If you’ve been fortunate enough to visit The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, or driven by the Arboretum on Interstate 88, you may have spotted Joe the Guardian, a 20-foot-tall, spear-wielding troll peering down at the passing cars from atop his grassy berm. Joe is just one of six towering troll statues created by […]

  “LOOK!” screams a four-year-old with such joy that we know this isn’t a garden-variety “I want to share something with you” moment. As the gang rushes to her side, they come to a complete standstill, frozen in awe. Oh happy day! Some kind souls have shared a fort with the community! There before us […]

  “Look, look! Come and see what is inside this flower!”  It’s a warm, late-spring day and our friends are scattered around the yard, discovering the new surprises that have popped up overnight. The flowers are finally showing their beautiful blooms! “Is it a bumblebee?” I ask. They look at me—their eyes big with wonder. […]

“I found an empty nest! Can we keep it?” Owen’s joyful discovery captures everyone’s attention. Three-year-old Avery comes running. “Are there eggs?” she asks her older and wiser five-year-old friend. “Can I see?” she begs. “Please let me see?” “There are no eggs, just an old nest. Can we please keep it?” pleads Owen. After […]

  “It works! The water is coming out!” Rokia cannot contain her excitement as the discovery of a full rain barrel adds a new avenue of discovery and learning for our week. “How did you do that? Can I have a turn? Get a bucket!” The excitement builds as so many little brains begin to […]

“I see the daddy cardinal, do you know where the mama bird is?” Four-year-old Noah, binoculars in hand, is busy counting birds in our outdoor classroom. Are you aware that the annual Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up later this week? This is a great opportunity to create a bird-watching station and knock out […]

  “AAAAUUUUGHHHHHHH! Worms! Look, look! They are everywhere!” Eleanor is jumping up and down hysterically. Nothing will bring our crew running faster than a good worm sighting! Let the earthworm exploration begin. We love worms! Last spring, we witnessed an unusual natural phenomenon as a mass of earthworms wiggled out of their subterranean homes in […]

  “Evie, come look! I’m a superhero! I have superpowers!” calls Jamie from the foyer. Curiosity piqued, Evie leaves her blocks behind to see what her best friend is up to now. “Rainbows!!!” Evie shrieks as she spies the colorful light pattern on Jamie’s wrist. Everyone within earshot dashes over to see the rainbows. And, […]

“Hey everybody! Look at all of the tomatoes that are ripe today!” shouts Jacob to the gang. “Can we eat them for lunch? Can we?” asks Lucus. “Can we eat them now?” pleads Elizabeth. It’s early September and preschoolers around the country are learning about apples, but we have tomatoes at our fingertips. The same […]

“LOOK! We have icicles!” “Can I have one?  I need one!” On this brisk winter morning—much to the children’s delight—nature has given us the gift of icicles. The children’s fascination with these frozen treasures leads to an abundance of “teachable moments” as we engage in some STEM learning while getting some fresh air and exercise. Soon […]

“It’s a murmuration! Hurry everybody, come look!”  Five-year-old Elizabeth is jumping up and down, joyfully shouting for her friends to share in the delight of her discovery. Have you ever seen a “murmuration” of birds? It is such a magical and mesmerizing sight that it will stay in your memory bank forever. “Starling murmurations” are […]

  “Did the lettuce sprout today?” asks Jamie as he enters the classroom, heading over to our classroom “scrap garden” to see for himself without stopping to take off his coat. “It has!” squeals Evelyn, her eyes wide with excitement. “You won’t believe how high it has grown!” Our investigation into scrap gardening has clearly […]

  Last month, the Early Science Matters team presented at the Midwest Early Childhood Educators Symposium. Sponsored by the Northern Illinois Nature Preschool Association, the symposium took place at a particularly inspiring site for nature lovers: the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. Surrounded by nature and in the company of a truly amazing audience of […]

“Get him, Avery! Get him!” Auuughhhhh!  “Did you get him?” “He’s over there, Rowan, get him!” The children’s search is punctuated by high-pitched screams. Is it a snake? A grasshopper?  What garden creature could be causing such a stir on a lazy Monday afternoon? “I got him!” Rowan declares as she cradles a garden toad […]

  “Look what I found!” yells Peter. “Rowan! Come quick! I think it’s a praying mantis!” “Wow! It’s so big!” says Parker. “That can’t be a praying mantis, can it? Is it a grasshopper?” Five-year-old Rowan comes running. Our class science expert and budding entomologist, Rowan really knows her insects. She’s the first person we […]

“Hey! How did you make that sound?” Elizabeth comes running over to see what four-year-old Vera is up to. “I’m popping the flowers!” Vera replies. “It’s so fun!” Popping hosta flowers or opening the jaw of a snapdragon flower is a skill that has been passed down from child to child for decades in our […]

  “I found a buckeye!” exclaims Eli with delight. “They are finally falling!” Sure enough, after weeks of waiting for the buckeyes to fall, last night’s rain and wind has shaken some loose from the tree in our outdoor play area. We love buckeyes, which are dark brown nuts with a light patch resembling the […]

“Look at all of the helicopters! It’s like they are raining down on us,” exclaims four-year-old Hope. “Let’s catch them!”  Whether you call them whirlybirds, twisters, whirligigs, or propellers, they have been swirling everywhere in our neighborhood this month. These helicopter seeds from the giant maple tree next door are named for their amazing aerodynamic design, […]

“Did you hear that? shouts Arden, our resident naturalist. “I just heard an owl, and it’s not even bedtime!” he reports, his eyes as big as saucers. “He must be really hungry to be hunting this early in the day.”  “Are you sure it wasn’t our mourning doves?’ I ask. The mourning doves nest in […]