Nature Based Playdough

I can't believe it is the last day of 2013!! It has been a wonderful year and I actually finished off some big projects that were hanging over me. I feel excited about 2014 and have some very BIG resolutions.

What about you??

As you know I am a lover of nature and can't go passed collecting lovely pieces for my home and classroom. This week when at the park I saw a beautiful piece of bark in an enormous pile. I took one piece and started to think of all the ways I could use it.

Here is one way of using the bark...... Place numbers on the bark.

Collect some leaves and encourage the children to draw patterns on them.

Help the children make some birds out of playdough. Roll a large ball for the body, a small ball for the head, pinch a beak and push a pen or similar to make some eyes.

Use the leaves as feathers and push them into the playdough birds.

Ask the children to identify the numbers on the bark and count the correct number of feathers.

This is a very inexpensive activity and has many educational benefits from fine motor skills through to several maths concepts. I love it because I think it is so important for children to appreciate the beauty in nature and that you can use resources that are in your backyard. Not everything is made of plastic and isn't bought at the shop.

Anyway, thanks for reading, commenting, sharing ideas and letting me know what you have tried out. Please continue to do so.

Have a wonderful new year!!