ve been through rains, wind and cold weather. Here’s how we manage:
Rainy Days: We know the children will get wet so we choose these days to play in puddles or small streams. Even with the rain gear, when it is time to come inside, there’s lots of changing clothes and bagging up wet clothing to go home. But the water play is so engaging, the time flies by!
Windy Days We look for open spaces to play like parks or open fields. We experiment with pinwheels, a kite, bubbles, etc. And when the winds are high we stay indoors.
Cold Days These are the days we add more layers. And the mittens and hats MUST stay on at all times. Running in a field while snow swirls around us sure is fun! We have hand warmers and foot warmers for cold fingers and toes. They really help!
