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FLOWERS & GARDENS THEME

CRAFTS:

Birdseed Garden
Need:Birdseeds sponge plastic plate
Place a sponge soaked with water in a plastic plate and allow child to sprinke it with birdseeds. Place the plate in a sunny place and watch for the seeds to sprout! The seeds will continue to sprout as long as the child keeps water in the plate.

Chia Pet Egg
Need:Eggshell with the top 1/4 broken off Ring cut from an empty paper towel roll to hold the eggshell 3 Damp cotton balls 1/8 teaspoon alfalfa seeds Fine tip markers
Set the empty eggshell in the holder cut from the empty paper towel roll. Draw a face on the eggshell with colored markers. Place damp cotton balls inside eggshell. Sprinkle seeds over the cotton and keep the cotton damp. In two or three days, the seeds will begin to sprout. Put in a sunny spot. As the sprouts grow, your child can give the egg friend a "haircut".

Daffodils
Baking cups, Popsicle stick or pipe cleaner 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.

Daisies
Have the children cut out a circle and glue it to the center of a paper plate. Show them how to cut petals in a variety of colors and glue them around the circle to form a daises. Have the children add stems and leaves.

Easy Growing Fun-Shaped Plants
Material: Terry cloth towel, Quick growing seeds (grass or alfalfa seeds work nice.)
Direction: Cut the terry cloth into desired shape (shamrock, heart, star, etc.) 
have your child put seeds over the top of cut out shape and then water.
SUGGESTION: for younger children, you may choose to put the seeds into a shaker and have them shake seeds onto the shape. Put shapes on aluminum foil to hold water.

Egg Cup Bluebells 
Egg carton, Pipe cleaners, Paper leaves, Tempera paint 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.

Flower Box 
Cut flower shapes out of various colors of construction paper. let the childrne glue them to Popsicle sticks. Fill a shallow box with dirt or sand. Have the children "plant" the flowers in the dirt in rows of 2's 3's or 4's. Encourage them to plant the rows from left to right or from back to front. Or diret the children to plant a red flower in front of a yellow flower, an orange flower behind a blue flower, etc.

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.

Flower Mobile
Bring in a tree branch and hang from the ceiling. Let the children make flowers and hang them on the branch for decoration.

Glitter Flowers
Construction Paper, any color glitter, assorted colors glue
Have the children make a stem design using glue. Sprinkle green glitter on the glue, shake the excess off. Have them make a flower design with the glue. Sprinkle on any color glitter they desire. Add petals, and leaves.

Glue Picture
Children draw a flower picture with glue and sprinkle on sand.

Handprint Flowers
Glue a circle in the middle of the page, then place hand prints all around it as the petals.

Popcorn Flowers 
Popcorn (popped), Plastic baggies, Powdered tempera, green construction paper, tagboard 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.

Paper Plate Sun Flowers
Materials: Paper plates, yellow paint, brushes, glue, sunflower seeds, green paper
direction: Have the children paint their paper plates yellow to make 'flowers'. When plate is dry put glue on plate and glue sunflower seeds on the middle of their plates. Attach them to green paper stems to create a sunflower garden.

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.

Smelly Flowers 
Paper, Cupcake Liners, Glue, Markers, Crayons or Paint, Perfume Glue paper cupcake liners on paper. Add stems. Spray some flowery perfume on the flowers.

Seed Collage
Children paint glue in sections of flower picture and add different seeds in each section.

Tongue Depressor Flowers
Materials - tongue depressors, a variety of coloured construction paper. Colour or paint tongue depressors green. Cut petal shapes from construction paper and have the children glue the petals to the top of the tongue depressors. Cut leaf shapes from green construction paper and attach a couple to the stem. Display on your bulletin board.

GAMES & ACTIVITIES:

Create Coloured Flowers
What you need - 4 glasses of water, each 1/4 filled. 4 white daisies, carnations or Queen Anne's Lace, Food colouring.
What to do - Add enough food colouring to turn the water in each glass a different colour (about 5 drops depending on the size of the glass.) Cut the stem of each flower. Place flower in the glass. See how long it takes for the flower to turn the colour of the water.

Carrot Top
Grow a carrot top in a plate of water.

Decorate with Flowers
Collect a variety of wildflowers, small leaves and firms as you walk around the neighborhood.  If wildflowers are not available, use small flowers collected from friends gardens.  Placed flowers and other collected items between two pieces of blotter paper.  Stack books on top as a week, and let it dry for a few days.  This can be done at one meeting to be prepared for the next meeting.  Arrange priced items on clear contact paper cut into bookmark size.  Seal with another piece of same sized clear contact paper.  Buying edges with tape or so around with yarn.  Larger arrangements hung in windmills at a natural beauty to the environment.

Flower Relay Races
Relay races are done in teams. The players of each team must race to a vase full of artificial or paper flowers, pick a flower out of the vase, and race back to their team. The next person races down to the flowers, picks one, and so on. The first team to finish is the winner.

From Buds to Bloom
Arrange to go to a greenhouse, florists or garden center.  All deserve the environment needed for plants to grow.  Look for lighting.  Humidity and temperature.  What flower and leaf colors can be seen?  Look for flowering plants.  Find the smallest flower, largest.  Match variety of flowers by leaves and blooms.  Locate a species of plant in various stages of lowering.  Have the kids arrange plants in Blooming sequence.  But seedlings next to mature flowers.  Can young plants be easily match to the adult plant?  Click some large plumes and a variety of smaller delicate flowers to be used later at another meeting.

