by Miss Chrystal 

We have recently introduced the Virtual Nature School program within our centre. This term, we have been using natural resources to develop speech and language skills through a range of activities, all led by the children’s interests. 

The children have developed their communication skills through a variety of different water and mud play experiences.  This has enabled the children to explore new vocabulary,  talk about their ideas and think about how things change within the natural environment.

Water

The children have been exploring the different ways  that we can experiment with water and colour change. We  made our own clouds and rain using shaving foam and food colouring.

The children became confident at using a range of resources such as pipettes and paintbrushes. They were able to describe the change of state when the ice melted and also describe the colour changes that took place in the water.  

We also explored different pictures of water experiences and the children discussed of what they associate each picture with:

Mud

The second element we explored was mud. The children led their own learning within this block with staff observing the children’s play. We were fortunate that it rained so we put on our wellies and waterproofs and went to play in the mud. 

The children were engrossed in their play. They used their imaginations and they were confident to express their ideas and interests. They created their own mud paint as well as using paper to create muddy footprints from their wellies.  

The children developed their confidence by talking and exploring a variety of vocabulary when asked to describe the texture of the mud.

“It is squelchy!”

“The rain has made it all gooey and sticky!”