Such experiences foster emotional connections with natural elements and help children develop a sense of respect for the environment and empathy for all living beings. Keep your collections in a shoebox or mount them on large pieces of butcher paper. Writing nature Take time to immerse yourself in nature and listen and watch. Then your child can pick words and use them to make a story or poem. The poem doesn't have to mean anything.
Nature encourages poetic thinking because it engages all of our senses.
Texture rubbings give your child a chance to touch and feel patterns. Indoors, show your child what happens when you rub a marker or crayon on paper over a penny or a wall. Outdoors, encourage your child to find something rough, something smooth, something textured. Point out the variety of textures of trees. Make a series of rubbings to show many different kinds of bark.