GEKA Murrumbeena 

Recreating Nature

GEKA Murrumbeena Educators

This week one of the educators had brought in branches from a tree that had been trimmed from home. (They were properly fastened in a pot with sand and weighted stones for extra stability and security). As the week went on the children offered their suggestions to add to the branches (that had existing leaves on them). The educator had explained where the tree was from and why it needed to be trimmed and how she thought this piece of nature would be useful within the kindergarten setting as she recycled it as a feature in the room. The educator also discussed the need to look after our trees and plants and allowed the children brainstorm how we look after nature? One of the children, one child expressed that “we shouldn’t waste too much paper and there wouldn’t be that need to chop so many trees down”. Another brought in a bag of leaves where she found on her recent walk in her neighbourhood. 

The educator suggested to add some of the leaves to the tree which can symbolise the various seasons stages of trees and nature. A child came in this morning and said, “It’s so cold it’s like when we are at the snow!!!! Maybe our tree needs snow!!!!”. The educators thought it was a great idea and used some cotton wall and foam white pieces to the tree. Another addition was a cut out leaf from coloured cardboard and eventually create some small birds to place around the tree too. This idea can be an evolving idea over time where children collect pieces of nature they find.  You can also make your tree a smaller version with small branches.

(learning outcome 2: community-

Showing an appreciation and care for our environments, EYLF 2009)

Box Work Creations

GEKA Murrumbeena Educators

Children love to create and make things, especially with tape and scissors.  Save some of the boxes, containers, lids etc that are normally recycled and allow an open-ended craft experience for your child/ren to embark on.  Think about what else could be added here; leaves and pebbles from outside, dry pasta, spare buttons, corks, bubble wrap, glad wrap cylinders and so forth.  Masking tape works well as it is easier for the children to tear but normal sticky tape will do. 

The second stage could be to paint the box work construction and continue adding to it as you accumulate more boxes, lids, etc. 

Children this age need to learn how to use scissors appropriately, so don’t be afraid of allowing cutting to occur here (child appropriate scissors are advisable).  Cutting a range of materials, such as cardboard and plastic, permit the children to develop their fine motor skills and explore the difficulties of cutting assorted objects.