Decorate the classroom. Use construction paper to make trees, bushes and animals to decorate the room. Cover part of a wall with butcher paper and let children paint trees. Extend the tree tops across the ceiling and use silk greenery and flowers to make it look realistic. Set up a dark tent with a star machine inside so students can lay down and look at the night sky.
Fill a sensory table with items from the outdoors. Bring in pine cones, needles, leaves, pieces of bark, feathers from a bird or anything else that has an interesting texture. Children can observe and feel the objects as they learn more about them.
Find some classroom creatures to observe. Science supply companies can provide kits that allow children to watch and learn about life cycles firsthand. Observe a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, or a tadpole morph into a frog. Ant farms or meal worms are interesting to observe as well.
Incorporate nature into the reading corner. Many preschool books expound on the nature theme. PreKinders suggests reading books at storytime that have to do with animals children would see around their home, such as squirrels, owls, rabbits or birds. Some children may be interested in bears, deer or raccoons. Read books about trees, leaves, the forest and stars to the children, and make the books available for children to look at in their free time.
Go for a nature hike or have an outdoor scavenger hunt. Preschool Rainbow suggests giving each child a paper bag so they can collect leaves, grass, flowers, bark, nuts or rocks while out on a walk. Allow students to come back to the classroom and glue them on a piece of paper to create a nature collage.
Use leaves to teach math and other concepts. Children can sort leaves from smallest to biggest, classify them in groups according to shape or color and make simple patterns with them. When finished, children can glue the leaves on a picture frame or on a paper plate with the inner circle removed to create a wreath.