Since small children are so close to the ground, they’ll have a lot of fun exploring the section of the forest that they are physically closest to – the forest floor. Whether you are a parent with your child on a walk or a teacher with a group of children in the schoolyard or classroom, you can introduce children to the wonders of the forest with these guided explorations and activities.
Preschool Activities with Leaves
If you are walking through the woods, pick up fallen leaves; if it is necessary to do this in a classroom, collect a tray of leaves that the kids can look through. You should plan on gathering four or five leaves for each child. Parents can do these activities with their preschoolers on a forest walk or in the backyard.
- Biggest Leaf – Stop along the trail and have the children look for the largest leaf they can find.
- Leaf Match – Pick up a leaf and ask the children to find another leaf that has the same color or same shape as the leaf you are holding.
- Missing Leaf – Take five leaves that are distinctly different and set them on the ground or floor. Cover with a bandana. Slide your hand underneath the bandana and lift one leaf. Carefully remove the cloth and ask the kids to identify the leaf you took away. It isn’t necessary to know tree identification, at this age preschoolers can differentiate leaves by color or shape (the leaf with three points, the leaf that looks like a mitten, etc).
Outdoor Exploration with Children
Give the children inexpensive, hand-held magnifying glasses and show the kids how to use them (by holding the glass closer to the object they want magnified; a magnifying glass shouldn’t be held against the eye). Allow the kids to explore. To control the exploration area, set down a Hula hoop or a loop of rope that will define a small space to look within.
Encourage the kids to call out when they find something. It isn’t necessary to identify the creatures that live along the ground or within the leaf litter. If something has six legs, it is an insect; eight legs, it is an arachnid (for example, spider); if it is slimy, it may be a slug or a snail; four legs and smooth skin, it is likely a salamander.
Sow Bug Investigations
Fun creatures to manipulate are earthworms and sow bugs (also called pill bugs, wood lice, and roly polys). Allow these creatures to move over the hands of willing children. Set the animal on a dry patch of ground and then use a water bottle to wet a nearby section of soil. Place the animal between the two and observe where the animal moves.
You can also create simple experiments where kids can watch the small animals move from a sunny spot to a shady location. Again, set the animal in the sun but next to the shade of a leaf and see where the animal goes. See if the kids can figure out that dark, moist areas most resemble the places these animals live in beneath the leaves of the forest.
Before leaving, you can have the children use twigs and leaves to build small homes for the creatures of the forest floor. Return to the area, or a similar place, throughout the year so the preschoolers have the opportunity to observe seasonal changes.
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