Craft projects help a preschooler or kindergartener adjust to the learning routines of school. One easy and educational project is the nature poster. By gathering leaves and plants on a walk and arranging them on a sheet of poster paper, a youngster can be exposed to the basic ideas of science and learn how to become artistic.

Gathering the Pieces

A walk around the neighborhood with no appointments to rush to or errands to accomplish is a great way to connect with your child. Looking for bits of plant life for a nature poster is an opportunity for conversation. It’s an opportunity for you to see the world with the fresh eyes of your child, too.

You can share the memories you have of walks with your own parents, experiences you had at the age of your child, and the books or schoolroom encounters that taught you about the things you are now seeing together. Your child will have the chance to wonder about the world and ask questions that you may not be able to answer. You can always promise a trip online or to the library for a lesson in research to find the answers.

Putting Them Together

Assemble the collected nature objects, some poster paper, markers or crayons, and glue. You can also have some construction paper, string or ribbon, pictures from the internet or magazines and any other embellishments to accent your nature poster.

Help your child find the arrangement he or she likes before sticking things onto the poster board. This is an opportunity to explain the purpose of planning and trying things out. Find out what words your child wants to use to label the objects and help print them out.

Once everything is stuck on really well, hang up the nature poster. From time to time, talk about it with your child. Encourage him or her to read some of the words and recall the collection of exhibits and creation of the nature poster. Refer to it when you go on errands and see new things.

Promise to repeat the experience as the seasons change. A new nature poster for fall, summer and spring will help your child learn about growing cycles and the passage of time. The best lesson of a nature poster is that answers come from parents.

Remember to add to your nature poster the date of your walk, where you went, and whether others came with you. If something happened that you or your child will want to remember happened on the walk, add that story too.Looking at the picture in years to come will jog many happy memories.

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