A Walk Through Summer: Nature and Inquiry

What is your child doing this summer? Attending various camps, playgroups, going to his or her regular daycare, or even staying home? Many children do a variety of activities in the summer that are different than those offered during a regular school year.  Families, counselors, daycare providers, and teachers can help get preschoolers ready for school and learning using age-appropriate and fun activities.

We have previously discussed some of the learning that can take place on a simple walk. Read our previous posts for ideas regarding activities and questions to help children better understand science and creativity! We hope you will share these thoughts on developing inquiry.

This week, we continue our "walk" through summer. Why not have your child (or children) carry a large magnifying glass on an outing? Encourage children to stop whenever they see something that is interesting.

This child stopped to wonder about pine needles and connected them back to a project he had done. He realized they were natural items that were a part of trees.

For some children this may be something as simple as a pine needle. One child said, "I think pine needles are for building rocket ships." We wondered about this observation. The child continued with a story of how he had once used pine needles to glue onto a tissue paper roll as fire and steam coming from a rocket. That child continued by looking at the tree and said, "But I think pine needles are really for trees. Maybe they help the tree get sunshine." This is inquiry! The child wondered about something, asked himself a question, and tried to answer it based on his observations.

The best part of taking a leisurely stroll is that you never know how nature will surprise you. On one walk, this child spotted something interesting.

Looking closely at the natural world can reveal fascinating objects!

He bent down and examined it with the magnifying glass. The child described it in detail using vocabulary such as, "looks like paper with colors" and "it has a pretty design that looks like diamonds." These kinds of observations build expressive language.

The child described details about the object.

When asked what kinds of things he wondered about the strange object, he responded, "I wonder what it came from." His walking companion asked if he thought a person made it or if it came from nature. He bent down again and after several moments of looking at it and the environment, he responded, "I think it is from nature."

While it was tempting for the adult to simply tell him what it was, the child was given the opportunity to look it up on the Internet. Of course, an adult found similar objects for him to chose from on-line. He was able to say it was almost like one of the Internet images. The adult read the words to him, describing it as a snakeskin. This helped the child learn the importance of informational text and that resources can help answer questions.

See if your child can match letters to the meaningful letter that was made.

Finally, the child found a play snake in his toys. This was turned so it looked like the letter S. Now the child was off on a new adventure: finding other objects that began with S. This letter had new meaning!

Develop A Pencil Grip With Ease (and Fun!)

We hear so much about incorrect pencil grips these days. What is the cause for all of this trouble? Some hypothesize it is the technology children use at younger and younger ages. Others suggest we put writing utensils in the hands of children before they are ready to manipulate pencils, crayons, and markers. Likely, in our “hurry-up” society, it is a combination of these and other factors. What we do know is that kindergarten teachers ask that children entering school be more adept with fine motor skills.

How can we do this? Our response is to help children develop fine motor skills naturally: through play and exploration.

As children enjoy the out-of-doors, encourage them to use a pincer grasp (thumb and pointer finger) to pick up materials to investigate.

Using a pincer grasp to explore nature!

Of course, using the term pincer grasp is not necessary. Simply model the grasp for your child.

There are other playful and age-appropriate ways to develop fine motor skills. Making objects with play-doh helps develop all hand muscles. Tearing scrap pieces of paper to make a picture collage is another helpful project. As we have previously discussed, threading beads onto a pipe cleaner or even yarn can develop the muscles necessary for a proper pencil grip. These are all preschool appropriate activities.

Art activities are necessary to help children develop school readiness skills.

Always fun and important is the exciting hole punch! We find children love to punch holes in paper. Think about the muscles that are being strengthened as children punch away. You can even collect the small holes to make an art project.

This child is just learning to use a hole punch. Later his hand muscles will be stronger and he will use just one hand.

It’s not just the hand muscles that need to be developed.  Strong arm muscles help children control their hand movements. Children can do wall “push-ups” by facing the wall, putting their hands on the wall and pushing back and forth. These wall push-ups strengthen all the muscles necessary for pencil control. And – be sure to have fun while doing this! Children can sing and move at home. If it’s a preschool activity, this is a wonderful way to help children form a line. Ask them to do wall push-ups while waiting for the class to get ready for a new activity or while waiting in a hallway.

Singing and dancing make exercise age-appropriate for children!

The key to a good pencil grip is to strengthen muscles in an age-appropriate and appealing way.

Scientific Inquiry: Develop It Naturally!

This summer we plan to bring you several suggestions to help your preschooler develop inquiry skills. It is our belief that these skills are not only necessary to develop scientific minds but they help children retain their natural curiosity and encourage critical thinking skills. And…inquiry skills can become a natural part of your daily routine whether you are a daycare provider, teacher, camp counselor, or family member.

It’s easy to turn a simple walk to a neighborhood playground into a science experience.

One of the keys is to model for children seemingly simple questions such as, “How does it feel to walk on the sidewalk?’ Have children use their senses to describe the hard, bumpy feeling their feet might be experiencing. Children can touch the pavement. Of course, this develops vocabulary, too!

A walk brings a world of opportunity! 

As children’s feet encounter a different surface, encourage their questioning. Hopefully, they will remember some of the questions you modeled and add their own.

This child said his feet sounded different when he walked on the grass. Help children to go deeper with observations by asking more questions like, “Tell me how your feet feel in the grass” or “Tell me why it feels different to walk on the grass than on the sidewalk.”

Model for children the joy of asking questions about seemingly simple things like walking in the grass.

Look at how many inquiry opportunities can happen on a walk.

Asking questions and wondering about the world: trademarks of a scientist! 

