1. Outdoor exploration
Equipped with the right clothing and a bag, go outside with your child and explore your backyard or neighbourhood.
Encourage your child to collect all the special natural items they can find. Add to your collection bag any items that catch your child’s attention.
Look for things that have a nice shape, an interesting colour or texture.
Tip: Make this activity more interesting by discussing with your child the items they are collecting. For example, you can ask them questions like:
- What do you think this is?
- Why do you think you found it here?
- What is its use/role in nature?
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2. Review your collection
When your outdoor exploration is over, it’s time to go back inside and take a look at your collection.
You can sort your items out and talk about how they have different colours, shapes and textures. Try to figure out together the kind of toys you can build from the items you’ve collected.
When you build things using items you collected from nature, your child will develop a sense of ownership over them because they found them.
Tip: Using these objects in your crafts will also make it more likely for your child to happily engage in the play activity.
3. Create a magic wand
Materials:
- Wool
- Masking tape
- A small stick
- Leaves
- Decorations
Instructions:
- Start tying the wool around your stick. You can also practise tying knots together. This simple step can be a great exercise for your child’s fine motor skills’ development.
- Attach some leaves on top of the stick to give your wand extra magic.
- Use masking tape and wrap it around the stock of the leaf to hold it in place.
- You can decorate the wand with coloured leaves, glitter or feathers. Encourage your child to be creative in personalising their magic wand!
Now you can play all sorts of fun games with your new magic wand. You can transform each other into magical creatures! Enjoy the fun!
Activity from Cat Sewell - Playgroup NSW's PlayThinker In Residence
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