Pine Needle Sweep
Outdoor
2.5–4 years
Learning with natural materials. Who doesn’t love the smell of nature? This activity develops hand-eye coordination and palmar and pincer grasp – prerequisites for drawing, writing, copying, and colouring.
Materials
- Cardboard box lid
- Pine needles
- Paintbrush
- Pens, pencils, or crayons (1 green, 1 brown)
- Scissors
- Zip-lock bag (to collect the pine needles)
- Coloured craft beads (optional)
Set-up
- Head outside to a local park or forest and collect some pine needles. Take a moment to explore the texture and smell of the pine needles as you place them in your bag.
- Draw the outline of a Christmas tree on the inside of a cardboard box lid. An old shoebox lid works great for this activity.
- Empty your pine needles into the box lid and sweep them to the outside border of the tree. Don’t add too many needles as it can be difficult to sweep all of them into the tree.
Time to sweep
- Use your brush to gently sweep all of the pine needles inside the tree.
- You can also decorate your Christmas tree with some colourful craft beads.
At Learning Jungle, we believe all children are capable, confident and full of potential. Co-learning empowers your child to take initiative. Encouraging child participation and engaging in open-ended, thought-provoking conversation throughout play is important for healthy child development.
Conversations with your child
- Where do you think we can find some pine needles?
- Put the pine needles in your bag
- Should we draw a small or large Christmas tree?
- Use your paintbrush to sweep the pine needles
- Try to sweep all the pine needles into your tree
- Would you like to decorate your Christmas tree?
We would love to meet you
We currently have 51 locations in 5 countries. Our child care facilities offer tours throughout the year.
We invite you to visit a location near you.