This child stopped on his own to feel the pine needles. Without prompting he made predications as to how his feet would feel on this different surface. This is curiosity and critical thinking at an age-appropriate level! When your child (children) does this, positively reinforce questions and descriptions by responding with statements such as, “What a good question. I love the way you wonder about our world!” Help children learn new vocabulary by restating words such as prickly rather than sharp, etc.

Look at all the unique surfaces that happen on a simple walk. By the time you get to a destination, your child may have walked on mulch, through a field, or even on a bridge.

Trip - trap! How do feet feel and sound on a bridge?

You know inquiry skills are building when your child stops before getting on a swing and says, “I wonder how my feet will feel when I am swinging. There will be nothing under them. I think they will feel free!” Inquiry, curiosity, and willingness to predict: skills of a scientist!

What scientific principles will this child explore next? Gravity? 

Phonemic Awareness: Segmenting Sounds

Phonemic awareness is an important component of literacy.  Many researchers believe it is a major predictor of later reading success. While there are many aspects of phonemic awareness, one of the key things to remember is that it is all oral. This means teachers and families should play lots of word and sound games with children.

Pointing at a letter and saying its name and/or sound is phonics, not phonemic awareness.

We have previously discussed the importance of preschool children being able to rhyme. This is a major and necessary part of phonemic awareness. Books like the Llama, Llama series by Anna Dewdney and Dr. Suess are favorite childhood read-alouds that develop this important skill. Children who are exposed to books like these can make rhyming part of play.

Another necessary part of phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and segment sounds. This is easy to do and can become a favorite game. To “play,” say a simple word with three distinct sounds (called phonemes). For example, you could say, “hop.” There are three sounds – the h sound, the short o sound, and the p sound. Clap your hands when each sound is heard.

Clapping for each sound in h - o - p.

When a child can clearly hear the three sounds in words like dog, tub, hat, pin, and other words, show your child how to use his or her arm to indicate the first, second, and third sound. For example, when saying the word, hat, have your child point to his wrist when saying the h sound. As the short a is said, the child moves his hand to the inside of his elbow. Finally, as the t is said, the child points to his upper arm.

The child says the first sound, h.

The child says the middle sound, short a.

The child says the final sound, t.

These types of visual and kinesthetic experiences develop the ability to segment sounds in words. This will be helpful as children later learn to read.

Rain, Rain...Don't Go Away!

Children are natural conservationists! They appreciate Mother Nature. Help children to understand the importance of water in our world. 

Talk about the benefits of rain. 

Children enjoy playing in a warm rain!

Begin discussion of the water cycle by asking children what happens to rain after it falls from a cloud. Answers such as it goes into the ground or it helps plants and trees to grow are age-appropriate scientific understandings. Help them trace the idea that water can evaporate.

Children can collect rainwater.

Put out a glass and have children measure the water, possibly using Unifix cubes or other child-friendly objects. Give them the scientific word, evaporation, to use. We find children respond well to using "grown-up" vocabulary!

Encourage children to predict what will happen to the water. This is the beginning of scientific inquiry!

Explain how this water becomes part of the air (clouds) and falls again to the ground, lake, ocean, etc. 

The water cycle begins anew.

Blast Off to Math Readiness!

Language is so important as preschoolers develop concepts. Closeness with family and friends helps makes these ideas more meaningful and attaches a sense of pleasure to developing skills. Because many teenagers and older elementary students report math anxiety, we feel it is helpful to attach positive feelings about math with family time. Below are fun and meaningful ideas that help develop math skills, vocabulary, understanding of concepts, and a positive mathematical outlook.

Make geometry real by cutting out various shapes; squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles.  Encourage lots of talk about these shapes as you hold them up and have your child name them.

Children can talk about both shape and color.

Discuss how the shapes can be put together to form a rocket. Provide your child a large piece of paper, the shapes, and glue.

Anytime children participate in art activities, you are also developing important fine motor skills, too.

Encourage that wonderful preschool imagination! Allow your child to place the shapes on the paper to make a rocket. Remember – it doesn’t matter if the rocket looks like a rocket to your eyes, it will be a rocket in your child’s eyes!

When children share activities with parents, it leads to positive feelings about important concepts.

You have just set the stage for positive feelings about geometry.

Now…5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – let’s add another math skill. Children who know how to count backwards possess an important background for subtraction.  Blasting off and counting down from 5 or 10 makes this a part of preschool play. So, use the geometric rocket to role-play a NASA rocket lift-off.  Develop this precursor subtraction skill by pretending to be “mission control” as your child engineer counts down to lift-off.

Blasting off to positive feelings about math!

Concept of Print: Ask or Tell

We discussed helping children understand the difference between an ask (question) and a tell (statement) in our previous post. Now you can take this one step further and add Concept of Print to the fun. You may even want to enjoy the spring weather while you are reinforcing the concept. This adds to a child's enjoyment and helps learning feel like a natural part of life.

Write a large question mark on a paper and a period on another paper. When you and the child (or children) are talking about signs of spring, hold up the question mark to indicate an ask and the period for a tell.

For example, this child described the buds on the bushes. He said, "There are small, small buds on the prickly branches." This was a statement so he was prompted to hold up the period.

He also asked questions such as, "Are there worms crawling under the ground?" He was given the question mark to hold. He learned this was the special sign to use when you ask for an answer.

As the outdoor experience continued, the child did not need as many prompts to hold up a question mark or period. He learned by doing!

Finally, the child sat outside with a book and eagerly discovered the same punctuation marks in print.

We think we may need to teach literacy objectives inside, but outdoor learning, using a child's natural curiosity, can accomplish something as important as understanding punctuation marks!