Tina’s Treasurehouse
We first became a Nature Explorer Classroom in 2020. Since then, we have grown with many new materials added to our outdoor classroom. We call our classroom “Tina’s Treasure Cove.” My husband, Papa Craig (as the kids call him), is handy in building many additions to our play area. Our local tree service has been very beneficial in providing us with two hollow logs. We have replaced some of our old logs in our gathering area with new ones from our neighbor’s tree.
Our music area is fun, with a large xylophone, chimes, and ribbons for dancing. The toddlers love to bang on the “drums” and use the spoons on the different spoons, pans, and other hanging “instruments,” listening to the various sounds. The flower garden has grown with flowers added in and around the area. We have even grown flowers in large pots around the playground. This year, our vegetable garden has grown many tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers the children enjoyed with their meals. They loved eating the cherry tomatoes from the garden and tasting the strawberries freshly picked from the patch.
We still have our large sand area with a large standing box on the patio for inclement weather. There are two large mud tables with a large workstation and an added table with logs for chairs. Papa Craig built us a small table for the children to sit at and pretend to eat. We also have our sorting table with seeds, seashells, rocks, bug and animal print stones, and mini pinecones. The children love to play hide-and-seek, hiding in the hollow logs in the crawling and climbing area. The riding area has some new toddler bikes for the little ones. The older children do like to race each other in circles.
The messy material area has long logs that now define our area. We added some open-ended wooden animal figures for children to create different animals using twigs. There is some added wood with small logs and branches to build with. Papa Craig built new storage for our wood blocks, small bricks, small rocks, and bamboo blocks, which are now in our new building area on the patio, along with the large wood playhouse. We also have a mini wood kitchen on our patio beside the playhouse. The art area is still the same, with the large chalkboard, art easel, art table, and two large frames for display. Our dirt box is now raised so that children can stand around it.
Finally, one of the children’s favorite things to do in warmer weather is to play with the water pump and the table next to the pump in our water play area. They love to pump the water from the small pitchers to the bowls and add water in the mud table area when they “cook.” We spend as much time outdoors. The children are healthier and build strong immune systems and other skills, such as problem-solving, language, cognitive, and physical skills, that are needed for development.
