- gardening hat
- gardening aprons
- remnant of
- green turf-like carpet from a carpet store
- play lawn mowers
- gardening
- gloves
- watering cans
- wheelbarrows
- pieces of hose (about 3-4ft. lengths) with handled spray nossles attached with duct tape
- plastic flower pots
- plastic flowers
- pails
- toy rake, shovel and hoe
- gardening tools (hand held trowel, shovel, rake)
- cornstarch-type "peanut" type bits (to be leaves which need raking
- soil to put in pots
- dirt to be dug in
- Baking cups
- Popsicle stick or pipe cleaner
- Egg carton
- Pipe cleaners
- Paper leaves
- Tempera paint
- toilet paper roll
- hole puncher
- 4 in. X 4 in. piece of paper
- elastic band
- colored paper for flower and leaves.
- toilet paper
- paper towels
- paint
- paper
- paint brush
- Laundry Detergent Scoop
- Milk Jug Lids
- Potting soil
- Grass seeds
- Yellow Crepe Paper
- Yellow Cupcake holders
- green pipe cleaners
- Popcorn (popped)
- Plastic baggies
- Powdered tempera
- green construction paper
- tagboard
- child sized watering cans and pails in water
- mud/dirt
- wet sand and sand molds
- Plastic plants & flowers
- Blue posterboard
- black felt pens
- colored construction paper
- tape
- scissors
- Clear Plastic Cup
- Black construction Paper
- Paper Towels
- Bean seeds
- Potato
- Misc. craft Supplies
- Potting Soil
- Grass Seed
- Paper Cupcake Liners
- Glue
- Markers, Crayons, or Paint
- Perfume
- Egg carton
- marigold seeds
- 12 half eggshells
- teaspoon
- potting soil
- water
Spring plants & flowers
*Turn the dramatic play area into a greenhouse with a Lawn/Garden Service Materials to have on hand:
*Make a feely box with parts of a tree inside, bark, seeds, flowers, stems. etc.
Daffodils
Give the children yellow and white paper baking cups. Have them each flatten one of the cups and spread glue on the center portion. Then have them each place a second cup upright on top of the glue to make a daffodil. If desired, let the children attach Popsicle sticks or pipe cleaners for stems.
Egg Cup Bluebells
Cut the egg cups out of cardboard egg cartons. Then cut the cups into bluebell shapes and let the children paint them blue. When the paint has dried, make stems by inserting the ends of green pipe cleaners through the bottoms of the bluebells, then bending the pipe cleaners into cane shapes. Let the children poke holes in the ends of precut green construction paper leaves and thread them on their bluebell stems.
Kazoo flower
Punch hole into toilet paper roll about an inch in. Use the piece of paper and attach it to the toilet paper roll using the elastic band. (This must be done on the side that has the hole.) Attach a colorful fringe for the petals and green leaves for decoration.
Raised Flower Painting
After painting a picture of a flower pot and leaves have the children roll a piece of toilet paper (or paper towel) up in a spiral (snail shape) and dip it into the paint. Apply the toilet paper to the paper in a spiral motion. Glue may be needed to keep the paper in place after it dries.
Wheelbarrow Pot
Take the plastic scoop from laundry detergent (wash it ) and glue on each side towards the handle the plastic lid off a gallon milk jug. It makes a little wheel barrow. . Next add potting soil and let the kids plant seeds in it. Plant either grass seeds or beans because they grow so fast.
Daffodils (2)
Roll up a little ball on one end of the pipe cleaner so that when you stick it through the flower it won't just fall out. First cut the shape of the "back" of the daffodil...or approximately anyway. Put a small hole in the center for the pipe cleaner. Cut the cupcake paper in half. Roll it till you can glue the pleated edges together...making the part of the flower that sticks out in front (we called it the "trumpet").Make a hole (or sort of open the one that's there) and put the pipe cleaner through both parts of the flower; glue the "trumpet" onto the back of the flower. Also add a little edge of orange with markers to make them look like the variations of daffodils.
