Autumn or Spring

An Education Experience for EYFS / Year 1 children - on Autumn or Spring depending when you visit. 

Autumn

In the teacher led introduction we talk about the changes the different seasons bring. Outside as we explore the Arboretum we tell our special rhyming hedgehog story as they look for a winter hibernation home.

After a snack back at the classroom the class divides into three groups and they rotate around three activities - two before lunch and one afterwards.

One set of activities is based on leaves - finding leaves that are then sorted by size and then colour using a colour wheel. Another set of activities is on hedgehogs - the children search for sticks to create a winter den for our toy hedgehogs. They also use hand prints in mud to create a hedgehog picture. The third set of activities includes creating a dance to Vivaldi's music and making a piece of wrapping paper using leaf rubbings.

In the plenary the changes in the seasons is revisited and children decorate  tree outlines representing different seasons with paper leaves. We then think about which season children were born in and use sticks to help count the number of children in each season.

Spring

In the teacher led introduction we talk about the differences in the seasons. Outside we explore the Arboretum with a special story to find a place for robins to make a nest.

After a snack break back in the classroom the children divide into three groups and complete three activities - two before lunch and one after.

One activity is based on seeds and the children plant a seed each to take back to school. Another activity is based on sticks where the children collect sticks to make a nest and then complete a picture using mud hand-prints of a bird sitting on a nest. The third activity is creating a spring dance to Vivaldi's music.

In the plenary the changes across the seasons are revisited and children decorate pictures of trees with paper leaves to show the different seasons. We think about the seasons the children were born in and use sticks to help count the number of children born in each season.

• Venue: The Attenborough Arboretum, Carisbrooke Road LE2 3PF
• Availability: At the correct season
• Numbers: One class per day
• Cost: Please visit our programme costs page