The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

with his surroundings using his senses. It helps children to learn about their environment through free play and exploring with their senses. For example, a child learns that water and dirt mixed together makes mud. He can feel the difference between the water and dirt. He learns that the mud is soft, squishy, and now a different color when wet. He also learns that the process cannot be undone immediately, and that it takes sunshine to dry it out. All of these questions and ponderings that your child has while playing with mud lights a spark of natural curiosity that lays a foundation for science.

Now to answer the question, “What do we do now that we are outside?” There are many different activities or even simple science stations that you could do to engage your child in exploring nature. It is a good idea to have water, snacks, bug spray, and sunscreen on hand while you and your child are outside. Taking a walk around your backyard is one of the simplest ways to help your child make observations about what can be found in nature. Throughout the year, having a nature scavenger hunt checklist handy can help your child to look for specific items that may or may not be local to you. This can help build the habit of attention for a child to slow down and take note of what can be found so close to home.

My children love to collect “nature things.” They have collected rocks, pine-cones, sticks, leaves, acorns, and other items. You could set up a mud kitchen for your child to create mud pies. This can be as simple as having a shallow container with water for your child to use to mix the water with the dirt. The container of water could also be used to test if the nature things collected sink or float, or you can use it as a washing station.