You don't need there to be any lesson in it at all. Natural items are wonderful for their open-endedness, for the sensory experience, and for connection to nature. Just fill a bowl with the pinecones and see what they do with them. They might sort them, arrange them by size, use them as trees with their block buildings, press them into playdough for prints, etc, etc, etc. If someone wants to know more about them, they'll ask, and you can have fun finding the answer together.

If you're really concerned about bugs, you can bake things in the oven on a low temp for a while; it'll kill anything off.

Smooth river stones, driftwood, shells, acorns, chestnuts...so many beautiful materials just waiting for the picking. Have fun with it!

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