Popcorn Flowers
Pop popcorn reserving some to eat after craft is finished!! Put handfuls of popcorn in plastic baggies and add powdered tempura paint to each one. Shake well to distribute paint all over the popcorn Cut stems and leaves out of green construction paper and glue them to tagboard. Glue on the colored popcorn to make spring flowers.
(For this poem/song I made a book. Each page has a flower the color which we are singing about. I turn the pages as we sing. It helps the children remember the song and it's also a great way to review color recognition...often times we'll sing the song and then I'll hide the book and challenge the children to remember which color flower comes next.)
Springtime flowers are Yellow
Springtime flowers are blue
Springtime flowers are red and green and Purple too
Springtime flowers are orange
Springtime flowers are blue
Springtime flowers are pretty and they're all for you! (they point to a
friend)
A Song of Springtime (Tune: "Did You Ever See a Lassie")
Come sing a song of springtime,
Of springtime, of springtime.
Come sing a song of springtime,
The warm days are here.
With warm breezes blowing
And flowers all growing
Come sing a song of springtime
The warm days are here.
written by Teresa Thomassen
Sensory Table
Title: Spring
Tulips yellow
Tulips red
Standing tall
In their garden bed!
Title: Spring Flowers
Trace around 1 hand on yellow paper
Trace around 1 hand on red paper
Cut them out
Cut out one of each a long & short stem out of green paper
Cut out four leaves out of green paper
Glue the cut out hands on the stems on brown paper, add leaves
Have each child make a tulip. Glue a cut-out of a tulip on the top of a tongue depressor. Cut a slit in the bottom of a styrofoam cup. The slit should be large enough for the tongue depressor to go through. Pull the tongue depressor down far enough so you cannot see the flower in the pot. Talk about how the flowers need sun and water to grow. As you talk about the thing that plants need, slowly push the tongue depressor up and tulip will be growing.
Seeds
Some seeds fall
And some seeds float
Some seeds ride
On a kitten's coat.
Some are large
And some are small
Some you can scarcely
See at all.
Some are round
And some are flat
Some have stickers
And things like that.
And something else
That's nice to know -
When you plant a seed,
It starts to grow.
It might be a flower
It might be a weed
But something grows
From most every seed.
Plant a flower day
*If you have a 'brown thumb' try Paperwhites. They grown quickly (fast enough for a toddler's attention span) and they can be planted in a bowl in rocks (less mess) indoors (if it is cold in your area or you do not have a garden area).
*Song: "I'm a Little Flower Pot" (sung to tune of I'm a Little Teapot)
I'm a little flower pot mom put out (point to self)
If you take care of me, I will sprout. (nod head, point to self)
When you water me, I will grow (make sprinkling motions w/ right
hand)
Into a pretty flower, don't you know! (raise left hand slowly up from
floor, make wide circle with hands or arms)
*Make a Seed Plaque:
collect a wide variety of seeds, dried weeds, leaves, branches, acorns, buds, nuts, etc. Have kids arrange and glue what they chose to a section of chipboard or plywood (or some other sturdy background such as heavy cardboard). Can be coated with a clear varnish. Attach a hanger to the back for displaying.
Flower Garden
sung to the tune of "Farmer in the Dell"
The farmer plants the seeds,
The farmer plants the seeds,
Hi Ho Cherry-O
The farmer plants the seeds.
The rain begins to fall.....
The sun begins to shine....
The plants begins to grow....
The buds all open up.....
The flowers smile at me.....
* I'll Plant a Little Seed
sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot"
I'll plant a little seed in the dark, dark, ground,
Out comes the yellow sun, big and round,
Down comes the rain, soft and slow,
Up comes the little seed, grow, grow, grow!
The cups of the tulip are yellow and pink.
They hold dew and honey for fairies to drink.
If I get up early and dress in a wink,
Will I see a fairy now what do you think?
