Nature Walk Adventure
Here's What To Do
Take a short walk in a park, backyard, or nearby nature area. Encourage your child to look for and pick up items such as leaves and rocks (or other items based on your environment, like flowers and sticks) and place them in a bag/basket.
Sit down in a comfortable spot outdoors or back at home. Help your child sort the items into two groups (e.g., leaves in one basket, rocks in another).
Once sorted, count the number of items in each group together. Talk about the differences (e.g., color, size, texture) and ask simple questions like, "Which basket has more?" or "What color are most of the leaves?"
Put PEER Into Action
Pause:
- When you are outdoors, take two or three deep breaths together.
Engage:
- Help your child sort by saying, "This is a leaf; I think it goes here. This is a rock; it goes there."
- “Where do you think this rock goes?
Encourage:
- “I like how you are looking at each item before you place them in a group.”
- “It is okay if you put the rock in the wrong place, we can move it to the correct place.”
Reflect:
- “Which part of the activity did you like best?”
Not quite ready?
Help your child focus on finding all the leaves first and then the rocks.
Ready for more?
Have your child find other ways they can group the materials that they gathered.
As your child masters this skill...
They will understand how to gather and share two attributes of a group of items.