Child in the countryside with grandparents.
It is extremely important, so that these first contacts of a child with nature in his life will provide him with pleasant ones, pleasant, joyful impressions. Your child will never have such an experience, scared of a horse or a dog, lizard escaping from under its feet, attacked by a turkey or a goose or stung painfully by a bee or wasp. Fear, strong fear, which a child will experience during the first contact with nature, can leave a negative impact, persisting for many years, sometimes even for a lifetime. There are people, who cannot overcome their unreasonable fear of a lizard or a frog, mouse, a cat, some insects. Its source is usually some unpleasant experiences from childhood. This fear attitude is difficult to get rid of later, even if you realize its root cause.
The preschooler will not only be happy to look at domestic animals, will also interest him, how they are cared for, harsh. It will delight, above all, young people: piglets, ducklings, chickens, calf or lamb. And with the zeal typical of this age, he will want to help adults in their work with the inventory. If he's allowed to, will be happy to sprinkle grain to the hens, feed the chickens, goslings, small turkeys. Although this "help” can be a bit tricky for adults, but that's the only way a child gains experience. It becomes wiser and more mature. I feel needed and important.
Unfortunately, it's happening more and more often, that when "city" grandchildren come to the countryside to visit their grandparents, they are accepted in guest rooms. They are not shown farm work, does not encourage help, it does not lead to an orchard or vegetable garden, he does not get acquainted with all the peculiarities of country life, so interesting to the little townspeople.
Baby yes, like in a neighborhood playground, playing ball in the country yard, rides a scooter or bicycle. He doesn't even suspect, that a few steps away waiting for it, to discover it, full of charm and astonishing secrets of the natural world.
Grandparents, deeply convinced of the great attractiveness of urban life, they think, that everything is normal in their village, there is nothing peculiar about the nature they know well. They are proud, when they can receive their children and grandchildren in modern rooms, which they rarely use. Again, parents do, that knowledge about the natural world will somehow reach their children on its own and they do not feel the need, to bring them closer. And as a result, our preschoolers have a lot of knowledge in the field of technology. They recognize flawlessly not only car brands, but also their types, they can talk about their advantages and disadvantages in a surprisingly mature way, but their knowledge of the natural world is exceedingly poor. Often, even a primary school student cannot tell the difference between rye and wheat, barley from oats. It does not recognize tree species even in summer, when there are leaves.
Meanwhile, a preschooler can and should be taught, how to distinguish grains. Show, how radish grows, like lettuce, how to recognize carrots, buyer, parsley, notice how beautifully the cabbage begins to curl up into heads, how deep in huge, cauliflower is hidden in long leaves, how cucumbers grow in the field, how carefully you have to support each tomato plant with a stake. This will interest the child more than the most interesting fairy tale. It is worth showing him the orchard blooming in spring, followed by small fruit buds, encourage you to watch the already maturing ones. And also pay attention to the beauty of plants as early as possible, flowers, bushes, trees, landscape. Teach to distinguish the most characteristic sounds of nature: the cuckoo's call, stork clatter, woodpecker tapping, unpleasant croaking of a magpie, croaking of frogs and many more, many others. How interesting are the stories about the habits of domestic animals and those living wild in our forests. After all, a preschooler is interested in everything. He still can't pass by the new ones indifferently, unknown things and phenomena. He wants to learn as much as possible about the world. And the first information about him, reliable, real, presented in an understandable way, – his parents provide him. Already at this age, the image of the world is being formed. Later, the child refills it with new ones, more and more accurate information. The richer and fuller picture will be from childhood, the better it will later be to understand how the world works.
Staying in the countryside also enriches and develops the fun of a preschooler. Among the themed games, there is a new and important one - the farm, stocktaking. The child will use all the information in it, that he managed to gather about the new environment.