Exploring Spring (Reception)
This is a hands on day that explores springtime at Skelton through lots of outside activities, including pond dipping, games and crafts. All the activities encourage the children to look at the natural world, to understand the features of springtime and to think about how the world will change as the year progresses.National Curriculum Summary
Sc2 Living things in their environment - we find out about living things in the local environment, thinking about why different things live in different places and how we can contribute to looking after them.
Main National Curriculum Links
Sc2 5a, 5b, 5c
Available for reception classes March-April.
What the day involves
The day begins with an introduction by the day leader, welcoming the children to the Centre and explaining what will be happening in the day. We have a general discussion about springtime, and have a warm up game.
The class is then split into groups (normally 4 groups - depending on class size) for the remaining activities: Signs of spring, Spring as a new time of life, Trees in spring and Seeds in spring.
Signs of spring
We will have a chat about what season we are in and how we know that it is spring and then explore outside looking for signs of spring arriving. We explore the colours that we get in spring time collecting natural objects on stickyboards that the children can take home. We also look at what birds are doing in spring time, looking for old and new bird nests and examining our collection of bird eggs.
Spring as a new time of life
We think about the animals that are living at Skelton Grange and how in spring time they are preparing to have babies. We examine the different ways in which life arrives in spring time, some animals lay eggs, some have live babies, exploring the pond we see that the pond is coming to life with new animals and we hopefully will find some frogspawn or tadpoles.
Trees in spring
Exploring the life of trees, we play a game called 'meet a tree' and have a close look at what is happening to the trees in springtime. Using magnifying glasses we examine the new buds, leaves and blossoms forming and think about how the trees will change as the year progresses.
Seeds in spring
We look at the little seedlings that have started to grow and discuss how all plants start their lives as seeds. Also we will examine lots of different types of seeds and plant a seed to take back to school or home to watch its progress as the year develops.
Visit our Links page to find some fun ideas for pre-visit or follow-up activities!
