Small Wonders Curriculum

The VINS Small Wonders curriculum helps to inspire in young children a lifelong curiosity in the beauty, biological wonders and amazing adaptations of the natural world. The curriculum:

• Is developmentally appropriate

• Helps children develop school readiness skills

• Utilizes a variety of learning strategies: imagination, cooperative work, individual work, open-ended activities and experimentation

• Utilizes indoor and outdoor activities, crafts, songs, fingerplays and even snack ideas that focus on habitat, adaptations, seasonal changes, life cycles, and human interactions with the natural world.

• Contains hundreds of thematic hands-on nature activities that enhance learning and play

• Contributes to life-long attitudes toward the natural world and scientific discovery

• Includes hundreds of child-friendly yet scientifically accurate illustrations, used as puppets, art stencils, scavenger hunts, etc.

• Meets dozens of state and national early childhood education standards

Activities from teh Small WOnders Curriculum book are arranged in three themes and eight natural history topics. Themes and a sample of topical units include: Growth and Change: The Year of a Tree, From Rocks to Soil, Butterflies; Animal Homes: The Snow's my Home, Owls, and Bees in their Hives; and Connections to Nature: Food for All, Circle of the Sun and Animal Tracks

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(Inquiries can be directed to education@vinsweb.org.)