Messy Kids: flowers

Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Spring Play Dough: An Invitation to Play

*This post contains affiliate links

Play dough is a staple amongst ECE educators. It's a great tool for imaginary play, exploration, and helps to build-up the fine motor skills needed for writing. It's also cheap to make. I often use this no cook recipe from The Imagination Tree. It's what I used in the picture below. I added yellow food coloring and green glitter to make it "springy."

The dollar store is a handy resource for cheap exploratory supplies. If you are like me, and don't go often, Amazon is fantastic too (not to mention it'll be delivered right to your doorstep). When I go to the dollar store, it takes me forever because I'm hunting for anything I can use for art and sensory activities. It's amazing what you can find, especially amongst the seasonal items. And the containers! So many cute ways to present invitations to play/explore as well as for storing said objects.

For this particular invite, I set out the homemade play dough, sparkly Mini Styrofoam Eggs, silk flowers, and plastic butterflies. The other play dough tools are all on a low shelf for easy access.

This particular spring themed invitation allows a child to explore concepts of spring: plants/gardening, new life, insects (life cycle), and Easter (if one chooses). This activity allows for independent play and free exploration of materials.

You may be asking, "what is an invitation to play?" and that would be a great question. For an awesome tutorial, check out Creating the Invitation to Play on Teach Preschool and Creating Invitations to Play! on The Imagination Tree.

If you wish to expand this activity through reading, you might try:

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Color Dripping: Spring Flowers

*This post contains affiliate links

Recently I purchased some Pipettes because my 4 year old likes to play in water. I figured, amongst many other things, she could use them for water transfer and creating "potions" outside. I also know they are great for various art projects and color blending. While browsing Facebook I came across a beautiful spring art experiment from Fun-a-Day that inspired me to decorate for spring. So I set to work, which included creating some liquid watercolors.

While I prefer how vibrant purchased Liquid Watercolors can be, I didn't have any on hand. But I did have a bag full of dried markers I'd been collecting. You can repurpose these old markers by placing their tips in water and allowing them to soak for several hours, or overnight. Then you can store the created watercolors in small plastic containers.

After creating the watercolors, I cut some coffee filters into flower shapes. The nice thing about coffee filters is they are thin, so you can cut a number of them at once. When all was ready, I set out the flowers, watercolors, and pipettes (one for each color) for my preschooler to play with. I used a plastic box lid to contain the mess as best as possible. A tray or cookie sheet could also work. Some kids like to really soak their art work, so keeping it from running all over the place is important for your own sanity.

Pipettes are a great tool for developing fine motor skills. Toddlers may find squeezing and transferring the liquid difficult. If this is the case, give them a paint brush. It'll still create a lovely work of art.

There are several ways you can take this activity. If you want to teach simple color blending, try using only two colors at a time:

yellow+red= orange
blue+yellow=green
red+blue= purple

If you want to move beyond the basics, try multiple colors. Some truly beautiful flowers can be created this way. I explained to my daughter that it's best to mix the colors on the paper, rather then in the containers because otherwise you'll end up with all brown. Of course, if your child is like mine, they will still test this theory. I found if you use an ice tray for your colors, rather then giving them the storage containers, you'll waste less, and it can be easily dumped and replenished.

As much as possible, stand back and allow your child to explore the activity. It's OK to ask them questions about the colors they are blending but otherwise let them create. Some may chose to not blend the colors. That's OK too. Sometimes the process is more important then the product.

With Easter around the corner, we also painted some coffee filter Easter eggs. Once all the flowers and eggs were dry, we hung them in the windows to catch the light and enjoy.

Here's a list of what you'll need:

pipettes or droppers (paint brush for toddlers)
coffee filters
liquid water colors
Scissors (for cutting flower/egg shapes)

Have you used pipettes for color blending before? Let me know how you did and what you think of this activity.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Magic and Fairies on It's Playtime!

Finally, a moment to write! My 8 month old has decided to take naps. Yup, 8 months later she is sleeping. Maybe I'll get more done now....ha! Who am I kidding? But here I am now, ready to write with plenty of It's Playtime activities to share.

Kids love to pick flowers. Why not put those petals to use and create some Fairy Soup? The Happy Hooligans share this magical and simple idea.

JDaniel4's Mom created some magic in their yard by Building a Gnome Home. Think those gnomes might like some fairy soup?

We've created Fairy Gardens before but how about a Toyrarium? Inspiration Laboratories shared this gardening idea which promotes play and imagination alongside nature.

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

These activities plus more can be found over on the It's Playtime Pinterest Board. Happy Pinning!

Now, on to this weeks play date!

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)

* Rachel & Holly : Quirky Momma

* Jillian: A Mom With a Lesson Plan

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.

* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.

By linking up you give us permission to grab a picture and feature you here, on a site we write for, on FB or Pinterest. If we share your link, we will always credit you, send people to your original post and use only ONE photo.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Flower Power on It's Playtime

Flowers, flowers everywhere! Here are some great posts from last weeks It's Playtime link party.

Join Craft to Art and the 100 Days of Play challenge with this wonderful recycle post featuring a Magnetic Bottle Caps flower game plus several other creative play ideas.

The Pleasantest Thing shared their Sensory Spring Water Table and dandelion boats. A great activity for those warm spring and summer days!

Also check out:

Preschool Botany Lesson Pt. 1 from Gift of Curiosity
Pipe Cleaner/Fuzzy Stick Flowers from Craft to Art
A Flower & Butterfly....Handprint Style From Wine to Whine
Make a Flower Chain Crown from Fireflies and Mud Pies

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

These activities plus more can be found over on the It's Playtime Pinterest Board. Happy Pinning!

Now, on to this weeks play date!
It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)
* Rachel & Holly : Quirky Momma
* Jillian: A Mom With a Lesson Plan

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.

* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Playing with Nature on It's Playtime

Although the weather has been wacky EVERYWHERE, for most it's a great time of year to get outside and explore nature. This week on It's Playtime I'm featuring two ways to include nature in your play and learning time.

Kids pick flowers. It is what it is, it'll never go away, deal with it. Of course we don't want them rummaging around the neighbors flower beds but there are plenty of wild flowers to go around, especially those pesky dandelions. What do you do with them after they've been shared with you? Throw them? Stick them in your hair smearing dandelion goo all over (I've had to explain this to my son who insistis every flower he picks should go in my hair). Attempt to keep them in a vase? There's never a vase small enough....until now. The genius PlayDrMom shared how she created the perfect Upcycled Dandelion Vase to hold her child's treasured flowers. It's easy and it's recycling! DO IT!

Do you have kids who love to cut EVERYTHING? Do you have a lawn? Check out how Raise a Boy uses Cutting Grass to develop fine motor skills. Even if you don't have a lawn, it's easy to plant grass seeds; bring some nature indoors. Your child will love this activity whether they are toddlers just learning to use scissors or 5 year olds practicing for Kindergarten.