Desert Explorations in Preschool

As the temperatures plummet in these early days of February, students in Jane Lambrix’s and Lori Tanguay’s preschool classroom (the Forest Room) are thinking about hot sand, cacti, and the dry heat of the desert. Their most recent emergent curriculum was inspired by a morning meeting question. Every morning in the Forest Room, children and teachers discuss a ‘would you rather question’ and each child must select from two categories. During a January morning meeting, the question was ‘would you rather live at the North Pole or in the desert? After many children selected the desert, Jane and Lori remember, “throughout the day the children [started] asking more questions about the desert - they were intrigued.” Some wondered where the desert was and who lives there while others wondered about what kind of plants and animals you can find. Children realized they didn’t know a lot about the desert yet and wanted to learn more! During the month of January, Forest Room teachers have not only exposed children to a great deal of information about the desert; they have also discussed how to turn your wonder into knowledge. Lori and Jane add, “we didn’t just answer the questions they had…we wanted them to explore.”

After brainstorming many of the questions they have about the desert, classroom activities and provocations have helped children explore their curiosities. Some activities were hands-on art projects such as making desert habitats with mixed media materials and making desert animals out of clay. Others involved counting and numbers such as counting cucumbers and toothpicks to make their own cucumber cacti. Children were excited to welcome a parent visitor who taught them about plants and animals from the desert including the hissing cockroach and cactus which they got to pet! As they learn more about the desert, teachers have also observed children incorporating the desert animals they have learned about into their imaginative play on the playground and in the classroom. Books and reading have also answered some of the childrens’ questions while leading to even more curiosity and wonder. 

Jane and Lori hope that from learning about the desert and all of their emergent curriculum throughout the school year, children are inspired to follow their curiosities. During a classroom brainstorming session, teachers asked the children, ‘how can we learn more about the desert?’ Children shared all sorts of people and resources in their lives where they can learn more from teachers to parents to grandparents to books. We are excited to see where their curiosities lead them next!