Materials
Sand table and sand
Small objects such as plastic numbers, wooden shapes, and so on
Instructions
1. Take the children on a field trip to a pond. Be sure to have plenty of chaperones.
2. Take lots of pictures of the animals, plants, and insects at the pond.
3. After returning from the trip to the pond, have a discussion with the children about what they saw.
4. After the discussion, tape blue bulletin board paper to a wall and hang pictures from nature magazines around the room.
5. Give the children construction paper, scissors, and glue and encourage them to draw cattails, lily pads, frogs, logs, trees, grass, ducks, fish, snakes, snails, crayfish, beavers, turtles, and dragonflies.
6. Glue or tape the pond features to the blue bulletin board paper.More to do: Games: Play "What Belongs and What Doesn't?" Using felt, cut out things that can be found at a pond, such as ducks, pond, logs, grass, lily pads, and so on. Then, cut out felt pieces that do not belong, such as cats, bears, and so on. Place all of the felt pieces on a flannel board and ask the children to name the items that belong at a pond.Sand and Water Table: Place pond animals, such as rubber frogs and ducks, and plastic flowers in the water table.
