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Communication and language
Communication is a crucial skill when making positive environmental change. It enables learners to express their ideas and work together as a team – children's interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development.
Through taking part in the Nature Park, EYFS learners will build learners' vocabulary through new discoveries and experiences, and being encouraged to share their interests and actions throughout the process. Through spending time outdoors and in nature, learners will engage in storytelling, role play, conversation and question-asking, building a range of vocabulary and language. Browse the resources library or take a look at the suggestions below.
Adult-led activity suggestions
- a way for learners to connect with nature even when your setting may have limited green space is to look up to the sky and take part in cloud gazing. Use ‘I wonder’ statements to think about the role of clouds and discuss the amount and type of clouds they see in different seasons and the effect they have on the weather.
- encourage learners to listen and respond to peers using natural objects from their setting as talking tokens. This can be used to help learners express their emotions and empathise with others.
- barefoot safari supports connection with the natural world by inviting children to take a walk around the site barefoot. Encourage learners to comment on the different textures, smells and sounds that they experience.
Nature Park highlight
- sound mapping: this activity encourages children and young people to use their sense of hearing to make a sound map of an outdoor space, taking notice of what they can hear and where it is coming from.
Continuous provision
Creating healthy soil is a fun and exploratory activity that can take learning in many directions. When thinking about caring for the planet and those that live on it, soil has a huge impact. Through enquiry, play and creating their own ‘soil potion’, learners can explore what soil is made up of and begin to understand the important role it plays in a healthy environment.
Early learning goals
Listening, attention and understanding
- listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions
- make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding
- hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers
Speaking
- participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary
- offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate
- express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher