Tag: Flower Garden

Growing a Flower Garden Playdough Mat

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Playdough play is a wonderfully fun activity full of developmental benefits, including these:

  • Playdough play aids in fine motor skills development while littles build muscles needs for prewriting, cutting, and more.
  • It is calming and therapeutic while they squash, shape, and squeeze away any tension or extra energy.
  • Playdough play inspires creativity and imagination while also emphasizing hand-eye coordination.
  • It also can aid in social skill development as children plan and problem solve with others, play collaboratively, and talk and discuss their creations.

I have loved playdough since I was a tiny tot so anytime my kiddos want to dive into those cans of salt dough, I am game! The addition of playdough mats has really encouraged my kiddos to get more creative with the dough as they try to form and shape it into the “right” shape for their specific work. They seem to work harder at conceptualizing what they want to make and then molding it to fit their vision when they have a mat as a background.

For #GardenWeek, I just knew we needed to grow a playdough garden! Right now we have tons of flowers blooming with riotous color that make perfect inspiration for our creations. However, this activity would also be fantastic to pull out during the winter doldrums while we are all dreaming of spring.

You can grab the FREE printable, print, and laminate it and have your kiddos creating while you make dinner! I found myself focused on flower making, but I think that dirt really needs a worm or two! Maybe even a butterfly or the sun could be peeking in the sky!

I love all the color, dimension, and variations that can be created. If you pull this mat out 100 times, I am willing to be 100 different masterpieces will be created!

Don’t forget to grab the FREE printable HERE.

I cannot wait to see what creations your littles come up with!

Happy Growing!

Create Your Own Flower Garden

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I love open-ended activities!

I host a weekly community story time and the kiddos who attend are from a wide range of ages (age 1-12) and interests. I am always on the lookout for activities that can be fun for that entire range.

This fun activity is basically free to put together – especially if you have paper and glue on hand! – and it can be fun for any ability level.

Speaking of materials – I used construction paper and some neon copy paper. Any paper you have on hand, even scrap paper, would be great for this activity. I also handed out glue sticks because they are so easy for little hands to use successfully.

TIP – if you only have white paper on hand, have your little one color all over the paper before you cut out the shapes! The effect would be so special!

I spent a little time before story time cutting out shapes. This is not the time for perfection! 😉 I went with triangles in various sizes, rectangles and narrow strips, small and large circles, leaf shapes, and tear drop shapes.

Honesty moment – I started out tracing circles and cutting each one out but I highly recommend tracing one shape and then folding the paper so you can cut multiple shapes at once.

Keep in mind that this is an open-ended activity. That means that nothing needs to be perfect and you don’t need a set number of shapes or specific colors to make it work. I loved the variety created from the paper I had on hand, but it would be wonderful with far less colors, too!

Now the fun part – start gluing and sticking!

For story time, I made an example page to show everyone before they got started. Sometimes seeing an example helps get creative juices flowing. However, I was super clear that they were free to create and explore as they wanted.

I loved seeing how diverse the flower gardens turned out. They were all unique – no 2 flowers came out the same. It was wonderful!

If you look closely you will find some extra creative kiddos even made bugs, rain, and a garden shed on their pages! I wouldn’t have ever thought of doing that, but I LOVE it!

This activity can be adapted in so many ways to suit your group and supplies. BONUS – it is perfect for encouraging hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

I cannot wait to see what creations you come up with!!

Happy Creating!