Nature Adventures with a Toddler (and beyond!) – Nature’s Crowning Glory

Join me on my quest to keep a toddler entertained in my garden and home, with nature as our inspiration, and with fun (and a bit of learning!) as our goal.

My 2 and ½ year old will test out these simple and easy-to-do-at-home activities; we’ll let you know the results, and would love to hear how you get on, too. I‘ll offer some Outdoor Learning Top Tips on how to adapt the activities for older children, and suggest what skills each activity helps you and your child explore. All the activities are simple, use mostly things you will find in and around your home, and will be free, and will hopefully help to keep you both entertained (and sane!) a they have done for me. Enjoy!

 

Nature’s Crowning Glory

Make your own Crown with a few items from around the house, and whatever you find to decorate it!

Role Play
Creativity
Imagination
Active Play
Fine motor skills

What you’ll need:

Some paper or card for the crown
Pritt stick/PVA glue or double sided tape

Cellotape or glue to fix the crown into a hoop
Cut a strip from the paper or card (we used a strip of A3, with a little extra stuck on to make it long enough). If you have double sided tape, stick this on in a few strips.

If you’re using glue, glue the items on as you go.
Start collecting things to decorate your crown!

 

 

Top tips (and what we learnt along the way):

• Help your child to find suitable things around the garden (not foot-long sticks like Oscar tried to stick on!), or have them pre-pared for them to assemble (with your help for younger ones)
• Name the items you are using will help with language devlopment and identifying things.
• Keeping the crown flat whilst sticking will make it easier, especially for smaller hands!

 

 

Oscar’s review:

Oscar was often quite ambitious as to what he could stick to the crown, regularly selecting large sticks and stones, but with a bit of guidance, he soon got the gist. We worked on the crown as a flat strip, but found it helpful to periodically make a hoop to remind him what we were making – this helped to retain his focus.

 

 

For older ones –

• If they are old enough to use scissors, or to draw a shape for you to cut out, let them make a more intricately shaped crown to decorate.
• Try using symmetry when decorating your crown.

Have a go yourself and show us the results!

Take care,

Sarah x

 

Thank you the National Lottery Heritage Fund for support with this content.