october 2023
Investigating Our Natural Environment
As this is many of the infants first Fall season that they are able to fully explore/investigate, the children are filled with so much curiosity and wonder! Why are the leaves changing colour? Why is it getting colder outside? Why are the leaves falling off of the trees? As the season changes, the children have been especially curious about the trees in our environment. B looked up at the tree that hangs over our playground and pointed up at the tree. “Up!” said B as he pointed at the bright yellow leaves. Emily lifted up B so he could fully explore the tree and all of its characteristics. “Tree!” said B as he held onto a handful of leaves in the palm of his hand. MT and MM both stood below Emily and B, waiting for their turn to explore the tree. “OOOH!” said MT as he noticed a leaf drift down onto the ground. After each child explored the bright yellow tree, they noticed that the tree lost more than just leaves…the tree has also lost several sticks and pinecones as well! “Stick!” said B as he held up a small stick. The children collected some natural materials that they discovered in our yard, therefore, so we decided to bring the materials inside to explore them further in our indoor environment! Since then, we have displayed the leaves/sticks/pinecones in a shallow table for the children to explore, as well as creating art experiences using the natural materials! The children have made beautiful prints by rolling pinecones through paint, and by using sticks as their own natural paint brush! Additionally, since the children are very fascinated with the trees outside, it was time to change the hanging tree in our classroom to replicate the trees outside! We added some orange, yellow, and gold leaves to our tree, as well as small pinecones and acorns! “Wow…” said MT as he admired our autumnal tree in our classroom. I wonder how else we can explore the Fall season before it comes to an end…?
Miranda Lange RECE, Emily Merenda RECE, Swati Limbachia
