Is nature play just a trend? Are natural loose parts safe? Why should you include nature into your early childhood program? Discover tips for incorporating nature Into your early childhood program. Find and use nature items creatively and safely in centers. See how Experience Curriculum supports nature play every day with predesigned yet flexible lessons that help children, birth to 5 years, develop 35 skills in all 7 domains of learning.
Why Should You Include Nature Items in the Early Childhood Program?
Natural and earth science helps children understand living and nonliving things, their characteristics, and how they change over time. It includes learning about natural habitats, weather patterns, and the sun and moon.
Understanding natural science helps children see how all living creatures are interrelated. Observing weather and seasonal changes teaches them how the environment influences human, animal, and plant behaviors (Schwartz & Copeland, 2010). This knowledge encourages children to take better care of their personal needs and the world around them. Discover tips for incorporating nature into your early childhood program. Find and use nature items creatively and safely.
How to Add Nature to Your Early Childhood Program
Gardens & Landscaping
Gardens, landscaping and various surfaces (sand, mulch, pebbles, grass) in play areas can provide valuable resources for children to explore through outdoor play and use in daily activities.
Pots & Planters
If you don’t have room for a large garden, consider pots or planters for growing annuals or herbs. These provide flowers and leaves for art, sensory play, or other activities, as well as providing living things for children to help care for. The planters and pots will need watering, so have a hose or watering cans nearby.
Purchased Nature Items
Create a collection of supplies for activities that call for nature items. Craft sand, rocks, pebbles, shells, pinecones, and even sticks can be purchased at the dollar stores or even Amazon.
Family Donations
Ask families if they have leaves, flowers, sticks, sand or pebbles they can collect from their yards. Families can collect with the items with their children while spending time together.
Artificial Substitutes
Use a mix of real nature items and artifical substitutes. When the season doesn’t allow for real leaves and flowers, consider using silk alternatives for art and activities.
Build a Nature Collection
Create a collection of nature items that can be stored and reused for loose parts play, natural manipulatives, dramatic play, and creative arts. Building a collection during the mild months is especially helpful, as it ensures you have natural resources on hand for those less desirable weather days or when snow covers the and or plants.
In your free time, look for and collect items in natural spaces to use in the classroom. Be aware that some vacation destinations and State Parks may not allow the collection and removal of nature items.
Potting Soil & Sand
Keep a bag of potting soil, sand, and pebbles, rocks, or corn kernels on hand for activities.
Indoor Plants
Add low-maintenance plants to your indoor classroom environment. For more information, read here for a list of kid-friendly classroom plants, including options like pathos, succulents, and spider plants.
5 Ways to Use Nature Items in the Early Childhood Classroom
Loose Parts in Each Center
To enhance the play experience in centers, consider adding natural loose parts such as rocks, shells, feathers, pinecones, and sticks for children to explore and interact with.
Art: add to art projects, create nature collages, fill shakers
Math: use as manipulatives for counting, sizing and patterning
Dramatic Play: children can pretend to cook with natural items. Using natural loose parts allows for more creativity.
Science: Add a variety of nature items to the science center for exploration with magnifying glasses, tweezers, scales, mirrors and test tubes and trays.
Outdoor: include loose parts and collections outdoors the same as you would indoors. Offer water, shells and plants in the sand/mud kitchen, pinecones and rocks in the block or building space, and a variety of nature items in sensory tables.
📚 Be sure to include nature books into your centers!
Types of Nature Materials for Early Childhood Programs
Here’s a list of nature items that children can use in early childhood programs to explore and learn about the natural world:
- Leaves: Different shapes, sizes, and colors for sorting, comparing, and making leaf rubbings.
- Sticks and Twigs: For building structures, creating nature art, or counting and sorting activities.
- Rocks and Pebbles: Varied textures and sizes for sensory play, sorting, and creating patterns.
- Pinecones: For sensory exploration, counting, and crafting projects.
- Flowers: Fresh or dried for color recognition, scent exploration, and pressing in art projects.
- Acorns and Seeds: For sorting, counting, and starting a classroom garden.
- Shells: Different shapes and sizes for sensory bins, sorting, and art projects.
- Feathers: For texture exploration, crafting, and science discussions about birds.
- Sand: For sensory play, building, and exploring different textures.
- Tree Bark: For texture exploration and rubbings in art projects.
- Water: For sensory play, experimenting with floating and sinking, and learning about water cycles.
- Grass: For sensory exploration, comparing different types of grass, and incorporating into nature collages.
- Mud: For sensory play, building, and exploring different textures and consistencies.
- Fruit and Vegetables: For tasting, exploring seeds, and learning about plant growth.
- Nuts and Pods: For sorting, counting, and creating natural instruments.
