Nature Counting

Materials You Need: Clipboard, Paper, Pencil.

Optional extra equipment: Magnifying glass, binoculars.

What You Can Do Together: Take your child/children outside to explore the natural world. What different kinds of plants and animals can they spot? Get them to stop and look in different places and record their fascinating finds – from up in the treetops to under rocks and stones. They can record their finds in different ways. Perhaps they could make a chart, keeping a tally of all the different plants they find? Or maybe they’d enjoy drawing and labeling the animals and insects they discover? Another fun option would be to introduce a memory game – challenge them to learn a list of the different animals/insects/plants/birds they spot and see if they repeat it out loud. For example, “Today I counted five ducks, three butterflies, one frog, two ladybirds…”. The most important thing is that they have lots of fun as they learn about the world around them!

There are more insects in one square mile of empty field than there are people in the world!

What Your Child is Learning:  Getting your child to investigate, name and count the wildlife they can see is a playful challenge for their senses -– and one that reveals the impressive variety of plants and animals that live around them. It’s a great way for them to learn new vocabulary and improve their numeracy skills, too!