We recently did a four day unit on the great outdoors for our preschool lesson time. It was one of my favorites as we spent some time outside exploring our garden at the peak of spring.
As with our other preschool lessons, the concept is very simple. We pick a book and then follow it up with an activity (often a craft because that is what I enjoy!). Some of the books we have on hand and I try to find an activity that would go with it and a few of the books were quarantine purchases!
D A Y // 1
+ Read I Can Grow A Flower - a beautiful lift the flap book with a growth chart to measure your child's height
+ Paper plate flower craft - cut plate into a flower, use paint to decorate, cut out stem and flower center with construction paper
D A Y // 2
+ Read The Secret Garden
+ Read My Little Forest
+ Go on a nature walk outside - we used our books to identify different items in nature and collected ones we liked in a bucket to look at inside
+ Paint leaves to laminate
Our nature walk was so much fun! We have quite an array of flowers in our yard all planted by the previous owners. I was shocked that we were able to match so many of them. If you don't have access to a lot of plants, you could print out pictures of things you know you will find on your nature walk that your child can then match.
The My Little Forest book is great for matching easy to find things like pinecones, acorns, and leaves. And I imagine would be a little more applicable year around.
Even I took a moment to take in the beauty of our very own backyard. Those pacific northwest trees are incredible!
Then we headed back inside to look at our beautiful collection! I used my flower press to press some of the leaves and flowers we were going to use for crafts. The rest we left in the bucket outside for him to explore and play with throughout the week.
D A Y // 3
+ Read All Aboard National Parks
+ Painted toilet paper roll binoculars - we painted each roll and then I glued them together once dry. We used a hole punch to make a hole to put elastic thread through and decorated them with beads.
+ I took our pressed flowers and put them on white paper to be laminated - we have this laminator
D A Y // 4
+ Read In The Beginning - a simple faith based book on creation
+ Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar
+ Paper plate butterflies - cut a paper plate in half and add curves to make butterfly wings. Glue plates together and paint. Finish it off with clothespins.
Using our laminated leaves and flowers I made a decorative mobile and hung it from a stick. I love how it came out and have had it in a couple places around the house since we made it.
The laminated leaves can act as art, bookmarks, or little ornaments.
Here is the mobile also hanging outside!
Here is our lesson plan. As you can see I had lots of ideas and then narrowed it down to a few. I find brainstorming and having a couple of options gives me the freedom to be flexible.
Here is an updated lesson plan printable:
