When we think of a forest, we usually imagine a vast space, covered with trees, inhabited by various animals and birds. So we treat it as an ecosystem, an arrangement of living and non-living elements of the natural environment.
In this assignment, we will look at the forest in a slightly different way, framing its textures, that is, the characteristic surface features of the various elements of the forest.
Objective:
– To familiarize children with the elements of the forest.
– To draw children’s attention to the plastic variability of the forest.
Time: 30 min
MATERIALS
- Templates of animals. attachment 5.1
- A4 paper, suggested weight min. 160 gsm
- scissors
Course of the task
Animal list:
Following on the patterns in the attachment are:
- wild boar
- moose
- possum
- squirrel
- fox
- skunk
- deer
- mole
- bear
- hedgehog
- hare
- wolf
We can carry out the task during a walk or in the classroom. We print templates of forest animals, attachment 5.1. We spread the sheets in front of the children and ask them to try to name the animals they recognize. We hint that these are animals that live in forests. If necessary, we help them recognize what the pictures represent. When they succeed in naming the animals, we ask the children to point out two animals that do NOT inhabit our, i.e. Central European, forests (in the list of animals from the templates, these are the names marked in red). We put aside the templates of animals that do not live in Central European forests. Further play with the templates can be carried out in various ways, such as.
We hand out one pattern to each child. The first task of the children is to cut out the shaded area so that a so-called “window” is formed in the card, in the contours of the animal. Next, we ask each child to find in the space the color in which the assigned animal is found in nature, and put their card in that place so that this color is visible in the cut-out “window”. The end result of the exercise can be photographed.
Distribute one pattern to each child. The first task of the children is to cut out the shaded area so that a so-called “window” is formed in the card, in the outline of the animal. (Optionally, we can laminate the templates with the window already cut out.) Then, during the walk, the children, using the patterns, frame different planes and observe how the “appearance of their pets changes.” To preserve the results of the observation, we can photograph its effects. It is worth repeating the task in different seasons. In this way, children will learn to notice the plastic variability, of the spaces around them.
We distribute one stencil to each child. The first task of the children is to cut out the shaded area so that a so-called “window” is formed in the card, in the contours of the animal. When the children are older, have a broader knowledge of animals, numbers, we can ask them, for example, them to line up in a row, in order from the slowest to the fastest animal; that they try to frame, while walking, the food for their assigned animal; to “place” in a box, for example, five of the same elements of the forest, etc.
This post was created as part of a project co-financed by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt in cooperation with Naturschutzzentrum Oberlausitzer Bergland.
