Nature Brainstorm, Treasure Hunt & Collage: Discuss, Embark, Create!

Materials:

• A bag to collect your nature treasures!

• Glue

• Paper (you can recycle a paper bag or a piece of cardboard for this!)
  optional: paint, colour pencils, markers, crayons, scissors 

Step by Step Guide:

1. First things first...what does NATURAL mean? Parents/Families...before you go on the hunt you can have a conversation about what children think "natural" means. You can work together to BRAINSTORM ideas. Try to listen and record their responses/ideas on a piece of paper or on a whiteboard / chalkboard. A nice big writing space (when possible) is recommended for this.

2. Next, off on your journey! Let's go on a nature treasure hunt! In normal times you’d go for a walk to the park or the beach, but since these are Corona Lockdown times better stick to your backyard and balconies only. Take the bag with you and collect natural treasures you find and while you're there! You might find interesting leaves, sticks, flowers, shells or anything else that is natural. 

3. When you return to your desk your child can use their nature treasures to create a collage!

Why is brainstorming so important? 

"Because the creative- and critical-thinking skills children use in the process are core ingredients to every area of curriculum and development. No matter what experience a child meets along the way, if she has the ability to think open-endedly, flexibly, and critically, she can deal with the task at hand. Brainstorming invites children to use information, think about it, and create it anew.

Young children use essential expressive- and receptive language skills to present their ideas, thereby expanding vocabulary and creating phrases and sentences. When they see their thoughts written down on an experience chart, children begin to make the leap from the spoken to the written word.

Brainstorming also enhances social development. It is a collective process that encourages the best of the character development traits and skills we want to teach children at group time and all day long. When brainstorming, children are hearing different ideas and learning how to listen to each other-valuable receptive-language skills."