The Preschool Children have been noticing all the leaves and pine cones that have fallen on the ground in our playground. We have been collecting the leaves and have been using them in our crafts. To expand on learning more about nature we decided to go into the forest. As we were walking to the forest we discussed what kind of animals we thought we might find. Dominic said, “lion” and Reid said, “a bear.” Once we entered the forest we noticed that there was a lot of leaves that had fallen on the ground. It made it a little tricky to see the roots under the leaves so we took our time. As we continued to go into the forest we saw a big log that had fallen down. Using our gross motor muscles, we practiced climbing up the log. Some of us sat down on the log while some of us walked up the log holding onto an educator’s hand. Once he was up to the top Joshua said, “look! I’m up high” with a big smile on his face. Eva decided to put her legs on the log and with Christina’s help hung upside down. As we continued to move farther into the forest we discovered that a tree had fallen over. As we got closer we saw the roots that was underneath. We discussed that the roots are part of the tree and how they help the trees grow by absorbing the water. We went back in the forest a little farther and found some branches that were resting onto another tree that looked like a fort. A few of us went inside but we discovered that only a few of us could go in a time since it was not very big. We took turns playing inside the fort before making our way back towards the entrance. As we were getting ready Emma found something hiding by the trees in the leaves. She said, “I see a snake.” We ran over to see and saw a small snake that was hiding in the leaves. Some of us were very excited to see it while some of us did not want to see it at all. We were very excited to come back and tell everyone what we saw in the forest. While exploring in the forest we were able to connect more in nature by using our senses to listen to the sounds of the forest as well as the smell of the leaves on the ground. We enjoy doing some risky play by climbing on the logs. A benefit of risky play is it builds up our self confidence as we explore what our limits and what we feel comfortable. We are excited to go back and explore some more.
