Our EcoVenture has begun thanks to our Experience Early Learning box! This week is all about TREES- climbing them, painting them, and even building with them!
The 4 weekly teacher guides comes with all sorts of activities for each day including math, art, science, and literacy. Our day started with us reading Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert, our suggested story for the day from Experience Early Learning. It’s a beautiful book about all the different things leaf man sees that are built from items found in nature. It totally inspired me on our literacy activity. Check out this post for more about Leaf Man!
Building with Tree Parts
We first collected all sorts of items that come from the trees in our yard including:
- black walnuts (golden nut)
- pine needles
- pine cones
- sticks
- leaves
Then we placed them on a towel in the shade so the kids could see their items better. Since it’s really hard to see on this gray cement, I then gave them each a towel to build their letter on. I used an old set of Alphabet Cards from one of our first boxes from Experience Early Learning to show them the letter to build.
Can I just say I am so glad we saved these cards! I have used them many times over the years for all sorts of activities. All the items we receive from EEL are fantastic quality! We had some other alphabet cards that had the upper case letters included in our daily bag; however I wanted to show both the capital and lowercase letters for the kids to choose what they wanted to build.
I flipped over a card and asked my 6 and 3 year old to build the letter. The upper case letters were definitely easier for my 3 year old, and I did have to help him some to keep him focused. My 6 year old however, ran with this idea! She created block letters (letter D) and challenged herself by creating more of the lowercase letters. This activity is great for multiple ages!
Broken sticks and smaller items gave a nice curve for some of the letters. I loved seeing how they thought of different ways to build letters. The connections my 6 year old was making brought a smile to my face!
“Mom, look! This M upside down is really a W!”
“Mom! Look at this R! Now it’s a B!”
“Mom, can I make a block letter? Look, I put this nut here and it’s a block letter D!”
I absolutely loved how both my 3 and 6 year old were engaged and enjoyed this activity. We are looking forward to this entire month of fun!