Flowers and Wind
Equipment:  None
How to Play:  Divide the group into two teams: the flowers and the wind.  Have the teams line up on either side of the playing area.  The flowers huddle together and think of what type of flower they are going to be.  When they decide on one, they spread out along their side and begin to advance towards the wind.  The wind players begin shouting out types of flowers and continues until they guess right.  The flowers then turn around and run to safety on their side of the playing area.  Any flowers that make it to the wind side become part of the wind team, any flowers that are caught in the chase, are out.  Continue playing like this until all of the flowers are out or all of the flowers become the wind.

Have a Seed, will Travel 
Had each child bring a paper bag outside to see how many different types of seats they can collect.  Do they see the wind blowing any?  If so, can they catch them?  Can they find any seeds that might be spread by people or animal?  Upon returning to the meeting hall, have the children classified them accordingly to the whether the wind, people or animals spread them.  How does a seeds feel?

Plant Some Bean Seeds 
Go outside with the children.  Give each child three Bean seeds to plant in their own small, dirt filled margarine containers.  The children are to be responsible to care for their seeds by watering them.  Keep a record of the number of days it takes for the first sign of us down to appear.  Note: parents can help.  How fast does it grow?  I seed might also be played in a clear glass with a wet paper towel wrapped around the inside of the glass so the children can observe what actually begins to grow first roots, stems, etc..

Plants in Many Places 
Tell the children to look for plants growing in unusual places on this walk.  Be sure to take a camera along to take pictures of what they see.  Notice all the places Mosque grows.  Let them feel it.  Asked them to smell it.  See if they know why plants can grow in such particular places.  Let the big children plant some grass seeds on a sponge when they get back to your meeting place.  Have the children take the sponges home and watch to see the grass grow.  Be sure to keep the spongy moist.  Plants do not necessarily need soil to grow.

Plant a Plant
Have the kids look around the building for places, either indoors or outdoors, where a tree, shrub, or flowers would add beauty, be a home for birds, or shade for animals.  A small flowering tree can be planted outside a window and be observed by the kids.  Flowering plants or bald scanline walks.  Some climates will have homes, Driftwood, cactus and ornamental stones at their disposal.  Old tires can be painted and filled with flowers.  When shrub planters can be used for city areas.  Let the kids care for new plantings.  What care will plants require?

Paddles, Pollen and Flower Parts
Use the large plumes collected for the kids to examine.  If possible, give each child a complete plant.  Have them find their roots, spam, leaves and flower.  Examine the Florida closely look at the flower petals, pollen cases, pollen, and sticky pollen tubes.  Is there fragrance?  Cut open a complete flower one with all these parts and use a magnifying glass see they unripe seeds.  Do the different flower varieties have the same parts?  How are they the same?  Different?  Comparison now, pollen, color, petals size and shape, and on the right seeds cases.

Rooting a Sweet Potato 
To root a sweet potato in water, push toothpicks halfway into the potato. Then place the potato in a glass of water with the toothpicks resting on the top rim. Make sure the end of the potato is immersed in water. Place the glass where it will receive adequate light. Maintain the water level so that the bottom of the potato is always immersed. Note that in a few weeks roots will grow out of the sides and bottom of the potato, and leaves will grow out of the top. The plant can be left in the water or replanted in soil. This activity provides the children an opportunity to observe root growth.

Sample the Soil
Go out and collect samples of soil from various areas around your meeting area.  Put these samples into containers or flowerpots.  Plant some pumpkin seeds or beans in each one.  Place a crafts taking each pot to mark the growth or you could use a twig and mark the growth with paint.  Record the growth on a chart or graph the child may possibly need help with the charting part.  Which soil was passed?  How do you know?  Have the children take the plants home and bring them back to each meeting until the project is complete.

Sprouts
Put pumpkin or lima bean seeds in a wet paper towel and put it all in a clear ziplock baggie. Hang it on a bulletin board where it gets moderate sun. Watch it grow.

Soil Around Roots 
Have the children find soil around the roots of plants from a variety of locations.  Take small plants between sidewalk cracks, at edges of buildings, near streams and ponds, in sandy areas, or by tree roots.  Carefully put these plants, such as grass, leads or Daniel finds, out of the soil.  Try to keep some soil on the roots.  Examine soil around the roots.  Is it moist?  Dry?  A dark color?  Light brown?  Read?  Feel the texture.  Is it greedy and Sandy?  Crumbly?  Does the soil packed into a ball like Clay?  Put together plants of the same species of plant grow in different soil? Did some grow fuller and bigger? Why?

What Do I Need?
Walk around in circle with one child in middle as flower, and sing "Little flower oh what do you need, what do you need, what do you need, Little flower oh what do you need, to grow up big and strong." The child then names something the flower needs and chooses someone to come into the centre (eg. water, support, sunshine, nutrients).
 

SONGS:

I'm a Tiny Seed - tune: I'm a Little Teapot
I'm a tiny seed, 
deep in the ground I lie asleep - 
I don't make a sound I am waking up now - 
see me sprout

STORIES:

Have any good stories? Let us know!
 

FOOD SUGGESTIONS:

Garden Soup
If you don't have a wide variety of vegetables in your garden, have students bring in one ingredient.

TIPS/NOTES:

A trip to a florist