Incorporating natural objects into the environment can spark children’s curiosity and interest. Natural objects are often open-ended for the child’s own interpretations in their play.
For example, we have witnessed sticks becoming candles in a playdough cake, stones being stacked up to make caves for the animal toys, and bamboo slices becoming precious coins in a treasure box.
Natural objects can be stimulating, enabling children to feel close to the natural world and make links to other times they have experienced seeing these objects before. They can ignite conversations about their past experiences. When a ‘5 Little Speckled Frogs’ enhancement was added, we combined frog masks, numbered wood slices and tree stumps.
One child said to another while feeling some bark on the log they were sitting on, ‘I have seen bumpy trees before when I walked in Bluebell Woods with my mummy.’ The other child then went on to tell her about his experience of going to Bluebell Woods with his family and how they searched for ‘Norfolk Rocks.’ This led to them bonding further through their conversation about the painted rocks that they both had found while exploring the woods with their families.
Outside we have a Wild Garden Area where long grasses, weeds and wildflowers can grow, and children know that they can pick and use these in their play. Often children will take pieces from the wild garden and use them in their potions and food in the mud kitchen. This area also includes a lavender bush which is sometimes picked by the adults and used to enhance both indoors and out. Lavender is a lovely sensory addition to playdough.
STICKS AND STONES
Often, we give children the task of collecting leaves, sticks and other natural objects for nursery enhancements. While searching our school woodland area, children will often examine the natural objects that they find and describe them to each other. They use all their senses on their woodland walks, and we go out in a range of weather conditions.
Children enjoy the responsibility of helping to set up enhancements and this ownership can lead to deeper engagement. Leaves, sticks and stones can be put in a tray on their own to be explored, or they can provide a natural and sensory backdrop for various small-world toys, including animals. They can lead to conversations about habitats and what animals need. Using leaves in this way can practically teach children about decay and changes over time as they change in colour and texture. For a rapid change, a nature tray can be taken out into the sun and children can observe what happens to the leaves during the nursery session.
‘SQUASH SCIENTISTS’
The changing seasons can create different opportunities for the natural objects that are available, such as pumpkins in October. We purchased a variety of sizes and colours of pumpkins and squashes. A large white pumpkin was put outside near the art equipment and children took great excitement in decorating it using paints with paintbrushes and small spray bottles. Indoors, various pumpkins and squashes were placed in the centre of a table with paper, paints and mark-making tools to inspire observational pictures. Children painted circular shapes, developing their motor control.
I read the book Ada Twist, Scientistby Andrea Beaty. This gave us the inspiration to set up a science experiment enhancement tray. A range of containers were added with coloured water, powder paints, pipettes, tea leaves, a copper kettle, jugs, biodegradable glitter, lolly sticks for mixing, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.
To add a natural element to the tray, I hollowed out the pumpkin and small squashes that had been used earlier in the week for the observational paintings. The children used them as natural containers to mix into, and they added engagement and interest in the already very intriguing enhancement.
They looked at the inside of the squashes after their experiments and talked about the stains that they could see from their mixtures, noticing the changes. We called the children the ‘Squash Scientists’ and they talked about how they were scientists just like Ada Twist.