Using Natural Items In the Classroom

In honor of this week's, "It's Playtime (8) Natural Play," I'm going to share what we did today, which happened to be using natural items in the classroom.

In science center, we used these bamboo place mats to create individual spaces. I bought them at the dollar store a hundred years ago, but any natural place mat will do.

On each place mat, I put several different types of natural items from our science center, along with magnifying glasses.

All of the rocks, leaves, and twigs were picked by the children during a nature walk. Right outside our playground is an area of gravel...the perfect hunting ground for interesting and brightly colored rocks like this turquoise one above.

Magnifying glasses provide a fresh way to see the world. You don't need anything specific to examine...I remember being fascinated by my own magnified hands as a child.

Of course, not everyone wanted to use the mats for looking at natural items. Majd found a new way to use the place mat...as a road for his toy car! :)

Over at the other table, we had this going on:

It's a little blurry, but it's play dough and beans.

Giovanni makes "cookies," and then sorts them. It may look like a couple of piles of stuff, but he was very meticulous about sorting and deciding where each bean or play dough cookie would go.

Christopher found that scooping and pouring beans with his hands was just as fun.

Perfection. 

Happy playing!