- Driftwood: For building, sensory exploration, and creating nature art.
- Moss: For texture exploration and learning about different plant types.
- Bird Nests: (if available and safe to use) for discussing bird habitats and nature observation.
- Butterflies and Insects: (in observation containers) for studying insect life cycles and habitats.
- Animal Tracks: Plaster casts or pictures for learning about different animals and their movements.
- Water: Add colored water to bottles to use in dramatic play, outdoors, in front of a window or on the light table. Add water to sensory bottles with objects to see how they change and move. Add water to sensory tables for scooping, pouring, measuring and more. Use water in outdoor play for sand/mud kitchens, full body water play, water tables and caring for plants and animals.
- Bugs & Specimens:
Using these items, educators can create a rich and engaging learning environment that encourages creativity, curiosity, and a connection to nature.
Safety When Using Nature Items in the Early Childhood Classroom
To ensure safety, exercise good judgment when using natural materials with young children. Familiarize yourself with child-safe plants and be mindful of the contents of potting soil. Thoroughly read the labels and seek advice from your local garden center to select the most suitable potting soil for young children.
The same caution applies to seeds – some may be coated with chemicals harmful to young children. Avoid using seeds (and bulbs) with children under three years old. Additionally, closely monitor children when handling water or tools. Educators must closely supervise all activities and materials.
If you are unfamiliar with specimens that show up in your program’s space, such as mushrooms during a rainy season, be sure to investigate their items closely before allowing children to interact with them.
General Safety Tips
- Regulations: Know and understand your program’s state or region’s safety regulations.
- Supervision: Always supervise children during outdoor activities to ensure their safety.
- Check for Allergies: Be aware of any allergies children might have, especially to plants, pollen, or insect bites.
- Safe Areas: Choose safe, clean areas for outdoor activities, away from hazards like busy roads, water bodies, or areas with potentially dangerous wildlife.
- First Aid: Have a first aid kit handy and be prepared for minor injuries like scrapes and insect bites.
Methods for Storing Natural Loose Parts
Storing natural loose parts like rocks, shells, sticks, leaves, and pinecones in an early childhood classroom can be both practical and inviting while ensuring safety. Clear plastic bins or jars with lids work well, as they keep items visible and organized while preventing spills and easy access.
For mixed-age groups, having lids ensures that younger children cannot readily dump or access the materials, reducing the risk of choking hazards.
Labels with pictures and words help older children identify and return items to their proper place, promoting independence and responsibility.
Compartmentalized trays or tackle boxes can be practical for smaller loose parts, allowing children to easily sort and explore different textures and shapes. Displaying more oversized items in open baskets on higher shelves ensures that they are accessible to older children but out of reach for the younger ones.
Implementing these storage solutions can help educators create a safe, clutter-free, and engaging space that enhances sensory exploration and creative play.
How Experience Curriculum Incorporates Nature for All Ages
Experience Curriculum includes nature items in each of the curriculum programs. Below are some examples of how nature may be incorporated into daily activities.
How Nature Items Are Used in the Experience Baby Curriculum
In Experience Baby, activities use found and nature-based materials. Infants begin to learn of their immediate environments through sensory exploration. For example the activity below requires a basket of leaves to explore. Nature items like leaves, stones, and sand engage multiple senses, helping children develop their tactile, visual, and olfactory senses. This sensory exploration supports cognitive growth and fine motor skills.
How Nature Items Are Used in the Experience Toddler Curriculum
In Experience Toddler, this activity uses a tray of dirt and some nature items for writing practice. Exploring natural materials introduces basic scientific concepts. Children learn about textures, weights, and sizes, and develop observational skills. This hands-on experience lays the foundation for future scientific inquiry.
How Nature Items Are Used in the Experience Preschool Curriculum
Experience Preschool also often uses nature items. In the following Invitation to Create, children can collect leaves, flower peopts or grass to cut up and include in their art.
Using natural materials teaches children to be resourceful and appreciate the abundance around them. It also instills values of sustainability and recycling as they learn to create beautiful and functional items from what they find in nature.
Another example may be collecting nature items to put into a shaker toy. Not only is the child creating a musical instrument, but they will experiment with what makes noise and what doesn’t or how different objects sound in their shaker. Each child’s creation will be different.
Celebrate the connection children and nature share by encouraging their exploration and creativity with natural materials. Through play and art, children develop critical skills and a lifelong appreciation for the environment.
Embracing nature in their daily activities nurtures their curiosity, imagination, and emotional well-being. Let’s support our children in discovering the wonders of the natural world, ensuring they grow up to be mindful, resourceful, and environmentally conscious individuals.
By integrating nature into their play, we lay the foundation for a future where they can thrive in harmony with the world around them.
