We’ve been using the Exploring Nature with Children curriculum from Raising Little Shoots for around 5 years now. Each year we explore familiar things and new things. What I’ve found this year is that Floss’s (daughter age 8) interests are very firmly nature, books and arts & crafts. Therefore this year a lot of our nature study has been explored from the perspective of the arts.
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This blog post gives you some resources that we’ve made or purchased and enjoyed that you may find helpful for each week in November.
You can find out more information about the curriculum here but you don’t need to follow the curriculum to utilise these resources. Here are some of the basic bits of equipment and resources we use for the curriculum as a starting point.
Do also check out the blog post A Poem A Day in December for the Family for seasonal poetry inspiration.
This post will get added to through the month of December 2024. Latest update 20th November 2024.
Exploring Nature with Children December Blog Post Contents
Exploring Nature with Children Christmas Plants Week
Christmas Plant Flash/ ID Cards
Christmas plants flash cards can be used in so many ways, introducing new vocabulary, print two copies and make into Montessori three part cards.
Exploring Nature with Children Bird Study Week
Robin Needle Felting Craft
Why not have a go at needle felting your own birds for this week. You can find robin template and instructions on how to needle felt a robin in my post here.
Robin Iris Folding Papercraft
Iris folding is a wonderful craft that I introduced my daughter to when she was 6. It’s great for following numbers in sequence and developing fine motor skills. You can find the template, tutorial and instructions here.
Mexican Inspired Tin Art Craft
If you’re looking for more crafting inspiration for birds – maybe for you rather than the children. These tin art birds are made by my Mom using recycled aluminium cans! I think they’re stunning. They’re inspired by Mexican tin art.
You can find the hummingbird template download and tutorial in this blog post.
British Birds Flash Card/ ID Cards
British birds flash cards can be used in so many ways, introducing new vocabulary, print two copies and make into Montessori three part cards.
Bird Phonics Captions for Phase 2-5
Reading in short bursts such as captions can be really beneficial when children are learning specific sounds in phonics. For more phonics resources head to the phonics homepage here.
You will find one or two captions for each phase – phase 2 to 5.
Watercolour Free Tutorials
Lily & Thistle offer a free online watercolour tutorial to paint twelve different birds. You can sign up here and then you set your own password for the site to access content.
Each video is around 10-15 minutes long. From an initial look they look suitable for complete beginners.
Further Bird Blog Posts
Exploring Nature with Children Winter Solstice Week
Winter Flash Card/ ID Cards
Winter flash cards can be used in so many ways, introducing new vocabulary, print two copies and make into Montessori three part cards.
Winter Sky Cards
Exploring Nature with Children The Twelve Days of Christmas
Twelve Days of Christmas Modern Song Pictures
Twelve days of Christmas word and picture cards. Download below. Great cards for sequencing. We had fun choosing the images for the latter part of the song. We’ve decided to make the leaping man a peer of the realm!
Other Winter Resources
Penguins
Polar Animals
Evergreen Trees
Exploring Nature with Children through the Year
You can find more resources for different weeks in the ENWC curriculum by clicking on the links below:
- January
- February
- March – coming February 2025
- April – coming March 2025
- May – coming April 2025
- June – coming May 2025
- July – coming June 2025
- August – coming July 2025
- September
- October
- November
- December
