Nature Museum: Ideas for the cold nights

The colder months may make it more difficult to get outside for meaningful play each day. However there are ways to connect from within our own homes. Just like the squirrel collects its nuts, a child will collect little treasures on their adventures to be used on the home bound evening. This is when the benefits of having a nature museum to showcase found items really pays off. Spread out their rocks, sticks, leaves, pine cones, feathers, or perhaps skulls, organize, take stock, and encourage your child to interact with their treasures. Lay them out as a nature mandala, paint a few of the rocks or glue them together for a wall hanging, or simply hold them in your hands to remember the adventures where they were found. The interaction with their found objects helps sharpen the eye for future adventures and may encourage them to get outside in the cold to find more treasures.

Happy collecting!

Wall art with found pinecones

---

Small nature museum great for a 21 month old to dump and organize

Here are a few idea from our own home that we utilized this holiday break.

---

At first glance this may look like a pile of trash but it is actually a curated collection from the neighborhood for this fairy home.