Guest Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 (edited) Hi, we have been advised to use more natural resources in our preschool and toddler room, we curently only have a heuristic box in our toddler room and nothing in preschool. We are going to build our small world with a lot more natural resources like stones,longs etc What would you suggest we add in both of the rooms? I am particularly struggling with the toddlers as my room has children between the ages of 10 months - 2 and a half. Any help would be much appreciated! Edited February 17, 2014 by bhumibee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 O yes do, there are stones, logs, wood cookies, cones, corks, anything made of wood is very tactile, herbs Obviously for your younger children your items need to be large enough not to be a choke hazard We have several boxes inside even though we are outside most of the time. I have boxes at construction area, play dough, and with small worlds type resources Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildflowers Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Shells, wicker baskets, clean sheeps wool, pieces of fabric, leaves, twigs with clay, pieces of cork with water, acorns and nutshells with playdough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 maybe also try to ditch the plastic and aim for more natural. aesthetically pleasing items around the rooms. So don't go for bright primary colours but more natural calming ones. lovely ideas above but i would be very careful about sing sheeps wool as it has lanolin in it which is a fairly common allergen. Wooden blocks and wooden toys from companies like myriad, mindstretchers and community playthings would be a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinthinguk Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Ive just been on a sensory play course, been out today ( half term for us) and went into a local charity shop and brought a lot of wooden knick nacks! lol I got a set of baskets too and they only wanted £3 for the lot! ( its the sort of stuff that they find hard to sell!) my intention is to provide more natural resources for sensory play and for small world play. Next i am after Russian dolls and wooden boxes with lids....can't wait for better weather, car boot sales here I come! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fimbo Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 We have little wicker baskets with pine cones, shells, pretty pebbles,herbs from our garden,wooden blocks,gourds ( dried, they are fab) magnifying glasses. Never thought about corks tho - going to get some out for next week, thanks ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Being a church pre school we are never short on corks:)) !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Being a church pre school we are never short on corks:)) !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinthinguk Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 is it true that we are not supposed to use conkers, pine needles and other woodland objects? i collected a bag full in the Autumn but was told that in case anyone had an allergy we could not use them , and anything on the woodland floor could have animal wee on it!!!! I am fairly sure that some of our little ones will not have had the opportunities to experience woodland objects before and was rather disappointed ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narnia Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 If you are worried, I guess you could put them in a bowl of dilute Milton overnight, but honestly, anything could cause an allergy in theory. I have never experienced children having allergies to the things you mention and we use lots of them continuously ( and no, I don't disinfect them)............. think about your own childhood......what did you play with? was everything disinfected?? Probably not, in my experience. I think whoever told you that was being over-cautious, so my advice would be to get back out into the woods and start collecting again! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 is it true that we are not supposed to use conkers, pine needles and other woodland objects? i collected a bag full in the Autumn but was told that in case anyone had an allergy we could not use them , and anything on the woodland floor could have animal wee on it!!!! I am fairly sure that some of our little ones will not have had the opportunities to experience woodland objects before and was rather disappointed ! Er forest school would be a bit tricky if this was the case! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narnia Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Just what i was thinking.......................and mud kitchens too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinthinguk Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 i am making a mud kitchen this term.........I thought it was daft to say that we could not have conkers..I will fight my corner from now on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 is it true that we are not supposed to use conkers, pine needles and other woodland objects? i collected a bag full in the Autumn but was told that in case anyone had an allergy we could not use them , and anything on the woodland floor could have animal wee on it!!!! I am fairly sure that some of our little ones will not have had the opportunities to experience woodland objects before and was rather disappointed ! Sigh......... i am making a mud kitchen this term.........I thought it was daft to say that we could not have conkers..I will fight my corner from now on! Yay! Go for it! :1b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjcree Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Sticks, sticks and more sticks is what i would get. We also have boxes of driftwood, large pebbles, shells, feathers. and we did have pine cones untill some kind soul terned them into bird feeders. Can you get prper cork nowadays/ All the ones I have seem to be plastic in origin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) Please use natural objects as they are.........not bleached, cleaned, dissected, this will destroy the object the beautiful smells and tactile experience We have had natural objects and have held things in the forest for the last 5 yrs, we are all fine Edited February 19, 2014 by Suer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinthinguk Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 we live by the sea, after the awful weather we have had, there is tons of fantastic drift wood, fish egg cases ect ....I am dying to take some to work.....don't know how well that will go down with the ocd germ a phobes! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 we live by the sea, after the awful weather we have had, there is tons of fantastic drift wood, fish egg cases ect ....I am dying to take some to work.....don't know how well that will go down with the ocd germ a phobes! Do you do beach school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green hippo Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I love the idea of this. Do you leave these natural items out as your on-going 'basic' provision for children to use to build their own little worlds? I am always wondering whether I have the balance right between offering enough on-going provision in my small world area and having enough to enhance with. I will definitely be finding corks, twigs etc for further enhancements. Thanks Green Hippo x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Ours forms part of our everyday provision, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 i am making a mud kitchen this term.........I thought it was daft to say that we could not have conkers..I will fight my corner from now on! Look on and research on mud kitchens there are some great ideas from'Let the children play' They are on twitter and have a Facebook page We love our mud kitchen, but we r packaway so it's taken a while to think about how we want it it, carrying it out each day is heavy So ours has been in existence for over a year but is being evolved as we speak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Look on and research on mud kitchens there are some great ideas from'Let the children play' They are on twitter and have a Facebook page We love our mud kitchen, but we r packaway so it's taken a while to think about how we want it it, carrying it out each day is heavy So ours has been in existence for over a year but is being evolved as we speak mindstretchers also do a free downloadable booklet which has lots of info in it too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmony1985 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 We don't just use our natural resources for imaginative play. Our Maths area uses pinecones, conkers and corks for sorting and counting, and we have all our of resources stored in wicker baskets. We have wooden blocks in the building area and our water play baskets are full of shells and stones. A natural resource doesn't have to be something you found on a woodland walk either. It can be as simple as a mug tree and some wooden curtain rings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Thanks for the great replies guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts