Preschool children explore color in nature outside

Early Explorers

Designed for preKindergarten

$4 per student

The outdoors is a wonderment to the senses and offers endless opportunities to explore found natural objects (with the help of a few carefully planned tools). 

Young scientists get up close and personal with sensory examinations of tree shape and structure! Use pattern recognition, emergent literacy, and listening skills to discover the animals that live in and on trees. Practice motor skills while creating leaf shapes crafts and exploring the grounds of the Arboretum.

Target SOLs for the field investigation:

ELDS Birth - 5 (2021)

Science:  CD1.1h, CD1.1j, CD1.1l

Mathematics: CD3.3l, CD3.3m, CD3.3o 

 

Field investigations are more meaningful to students when they are integrated into their curriculum: therefore we recommend several texts and associated activities to enrich your students' experience. 

Field Investigations 

During your field investigations for our Early Explorers program students explore and observe plants and their habitats at the Arboretum. They compare shapes and colors, learn that plants go through a life cycle, have life needs, and similar parts.

Below is an overview of the “standard” program activities to assist you with integrating this field experience into the classroom experiences. This will change due to weather, the volume of students, or communication with environmental educators. Click here for a sample schedule (will vary depending on the number of classes).

Leaf Shape and Color Exploration Walk - Using shape cards we explore looking for leaves in the shapes of star, heart, oval, cat, and fan. Students may also do color comparisons with paint chips, describing, comparing, and contrasting their findings. While exploring, we think about tree needs and discuss evidence that trees are living things. We also use our other senses, listening to leaves and the creatures in the trees, touching leaves and bark pointed out by Blandy Educators. 

Tree Habitats Poem - Students sit on felt leaf shapes and tree cookies around a model tree. Each student gets to hold a felt model of an animal in the poem. As their creature is mentioned, they come up to place their organism in the described space of the tree. We then admire to wonder at the diversity of animals that can live in one tree. 

Tree Observations (Faraway and Near) - 

 

Literacy Resources and Suggested Activities

Plants & Trees: Leaf Man - Fiction

Author and Illustrator: Lois Ehlert 

Grade: PK- 2                Lexile: Lexile: 460L

Suggested Activities:

  • Practice word and letter, shape, and color recognition during read-aloud. 

 

Plants & Trees: My Leaf Book - Fiction

Author and Illustrator: Monica Wellington

Grade PK - 2                Lexile:  Lexile: 450L

Suggested Activities:

  • Practice word and letter, shape and color recognition during read-aloud. 

  • Go outside to collect leaves (or bring leaves from home) and create a leaf book. Practice writing by labeling the leaves. (teacher will need to be comfortable identifying leaves OR make a literacy activity of describing the leaves and giving them names based on characteristics) 

  • Create leaf rubbings or prints (activities in book)

 

Plants & Trees: We're Going On a Leaf Hunt - Fiction

Author: Steve Metzger            Illustrator: Miki Sakamoto

Grade PK - 2                Lexile:  Lexile: 410L

Suggested Activities:

 

 

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