Age
⚙ 3 years and up
Time and Place
⚙ Any time of day
⚙A hot and sunny day
⚙ Outdoors
Materials
⚙Bucket and/or container
⚙Net
Safety
⚙ Supervise children at all times
⚙ Take extra precautions when playing with water
⚙ Protect children from sun exposure (e.g., hats, sunscreen)
⚙ Make sure children are dressed in appropriate attire (e.g., water shoes, bathing suits, and towel)
Instructions
Explore the creek and its surroundings. Provide children with opportunities to observe living and nonliving things in and around the creek. Encourage children to explore the water's temperature and movement (e.g., wading, splashing).
Questions You May Ask
Play-based Context
Children love to explore the natural world and they love playing with water on a hot summer day. As educators and children explored a creek, children asked questions about the living and nonliving things they observed. Children asked the educators to help them build a dam and watched how the water movement changed.
⚙ What do you think we will find in the creek?
⚙ What do you [see, hear, feel, smell]?
⚙ What can you use to catch [minnows, crayfish, other living organisms] in the creek?
⚙ What materials can you use to build a dam?
⚙ What happens to the water as you build the dam?
Related Children's Books
⚙Up the Creek by Nicholas Oldland
⚙Creekfinding: A True Story by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
⚙I am Sausal Creek by Melissa Reyes
