Spring is here: Teaching children about the seasons
As the weather gets warmer, and a new term is about to begin, it’s a good time to start some “fresh” teaching.
The advent of spring brings new opportunities to support tamariki’s learning about the seasons and nature.
One way could be to adopt a lamb. There’s already a guide detailing how to do this on our website.
Having an animal like a lamb on site can encourage children to get outside.
Because they are so gentle, lambs can serve as great therapy pets for children, particularly those with behavioural or emotional issues.
Rearing a lamb is a quintessential Kiwi task, but something that many tamariki don’t get the chance to anymore.
If fostering or adopting a lamb isn’t an option for your service, you could organise a field trip to a local farm that has some lambs and talk to the farmers about how they care for them.
If your service has a garden you could also harvest some seasonal veggies to cook some yummy meals together. Or you could plant some produce that grows well at this time of year (such as tomatoes – you can get free seeds from the charity 5+ A Day).
Changing weather patterns will likely come up naturally in discussions with tamariki. This could lead to conversations about how the environment around us changes – and why – in different seasons. (EG: we need rain for the plants to grow.)
To extend this learning, you could take the tamariki out for a walk, or just walk around your garden, and talk about the different plants that are growing and the various colours they can see in nature. While out for a walk you could collect some natural resources to do an art project with.
What activities do you look forward to doing with the tamariki during spring? Tell us in the comment section below.
