Montessori Outdoors

Now that the warm weather has arrived, children will be spending more time outdoors enjoying and learning in nature. There is so much to do outside! This week, we thought we'd share some activity ideas that went beyond playing on the playground.

• collecting, playing, and making patterns with rocks
• take a listening walk
• write letters in the sand or dirt with sticks
• arrange sticks to form letters
• graph nature items found on a walk
• use chalk to trace shadows at different times of the day
• make a sun dial
• make a musical instrument from objects found in nature
• balance rocks or sticks to make a sculpture
• planting and caring for a garden or flowers
• outdoor yoga
• nature scavenger hunt

There is no description, no image in any book that is capable of replacing the sight of real trees, and all the life to be found around them, in a real forest. Something emanates from those trees which speaks to the soul, something no book, no museum is capable of giving. 

                                                - Maria Montessori