Books
🌿🌻Snouts & Sniffers by Stan Tekiela
🌿🌻Floppers & Loppers by Stan Tekiela
🌿🌻Peepers & Peekers by Stan Tekiela
🌿🌻Paws & Claws by Stan Tekiela
🌿🌻Wee Gallery Touch and Feel: Tails by Surya Sajnani
🌿🌻Wee Gallery Touch and Feel: Wings by Surya Sajnani
🌿🌻Wee Gallery Touch and Feel: Scales by Surya Sajnani
🌻Yoga Bunny by Brian Russo
This cute little board book features simple illustrations and long sentences, guiding readers through the story of Bunny moving through his morning yoga poses and inviting his friends to take a break and join him. The text highlights the names of each pose that Bunny & his friends move into.
🌻Every Body: A First Conversation About Bodies by Megan Madison
This board book introduces concepts of body positivity, including the idea that every body is good and that bodies can be healthy at any size.
🌻This is Baby by Jimmy Fallon
One of my books naming body parts for babies, this book has star power behind it and is a popular book for the home. It has good rhythm and rhyme but the simple small illustrations used may make it difficult for toddlers to make out what body parts are indicated. I do change “the love you get from me” to “the love you get from Mommy” while I’m reading it at work.
🌿All of Me Is Nature by Ashley Renee Jefferson
This is a great add to any nature library. Each sense is described with photos and text over the course of several pages. The end of the book draws us back to the ways we are connected to the world around us, including the air we breathe.
I Can See by Julie Murray
I Can Hear by Julie Murray
I Can Smell by Julie Murray
I Can Touch by Julie Murray
I Can Taste by Julie Murray
Julie Murray has written many excellent nonfiction books for children featuring simple text and concepts with clear, high-contrast photos. Each of these books introduces the idea that there are five senses and then focuses in one of the senses. All of them are very accessible for a toddler audience.
The Human Body by Carron Brown
This Shine-a-Light book describes the inner workings of the human body, including growing babies, skeletons of bones, muscles that move them, skin that protect them, and air that nourishes them.
Getting Sick and Feeling Better by Carron Brown
This Shine-a-Light book describes how people become sick, how bodies fight diseases, and how to help keep bodies healthy.
Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberly
In this book, a monster is described and illustrated one feature at a time, page by page. When the monster is complete, the narrator dismisses the monster away again, feature by feature. While Emberly’s book is intended to empower children to brave their fears of monsters at bedtime, and I’ve used it to encourage children to speak up for themselves in the classroom, I’ve always found the book most suited to learning facial features.
Creative Art Opportunities
🤚Finger paint with sand
🤚Painting with cinnamon and other spices mixed in
🤚Painting with condiments from the fridge (eg. mustard)
🤚Collage with simple shapes
🤚Collage with facial features
🤚Mixing primary colors of paint
🤚Painting with liquid jello
🤚Collage with fuzzy yarn or eyelash yarn
Hands On Experiences
⛅️Smell things around the house, like the garbage, shoes, or a fruit bowl
⛅️Contrast dark and light, especially in photos
⛅️Taste lemons and/or apples at snack time
⛅️Carry heavy rocks from one bucket to another
🌿Rub fingers over large rocks found outdoors– are they rough or smooth?
🌿Gently rub the different sides of a leaf– feel the waxy surface and the bumpy veins underneath
🌿Listen for birds, wind, or moving water outdoors
🌿Sniff plants and ponds while on a walk
🌿Take off shoes and feel grass or sand under your feet
Songs to Learn and Sing
I have two eyes so I can see
And a nose to smell
I have ten fingers that can touch
They do it very well
I have two ears I so can hear
The birds up in the trees
I have a tongue inside my mouth
To taste the food I eat
“Open Shut Them” fingerplay
Open shut them
Open shut them
Give a little clap clap clap
Open shut them
Open shut then
Put them in your lap lap lap
Creep them creep them
Slowly creep them
Right up to your chin chin chin
Open wide your little mouth but…
Do not let them in!
Loud and (quiet)
Loud and (quiet)
LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD
(quiet–shh)
Loud and (quiet)
Loud and (quiet)
LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD
(quiet–shh)
“Icky Sticky Bubblegum”
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum (*clap hands back and forth*)
Bubblegum, bubblegum
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum
Stuck to my… nose! (*pinch nose*)
And I pulled…
And I pulled…
And I…. pulled! (*remove hands*)
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum (*clap hands back and forth*)
Bubblegum, bubblegum
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum
Stuck to my… ears (*cover ears*)
And I pulled…
And I pulled…
And I…. pulled! (*remove hands*)
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum (*clap hands back and forth*)
Bubblegum, bubblegum
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum
Stuck to my… eyes (*cover eyes*)
And I pulled…
And I pulled…
And I…. pulled! (*remove hands*)
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum (*clap hands back and forth*)
Bubblegum, bubblegum
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum
Stuck to my… mouth (*cover mouth*)
And I pulled…
And I pulled…
And I…. pulled! (*remove hands*)
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum (*clap hands back and forth*)
Bubblegum, bubblegum
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum
Stuck to my… fingers (*lock fingers together*)
And I pulled…
And I pulled…
And I…. pulled! (*release hands*)
“Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes
Knees and toes
Head, shoulders, knees, and toes
Knees and toes
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose
Head, shoulders knees and toes
Knees and toes
“Run Baby Run” – Caspar Babypants
Run, Baby, run
Run run run run ru-un
Run, Baby, Run
Run run run run ru-un
Run, Baby, Run
Run run run run run!
Run, Baby, Run
Run run run run run!
Jump, Baby, Jump
Jump jump jump jump ju-ump […]
Spin, Baby, Spin
Round and round and ro-ound […]
Sing, Baby, Sing
La la la la la-a
Clap, Baby, Clap
Clap clap clap clap cla-ap […]
Dance, Baby, Dance
Dance dance dance dance da-ance […]
And then you
Swing, Baby, Swing
Swing swing swing swing swi-ing […]
And then you
Run, Baby, Run
Run run run run ru-un […]
“Hokey Pokey”
NIYN – My Body & Senses on Spotify
All playlists are works in progress and are actively curated when I have a unit in play or preparation, so new songs may appear and old songs may be removed if they don’t suit my designs.
Nature In Your Nurture 