Need ideas for nature center project

[Jodi Hiland]

Hi, All!  Dodge Nature Preschool in West St. Paul, MN is turning 10 years old!  We are in the process of planning a community-wide school fundraiser to take place in early June.  I am soliciting ideas for a creative art (?) project that several kids (and adults?) can work on, and will be installed permanently on the Dodge Nature Center (or preschool) property.  We are already going to invite kids to paint a bench, but I thought I'd throw the idea out to this group, to ask if you've done anything you think would fit in nicely.  We'll work with local retailers to donate materials.  Thank you!

[Ann Corcoran]

If you can spring for more than a bench, I suggest you think of something more sensory, something that shows movement and/or sound. Rusty Keeler is a member of this CN&N Ning site, and on his own website, where he sells a book for preschool centers, he has some sample pages that might be helpful. With some ingenuity on your parents' & staff's part, I bet they could pull together something great, that's not too laborious. (I'm assuming you've already got an herb garden outside, yes?) - I'll be really interested to see what you come up with, and how it goes. Please fill me in - sounds very exciting!

[Jodi Hiland]

Thanks, Ann! The Talented Mr. Keeler actually designed our school's outdoor playspace, and we do have his book. Ya know, I'm quite sure our school doesn't have an herb garden (but several flower, fruit and veggie ones); great idea. I'll post what we come up with!

Ann Corcoran said:

If you can spring for more than a bench, I suggest you think of something more sensory, something that shows movement and/or sound. Rusty Keeler is a member of this CN&N Ning site, and on his own website, where he sells a book for preschool centers, he has some sample pages that might be helpful. With some ingenuity on your parents' & staff's part, I bet they could pull together something great, that's not too laborious. (I'm assuming you've already got an herb garden outside, yes?) - I'll be really interested to see what you come up with, and how it goes. Please fill me in - sounds very exciting!

[John Thielbahr]

Hi Jodi,
Just thinking off the top of my old head about Gina McCarthy's terrific parks project in Connecticut where families had to visit as many parks as possible as part of a contest. For your creative art project, perhaps you could have the kids and adults create a map of as many nearby nature spots as possible in a designated area. It could be parks, empty lots, a grove of trees, a lake or river, a nature trail or bike path, etc. They can be as creative as they want, and what you end up with is something that people can use to find nature.

PS, there are some great conversations and sharing happening on the Natural Teachers Network. Some questions are being asked about pre-school nature activities that you could help with. I know you have signed up so if you could take a look, please do weigh in. Many thanks. John

[Jennifer Kable]

Last year we worked on a big mosaic mural with our preschool children which is going to be hung in the entrance to our new library. We asked parents to donate any tiles they had at home and the kids had a ball smashing them (wrapped up in layers of material first!) with a hammer to create little mosaic tiles. We had a big piece of board to glue the pieces onto, and a simple organic design that included our school name. We left it out for weeks and kids and parents could add to it when the spirit moved them!

I also love to look at the group art projects Teacher Tom does with his kids at Seattle West Community Preschool - he has the outlook that "Together we are a genius". You could take a look at the things he does with the kids here

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/together-were-genius.html

[Jodi Hiland]

Great idea, Jennifer, thank you! I've actually been thinking of a mural. I like the way you were able to include the kids, and the progressive nature of the project. What kid doesn't want to smash something?!

Jennifer K said:

Last year we worked on a big mosaic mural with our preschool children which is going to be hung in the entrance to our new library. We asked parents to donate any tiles they had at home and the kids had a ball smashing them (wrapped up in layers of material first!) with a hammer to create little mosaic tiles. We had a big piece of board to glue the pieces onto, and a simple organic design that included our school name. We left it out for weeks and kids and parents could add to it when the spirit moved them!

I also love to look at the group art projects Teacher Tom does with his kids at Seattle West Community Preschool - he has the outlook that "Together we are a genius". You could take a look at the things he does with the kids here

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/together-were-genius.html

[Anita Van Asperdt]

Another idea is to create a willow structure, these can be tunnels, huts or a combination. They are easy to build with the involvement of the kids and they can watch them grow in one season. Sharon Danks has a good article on this which I attached to this posting, along with some photos of a small willow hut that we did in our own backyard and at a local preschool. We did two of them in different locations to see for ourself if these are indeed easy to construct by kids before recommending these structures to our clients. We are working with many schools and these structures are usually a big hit!

[Jodi Hiland]

Thanks, Anita! We do in fact already have a willow hut that we built last year! They are indeed fantastic, fantastical structures... Your instincts were right on...

Thanks again for taking the time to make a great suggestion. All the best to you,
Jodi