Ages 3–5 · 8 little discoveries
Nature discoveries with Tosbi
Eight discoveries about living things, plants, weather, seasons and caring for nature.
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Living things around us
Distinguish clear living plant and animal examples from a rock or manufactured toy.
Tosbi sees a plant next to a rock. The plant is alive: it takes in water, grows and opens new leaves. The rock is not alive; it does not grow.
A bird is alive too. It eats, drinks, hatches from an egg and grows. A toy ball is made in a factory; it does not grow.
A ball rolls, but it is not alive. A tree never walks, but it is alive! Living things grow and feed.
The plant and the bird are alive. The rock and the ball are not. Now it is your turn!
Plant parts
Locate the roots, stem and leaf in a simplified whole-plant drawing.
This drawing shows the whole plant, even under the soil. The purple ring shows the roots. Roots hold the plant and take in water from the soil.
The part reaching up from the soil is the stem. The stem holds the plant up and carries water up.
The flat green part at the side is a leaf. Leaves use sunlight to make food for the plant.
Roots below, stem in the middle, leaf at the side. Look where the ring is!
From seed to young plant
Sequence a seed, emerging root and young plant in the shown growth model.
These pictures show the same bean. First a little seed. When the seed gets water in the soil, it sprouts.
The root grows down and the shoot grows up. Days later it becomes a seedling with leaves. Growing takes time!
Our order: seed, sprouting seed, seedling. It is all the same bean!
A huge oak tree starts from a small acorn too. The acorn becomes a sapling, and the sapling becomes a tree. That takes years!
Look before you water
Build an observe-then-ask plan rather than prescribe water from a plant picture.
Plants need water, but every plant is different. A cactus needs a little, a fern needs more. Tosbi does not know this plant yet.
First, look at the soil. Dry soil is light and dusty. Damp soil is darker.
Filling the pot to the top with water is not good for the plant. Too much water can rot the roots.
Tosbi’s plan: first look at the soil, then tell a grown-up.
What is the weather like?
Match sunshine, rain and clouds to explicitly described weather observations.
Weather is what it is like outside: sunny, rainy or windy? In this picture the sun is shining.
In this picture drops fall from a cloud: it is raining! If there are no drops, there are only clouds.
Wind is moving air. We cannot see it, but we can see leaves blowing.
Tosbi writes in a weather diary: sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon.
The seasons
Continue the named spring–summer–autumn–winter cycle from a given starting point.
A year has four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. After winter, spring comes again.
In spring flowers open. In summer it is hot. In autumn leaves fall. In winter it gets cold.
If we start at summer: summer, autumn, winter, spring. The order is always the same; it goes round like a circle.
Listen for the starting season, then put the cards in order.
Animal homes
Match animals to the particular habitat described in a fictional observation.
Every living thing has a home where it finds food, water and shelter. A bear sleeps in a cave. This frog lives at the edge of a pond.
The squirrel lives in the forest. It finds nuts and acorns in the trees and sleeps in a tree hole.
Many animals can live in one place. The bird lives in the forest too; it builds a nest on a branch.
The frog at the pond, the squirrel and the bird in the forest. Let’s put them in place!
Let’s care for nature
Pair leaving a plant undisturbed with asking an adult about litter in a fictional scene.
Tosbi sees a flower in the meadow. Tosbi does not pick it; if it stays, it keeps growing, and bees can visit it too.
There is litter in the meadow! Tosbi does not touch it; Tosbi tells a grown-up. Grown-ups pick it up with gloves.
Birds need their nests. If we watch from far away, the bird is not scared.
The plan: leave the flower, and tell a grown-up about the litter.