Yellow yellow daffodil, dancing in the sun..
oh yellow , yellow daffodil, you tell me spring has come.
I can hear a blue bird sing, and hear a robin call.
but yellow yellow daffodil I love you most of all.
FLOWER PETAL GAME MATERIALS
Draw a large flower head on a blue posterboard. Cut out petals from colored construction paper. Print a flower question on the back of each petal and tape them around the flower head.
*Suggested flower petal questions are listed below.
What color would you be?
- What kind of insect would you like to attract?
What would you smell like--chocolate, perfume, or french fries?
How tall would you be? If someone picked you, what would you say
to them? If someone picked you, where would you like to go-in a
vase, in someone's hair, or in a fish tank? Where would you like
to grow-in a garden, on a mountain, or at the bottom of the ocean?
What would you be afraid of-someone stepping on you, a lawn mower,
or a rabbit nibbling on your petals? What kind of flower would you
be? If someone in the Learning Circle could pick you and take you
home, who would it be?
*LEARNING CIRCLE ACTIVITY
Tell the children to imagine that they are flowers. Each child, in turn, chooses a petal and answers the flower petal question.The children can take their petals home and share the question with their families.
Weave a basket
required: plant stalks
You will need to find long, blade-like leaves---Day Lilies work well. Collect five leaves, on longer than the rest. Lay out the leaves on the ground or a table so the longest is in the middle and centered with respect to the rest...First weave the bottom by overlapping five more leaves...you should have loose ends on all four edges. Fold the loose ends up to make the four sides. Then take another leaf and wave it in and out of the loose pieces to join them together. Add four more rows of leaves.....(same way)...and you'll have four complete sides. At the top row, bend the ends over and tuck them in between the woven sides (trim if necessary). For a handle, take the long leaf in the middle and weave the ends back down to make a double handle. The basket won't be strong enough to carry a picnic lunch. But it will look pretty filled with dandelions and buttercups!
Seed Viewers
Supplies:
Potato Planters
Supplies:
Flower shapes (5 identical pairs of colours) Cut ten identical flower shapes from construction paper and group them in pairs. Glue a different kind of fabric to each pair of flowers. Mix up the flowers and let the children take turns finding the matching pairs.
Variation:
Cut pairs of identical flower shapes from five different colours of
construction paper. Let the children take turns finding the flowers with
matching colours. For older children instead of matching colours they can
match number with dots.
In Our Springtime Garden
Sung to 'The Mulberry Bush'
What a lovely time of year,
Time of year, time of year.
What a lovely time of year
In our springtime garden.
See the flowers swing and sway,
Swing and sway, swing and sway.
See the flowers swing and sway
In our springtime garden.
Smelly Flowers
Visors
Make "Spring Visors" using construction paper cut-outs of 2 inch flowers and small butterflies. Buy a child's plastic sun visor, usually you find them on sale for 3/$1.00 at craft stores. Free-hand flowers and butterflies, cut out flowers or let child do it own his/her own. Use ordinary white glue to attach cut-outs to visor.
Flower paint brushes
Flowers, Tempera paint, Paper Give each child some flower blossoms and a piece of white paper. Set out small dishes of tempera paint. Let the children use their flowers as paint brushes to dab the paint on their papers.
This is the Way we Rake the Garden
(to the tune of Here we go Round the Mulberry Bush)
This is the way we rake the garden,
Rake the garden, rake the garden.
This is the way we rake the garden
So early in the morning!
Other verses:
This is the way we plant the seeds...
This is the way the rain comes down...
This is the way we pull the weeds...
This is the way we pick the flowers...
etc.
Egg Carton Nursery
Materials:
Let your children fill an egg carton with empty halves of egg shells. Have them fill each shell with potting soil and carefully plant one or two marigold seeds in each shell. Water each shell with a teaspoon of water. Seeds will sprout more quickly if the lid of the egg carton is kept closed so that the seeds will stay warm. When the seeds sprout, have the children replant the seedlings outside, crushing each shell as they place it into the ground.