A Lesson Plan for Preschoolers: Same and Different in Nature

Download the free lesson plan here.

This lesson plan for preschoolers is great for winter days when you’d like to take a walk outside, but since it’s the middle of winter, there’s not much happening. When the leaves are gone, many surprises lurk underneath—nests of all different animals! Those bare branches are perfect for viewing various animal nests.

With an indoor sorting activity, book read, and outdoor walk, this lesson plan is great for remembering the wonders of nature even if it’s been cold for way too long.

The story time book is No Two Alike by Keith Baker (Beach Lane Books, 2011), a sweet, cheery winter book that explores the concept that things can be the same but also different. If your kids are really into animal homes, I also recommend some great connecting texts below where you can branch out (pun intended) into more animal home books.

Preschoolers will love this winter themed book with cheery text and pictures to notice lots of interesting details.

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We start with a sorting activity. Collect anything you want from outside—rocks, sticks, fallen leaves, any natural material you can find a lot of will work. Have the kids sort materials into groups that are the same (all gray rocks or all white rocks or all bumpy rocks, etc.). Then ask are they really completely the same? Or are some big and some small? Some a bit darker or a bit lighter?

Winter is a perfect time to see what animals make nests in trees. Here’s a squirrel nest!

Nature Objects

Pinecones, rocks, sticks, leaves—any item you can find outside will engage kids’ senses.

After they’ve sorted their materials, gather kids for the reading. Say that this book is about things that are the same in nature. But look carefully, because even when things are the same, they can also be different.

When the book is over, ask what were some things that were the same? How were they different? (You can look back through the pages to show students’ examples.) Next, ask what kind of animal homes did we see?

Now explain that you’re going to take a walk outside and look for nests in the trees—bird, squirrel and wasp nests. In the PDF available for free download below, I have some very handy nest picture pages with images and tips for telling the differences between the types of nests.

Download the free PDF of the lesson plan here.

As you walk, kids can make tally marks on a clipboard for what kind or how many nests you see. It helps to do some spotting beforehand to find a good path. Happy nest hunting!

Here’s also those awesome connecting books I recommend:

Fun books to learn more about nests and animal homes for preschoolers:

Nesting by Henry Cole

Home by Isabelle Simler, translated by Vineet Lal

Have you Heard the Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray and Kenard Oak