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Are you looking for ideas to keep your child motivated to go on your daily walk for exercise? Here is our first post in a series of ideas that will easily teach your child about the natural world in a fun way, so that s/he will not even know s/he is learning! You might learn something too! Turn your daily walk into a fun, educational opportunity!
Go flower spotting!
At this time of year, many spring flowers will be appearing where you live - in gardens, wild patches, woods and parks. Why not see how many you can spot and name on your daily walk? Shout out the name of the flower! Start by looking for just one flower that you can see is obvious (e.g. Daffodils). Encourage your child to shout out the name of the flower everytime s/he spots it. This is a sure fire way of making sure that plant name is known! The next day, look for another flower. Once you have learnt the names of the obvious flowers, a simple identification guide will help you lean the names of other wild flowers.
Where does it like to live?
Older children could start to notice where the plant is growing. We don't often stop to think that plants grow better in some places than others - but it is true:not every plant will grow anywhere. Obviously, cultivated flowers, like Tulips and Daffodils will be growing in people's gardens, but wild flowers, like Bluebells, and Primroses may be found in woody places, shady places, on banks, unde rhedgerows etc... This can lead onto a discussion as to how different plants like different places to live. Some like it damp, others cool, others, shady, others in full sun, for example. Back home, you could play our Spring Flowers SNAP Game.
Our Spring Flower Game is FREE to download from TES.
Simply print it out, cut out the cards, and play!
With 16 colour photos/pictures, your child will soon be naming Tulips, Bluebells, Snowdrops, catkins, Primrose and the like.
Spring Flowers SNAP!
Our Spring Flower Snap Game is suitable for very young learners (3 + ) as well as older ones (5 +). For young children, use the cards with label and picture (see picture above). The game proceeds as for a usual game of snap with players takng it in turns to place a card on the table. However, when two identical cards are placed consecutively, the first player to call out the name of the item wins the pile of cards on the table. The labels are helpfully phonetically coded to help early readers to decode the words.
To make the game harder, use the separate picture and word cards (above). This time, picture can be matched with picture or word, or word with word, but the name of the item must be called out in the same way.
Make a flower chart You could always use the pictures to make a chart of which flowers you have seen and can name, as you see them. A simple flower matching game
Our Spring Flowers SNAP Game can also be used just as a simple matching activity - match the flower names to the the pictures. How many can your child match? Can they beat that target the next day, or the next week?
Other flower activities to extend learningFlower number work
Count the petals on each kind of flower - Does each kind of flower always have the same number of petals? Which flower has the most petals? Which the least?
Be very gentle with the flowers won't you. Teach your child to respect nature and take good care of it. Art work
Much art work can be inspired by a walk looking for flowers:
Drawing - Pick a specimen from your own garden. It can be a wed, like a Dandelion, or a Daisy. Using pens, pencils or crayons: look carefully at the shape of the petals. Encourage signs of your child having observed carefully rather than drawing prowess. Seethis post for more guidance. Your child may like to keep a nature diary, where drawings are kept together, with the date and location in which the plant was seen. Collage: Flowers ripped from tissue paper, overlapped and stuck down can look effective. Draw leaves and stems on afterwards. Painting: children like to paint a picture of a vase/pot of flowers. Ready mixed paints produce the best results with young children. Printing: Cut leaf and petal shapes from card, stick a knob of blutack on the back to make a handle and carefully dip the shapes in paint and print with them. A Spring Flowers Reading Book
Children who are just beginning to read longer texts can be encouraged to read our Spring Flowers book - FREE to download and print.
We hope you enjoy learning about spring flowers with our guide. Look out for more ideas for your daily walk soon!
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Welcome Hello, I am Lilibette (B.Ed Hons Early Years, Studies in the Environment Specialism Course), here to encourage the next generation to love the natural world, and thereby learn the necessary skills and knowledge to look after it in the years ahead. Read more... Categories
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