Read on for our Early Years Foundation Stage lesson plan, Summer of Colours. In this outdoor learning lesson plan, we look at the different colours children can spot in nature and talk about how colours in nature change with seasons.

In this Summer of Colours activity, children will have the opportunity to look around them and spot different colours. They will then gather items from nature to represent the different colours they spotted and will prepare their own special window of summer. They can keep it and always look through their window to see a little piece of summer. Download our EYFS Literacy - Summer of Colours worksheet here

EYFS Literacy - Summer of Colours

Learning Objective

Writing: children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. 

Resources

Sticky plastic sheets cut in to small squares. Top tip – self making ID cards work well here! A pre prepared example of a petal window – with tiny scraps of petals, grasses and leaves on. Access to flowers, grass, leaves, sticks, natural materials. A3 Clipboards Pencils Paper with pre-prepared heading on – “Look! In summer I see...”

Introduction

Take the children on a small walk in the school grounds, asking them to look for different colours. Encourage them to look at large skies and clouds, trees, and the smaller flowers and leaves on the grass. See how many different colours they can spot in nature! Sit together in a circle and ask the children to point to something green, then yellow, brown, white, any colours you may see. Discuss together how the colours you can see might change in wintertime, spring or autumn. Tell the children they will be making their own special window of summer – they can keep it and always look through it to see a tiny piece of summer. 

Activity

Always Summer

Give each child the sticky backed plastic. Show the children the prepared example of the window of summer you've prepared. Allow 5 minutes for the children to gather petals, grass, leaves, anything that reminds them of summer. Ask them to find and stick on their window as many tiny pieces of petals, grass, leaves and anything else, as they can find. Encourage them to find as many different colours as they can to decorate their window of summer with. When they return, gather the children in two groups and sitting in a circle. Have a supporting adult with each group, and give each child a small clipboard, with the pre-prepared paper and a pencil. Taking turns, ask them to look through their window of summer and ask them to name something they can see about summer using the words – Look! In summer I can see... Support them and help the children to write the word down. 

Extension

Still in their groups and in a circle, ask children to share in turn which item on their Window of Summer is their favourite and why.

Muddy Academy

For great outdoor learning plans and resources, join our Muddy Academy. Every month our members receive the following: - 4 outdoor learning lesson plans per month in line with key Ofsted objectives for Early Years, KS1 and KS2 - new activity sheets every month to download and print for the class - 6 sets of 35 stickers to reward pupils for outdoor learning - 4 seasonally themed classroom certificates - access to discounts from a large range of Outdoor Learning partners - discounts on all Muddy Puddles purchases for schools or parents - 1 free raffle prize per year for a school or nursery fundraising event Find out more.