In the past month the children explored nature. Since Spring has sprung, the children in school-age 1 had an opportunity to go outside to the field and collect some dandelions, leaves, sticks, and grass to bring into the program in order to incorporate nature into our activities. After a short discussion, the children decided to create and decorate a butterfly with the natural treasures.
Each child received a piece of construction paper with their chosen shape of butterfly, a glue stick, and the natural materials we collected. Using their imagination and creativity they filled the butterfly with the colourful items. Some of the children made their own patterns, others just expressed their uniqueness by placing items wherever they chose.
As Jack was creating his creation he told a story about the life cycle of a butterfly. He said, "This is the butterfly that came out of the caterpillar who ate too much food and became a beautiful butterfly." This sounded very similar to the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Lila expressed how much she enjoyed the texture and 3D composition. Mila's butterfly was symmetrical, displaying similar decorations on each wing of her butterfly. When Grace was working on her creation she admitted that her favourite insect is a butterfly because the butterflies "are different colours and get to go on flowers."
Throughout this activity, the children experienced nature by learning about what is in the field, the life cycle of a butterfly, and insects in general. They had an opportunity to practice their fine motor skills by applying the items onto the paper, and also by picking them up off the field. They especially enjoyed making their own designs for the butterflies using their imagination and creativity. This experience reminded us that children need to be offered more materials that will enhance their environmental engagement and connection.
