Play nourishes every aspect of a child's development. I believe that it forms the foundation for physical, social, emotional and intellectual skills which are important for their happiness. One of my goals as a primary teacher is to create a rich play environment which will support the whole child This year in nature kindergarten I have been planning invitations for play using natural materials. Here are a few that have been fun to plan and enjoyed by the children over the past few months.  SAND PLAY  I added some natural materials like tree blocks, beach stones, sticks which are similar lengths, pinecones and sand. Then since it is spring I added some insects from our math bin. I was curious to see how this provocation inspired the children to explore the sand table in new ways using loose parts.  RAVENS NEST  My daughter loaned me a raven's nest for the classroom. I was curious to see i......

We've moved to the seashore!  Beginning this week we will be going to the seashore on Wednesday mornings and to the forest on Monday mornings. We have been doing math at the forest this month so w hile we at the seashore some of the students were gathering loose parts along the beach and building number sets. I just have to share David's beautiful fleet of five ships! ...