The Nature Preschool had another fabulous week falling into Autumn! We avoided the big storm and still got to enjoy the gifts Mother Nature left behind from last week’s rain! The damp earth lent itself to the children’s continued interest in toads, worms, and mushrooms! Although our biggest gift was the bright, autumn sunshine! It beamed down on our faces in the meadow and dappled the forest floor, keeping us warm. It deepened our appreciation for gorgeous weather like we had this week! As we looked towards the bright blue skies, something else caught our eyes! The towering tree tops, above our heads, were once bright and green. We noticed some new colors have appeared on the scene! The children enjoyed walking on the trails and looking for leaves of every shape, size and color! We explored changing leaves, seeds and other signs of fall through movement activities, visual arts, math and science activities, hands-on exploration, and of course, wild nature play.
Check out all the fun in our picture gallery!
In autumn sun,
The Nature Preschool at Irvine Nature Center
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- Miss Emily and the Bears in the outdoor classroom!
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- Getting wet in our sandbox! There were still some puddles in our sandbox. Thank you mother nature!
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- Gentle hands!
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- Up close examining nature.
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- The Bear class visited the meadow. She is finding milkweed seeds inside a pod!
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- Pointing out some flying milkweed seeds!
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- Fly milkweed! Fly!
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- Lounging in a shady spot in the meadow!
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- Writing letters on the chalkboard!
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- Creating letters with train tracks!
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- Some bears giggling in the forest.
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- The bear class visited the stream!
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- Miss Emily and the chipmunks are using pipettes, watercolors, and tissue paper to make beautiful leaves!
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- The chipmunks are building towers!
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- Dressing up in the downstairs classroom!
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- Miss Emily and Miss Devon put on a show for the class!
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- Hi Miss Kierra!
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- The chipmunk boys gather in the outdoor classroom!
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- Rolling in the grass!
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- The chipmunks made mini apple pies!
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- They look delicious!
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- Leaves & Paints Provocation
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- The Chipmunk class meets millipedes!
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- One finger touch with a gentle smile!
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- This little toad was hiding in a hole in our climbing tree in the outdoor classroom! He peeked out occasionally to see what the children were up to!
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- I think someone spots the toad!
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- The chipmunks found letters on the trail signs!
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- Up close and personal encounters in nature!
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- “L” is for leaves!
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- Miss Devon and some chipmunks smile for the camera!
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- Looks fresh!
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- The chipmunks do a log roll!
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- Miss Meghan reads with some Coyotes in our book nook!
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- The Coyotes make tree sculptures using brown lunch bags!
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- The Coyotes are using leafs to act out this poem about falling leaves in autumn!
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- The coyotes were ready to hit the trail, but this beautiful moth was camouflaging on our trail sign! We still spotted him!
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- Gentle fingers when exploring fungi!
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- Discoveries in the meadow!
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- How many colors do you see?
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- Friends holding hands as they venture out of the meadow!
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- Miss Amber and Coyote friends are painting autumn trees!
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- Miss Monica and the coyotes act out the changes trees go through at circle time!
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- Nature soup!
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- We spotted a few of these little guys this week!
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- Miss Meghan shares a wasps nest one of the children found!
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- Making a leaf rainbow with Miss Meghan!
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- Woodpecker feathers!
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- This little coyote spotted some interesting fungus among us!
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- Charting leaves in the wetland area!
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- The Flying Squirrel class gets to watch Mr. Steve release a bird back into nature!
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- The children all are on the edge of their seats!
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- The flying squirrels having some fun on the stage!
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- Working in her nature journal!
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- The flying squirrels working in their journals!
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- The overlook is a perfect place to plop down for some art!
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- Painting with sticks!
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- Saving some seeds.
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- What a wonderful use of color!
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- Letters, leaves and lines
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- These lovely ladies are using teamwork to haul their nature soup!
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- Friends helping each other on the balance log!
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- Leaves & Paint Provocation
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- Experimenting with texture and lines.
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- What do you see Miss Nancy?
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- The flying squirrels made a leaf color chart!
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- Investigating a gall!
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- Smiles & Sticks
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- Touching the gills of this large mushroom!
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- The flying squirrels found a salamander!
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- Some children in the fox class found this huge piece of bamboo in the outdoor classroom! They all carried it together, marched and said, “Heave! Ho! Heave! Ho!”
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- Stuffing old water bottles with acorns, stones and other natural make great sensory bottles and are loads of fun!
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- These two are splitting open galls they found on a leaf! What is inside?
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- Comparing our findings.
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- This fox had amazing eyes! She spotted these teeny tiny mushroom growing next to the trail!
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- The foxes had so much fun making a leaf rainbow.
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- Leaf rubbings in our nature journals
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- Shining Salamander
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- Miss Samantha and a fox friend giggling and writing!
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- While this little fox made some marks, she helped the teacher think of words that start with L!
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- Miss Swati reads to some foxes in the book nook!
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- Miss Swati poses a question, “How are the berries you just found different from the spice bush berries we found earlier?”
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- This little fox asked, “How could two seeds grow close together?” This was after a circle time about seeds, how they travel and a movement activity starting as a seed, growing into a tree and eventually falling and spreading our seeds again! What a curious mind!
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- Finding worms on the access road! We moved them to nearby damp earth (in the direction they were headed) ASAP!
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- Smiling in sunshine!
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- Curly sticks are so interesting!
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- Two foxes climbing in the outdoor classroom!
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- Miss Sophie and the rabbits are enjoying a beautiful fall day in the meadow!
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- Miss Karen visits the Rabbit class!
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- Felt board fun in the rabbit class!
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- Geo boards are a class favorite!
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- Creative play with puppets in the loft!
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- Someone is hiding in the rabbit class!
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- This is one impressive train built by these rabbit engineers
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- Milkweed wishes in the meadow!
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- Laughing in the downstairs classroom!
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- Time for a live animal encounter in the rabbit class!
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- Miss Sophie gently introduces this turtle to the rabbit class!
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- Trail pail collecting! So many seeds and berries can be found here!
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- The rabbits hopping along in the meadow!
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- The children observe a leaf at circle time!
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- Leaf rubbing!
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- Miss Tiffany smiles bright!
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- Meadow discoveries!
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- Magical, beautiful milkweed!
