Plant label counting

I have been saving the little labels that come in plants to tell their care needs. I always put out some one-to-one correspondence work that involves putting one item into each compartment. I went ahead and put out all 16 labels, as Q is ready for more of a challenge now.

This also encourages environmental print and science skills as we can compare and contrast the different plants pictured in the labels.

Older children could sort the labels by type, colors, care needs, etc.

Mailbox!

Q is very interested in the mailbox right now. I found this little mailbox at the thrift store for a steal. It had a christmas picture on it, so I modge-podged some pretty scrapbook paper over the top and the word "mail" with stickers. I had some little envelopes for Q to put inside the mailbox. She loves opening and closing it and playing with the flag!

Older children could actually write "letters" to family members. Parents could surprise the kiddos with notes on a random basis, and put the flag up to let the kids know there is mail!

Vegetables

For Q's birthday some friends gave her a set of fruits and vegetables that come apart and then velcro back together. I put out the some of the items that we are growing in our home garden--ones that she would be familiar with. Onion, lettuce, and corn.

This brings up an important consideration when preparing materials for young children. Just because a set of learning materials or toys comes with 10 pieces doesn't mean you should put all 10 out at once! When an item is new and the child is young, I try to stick with just a few at a time. This keeps the child from being overwhelmed, eases clean-up because there are fewer items to restore, and allows the child to be more in-control of their environment. Once they have mastered the first few items, you can either add more, or switch out.

This set has about 10 more pieces that we'll save for another time.

This activity works on science skills, vocabulary (naming vegetables), fractions (each vegetable comes apart into a different number of equal pieces), and fine motor skills (putting pieces back together/taking apart).

Seed packet environmental print

This little bowl is filled with empty seed packets from different seeds we planted in our garden this year. Q likes to look for letters she knows on them, and we talk about the different flowers.

I have on my "project list" to make some little felt flowers to go inside each of them that matches the type of flower the seed packet is for.

Some are flowers, some vegetables, some groundcover.....

Garden gloves

What gardener would be complete without gloves? These are especially important to Q because she knows I always work in the yard in my gloves. This pretty pair came from the dollar store. I have also seen child-sized gloves around.

These can be used to teach left/right orientation for older kids so that they match the correct glove to the correct hand.

Flower-arranging

This is actually part of one of our wedding centerpieces. So I learned something important--don't use an old styrofoam ball or it will disintegrate all over when you touch it. :)

For this work, the child can take the flowers out and put them back into the styrofoam. They practice artistic skills, counting, and fine motor skills. Preschoolers, especially, love this activity! I always had it in my "flower shop" in my dramatic play area when we studied plants and nature.

To make this work-- get a large styrofoam ball. Cut it in half with a serrated knife. Cut artificial flowers so that the stem is about 4 inches long.

You can do all the same type of flowers or different types. You could also add in some greenery choices for older kiddos! These look so pretty when you cover the entire styrofoam piece with flowers....they'd also make a great gift for grandparents, teachers, etc.

Birdhouse

I bought this unpainted birdhouse in the craft section at Walmart a while back, knowing I'd use it for one of Q's work stations. The birds I traced and cut out of felt (2 birds), sandwiched a piece of ribbon between the two birds and sewed around the edge. This allows the birds to be pushed into the hole of the house and pulled out again. Q can fish around with her fingers for the string and pull them back out. It is great fine-motor practice and also teaches science skills. Basic subtraction is also taught as Q sees what it means to "take-away" from a group of objects as she puts them inside the house. I also used different color ribbons, so we call the birds by their ribbon color.