Sprout Scouts Playcamp: Grow Your Own Green Thumb, Part 2

Exploring Plants & Flowers Through the Five Senses

Gardening is certainly a hands-on experience and anytime we engage our children's senses, we appeal to the variety of ways in which they learn and grow. In Part 2 of this play theme, we will explore plants and flowers through all five senses!

Touch: 

Digging in the dirt, sitting in the grass, the cool water of a sprinkler, the variety of textures of a rock or a stick--gardening is a tactile smorgasbord! So often, however, when it comes to gardens and plants we tell our children "look with your eyes, don't touch!" If you have the space to allow for it, I highly recommend allowing a plot for children to garden on their own--mistakes, learning experiences and all! If not, planting your own "Please Touch the Plants" Garden will be a great way to introduce a variety of textures to little fingers in your yard, in a container or even indoors.

What to Plant:

Select a variety of succulents from your local garden center. Aloe, lambs ear, yucca, hens and chicks, desert rose, burro's tail, and snake plant are all popular options. Avoid cacti with sharp thorns. Do opt for a variety of textures, heights and colors.

We planted a few pots with a selection of succulents. I used permanent marker and some garden tags I had on hand to make some "Please Touch the Plants" signs and voila! I have to say, this feels like a grown up version of touch & feel books for me! From fuzzy to feathery, bumpy and smooth--this a wonderful way to explore textures and related vocabulary.

Petal Potions Water Table: Playing with real flower petals is so much fun! We love to give our fresh cut flowers one last hurrah before they head to the compost heap and this is one wonderful way to do that. Alternatively, you can pick some wildflowers from outside or hit up your local florist for rejects and flowers that can't be sold.
Truly, water, flowers and maybe a dish and a spoon (or long stem) are all you need. We added some glitter and food coloring along with a bit of lavender oil for scent. It was a huge hit with both my boys!

Sensitive Plants are a fascinating wonder of this world! If you can get your hands on one (literally), it truly is an amazing thing to experience a plant respond to touch. It's definitely on my gardening wish list!

Sound
What to Plant: 

• With an eye toward the Fall, plant some mini gourds this summer to grow your own shakers in the fall! Once harvested and dried, the seeds inside a gourd create a natural and beautiful homegrown musical instrument.
• In the interim, plant flowers and plants that will attract songbirds to your garden. Marigolds, sunflowers, daisies and asters are just a few. Read about others in this article from National Geographic.

Take a Sound Scavenger Hunt Walk: Whether it's through your own yard, your neighborhood, a park or nature preserve or even your local botanical gardens, taking a nature walk with an ear toward the sounds of the garden can be fascinating! Can you hear birds? Bugs like bees or cicadas? Can you hear frogs or toads? Ducks or geese? What about man-made noises like lawnmowers or hedge trimmers? We often go to the garden for some peace and quiet--and peaceful, it certainly is--but rarely is it truly quiet. When you open up your ears outdoors, you can truly discover the orchestra of your garden!

Make Your Own Windchimes: This is great activity to empty your recycling bin with. You'll need a variety of items (particularly tin/metal) like cans, bottles, lids, CDs, even old spoons and forks. Use an old hanger or an overturned colander and some twine and have an adult help with any necessary handiwork with tools. 

Build a Garden Sound Wall: If you have the space for it (and no neighbors super close by), building a sound wall with interesting recycled and upcycled items is a great way to encourage budding musicians of all ages outside. If there is one thing I have learned from both my boys so far, it is that anything can be a drum! Grab a spoon, a stick or your hands and play away!

Smell:

What to Plant: Plant or purchase starter plants of a variety of herbs. I recommend some familiar varieties and a few unique ones as well.

Identifying Herbs: You can release the aroma of herbs by gently rubbing a leaf between your fingers and thumb. You can demonstrate and teach children how to do this even without removing a leaf from the plant. Thyme can be quite aromatic simply by brushing your hand over the tiny leaves!

What's That Smell? You'll really need your sniffer for this game! Have each player rub a leaf of familiar cut herbs between his/her fingers and thumb and try to guess the smell.  You may need to provide a visual or written key. You can add an element of challenge by blindfolding players so they can really hone in on their sense of smell.

That Reminds Me Of...  What smells like lemons but isn't? How about chocolate? Pineapple? Cinnamon? Licorice? Herbs, of course! Lemon thyme, chocolate mint, pineapple sage, cinnamon basil and fennel are all great herbs to trick your sniffer and enhance your dinner (or tea)!

Mortar & Pestle Play: One of my very favorite gardening tools that isn't a gardening tool at all is our mortar and pestle sets! These are great for grinding all kinds of things, but especially fresh cut herbs are amazing in this along with some elbow grease from little hands. It is great fun to grind and smell herbs individually and in combination.

Sensory Play with Herbs: Add in some water and take the aromatic experience of exploring scent with herbs to a whole new level! Choose a variety of herbs that smell lovely in combination like a few types of mint, or lavender and rosemary.

Added to a batch of homemade playdough, cut herbs become decorative and add in a lovely scent and texture. In this simple invitation to play with herbs and playdough, we used some sprigs of fresh cut herbs, scissors and rolling pins. The result was a heavenly aroma and hours of fun!

Sight:

What to Plant: Visual appeal is a huge part of gardening, and what could be more visually appealing than planting a rainbow? Read Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert and then head to your local garden center to choose your own rainbow of flowers, plants and maybe even vegetables.

Plant, Grow & Eat a Rainbow Collage: To prepare for this activity, you'll need a large sheet of drawing paper with the outline of a rainbow drawn on. You can set up six or seven sections depending on whether or not you will include indigo and violet as in a true rainbow or just purple. Enlist the help of older children to cut colorful pictures from recycled seed catalogs or gardening magazines. Children can sort the pictures into color categories. With younger ones, I like to isolate one color row at a time. We love double sided tape for this project but you can also use a glue stick or white glue. 

Garden Scavenger Hunt: We love a great scavenger hunt here! You'll really need your sense of sight to find pollinators, songbirds, flowers, herbs, vegetables, worms, a rock and any number of other things in your own garden. You can create your own scavenger hunt list or try one of the great Spring Nature Scavenger Hunts at I Heart Crafty Things. You can search your own garden or yard, walk through your neighborhood or visit a community garden, park or botanical garden center.

Through Their Eyes: How do our gardens look through the eyes of an ant? Or a butterfly? Or a bird? Using storytelling and dramatic play, try to imagine how plants and flowers look to the little critters and creatures in our gardens. You can also add in some viewing tools to the mix like binoculars, prisms, magnifying glasses and kaleidoscopes.

Art in the Garden: Nature is its own art form and gardens can be a true masterpiece. Incorporate children's art into the garden and even invite children to create art outdoors. For more ideas, check out our Art and Artists in the Garden play-theme!

Plot Plans: Whether you're actually planning and designing your garden or just drawing up a dream, graph paper is the perfect base to this art activity to design your own garden. Add in your favorite drawing utensils (we love oil pastels here) and perhaps some stickers or magazine clippings of vegetables, fruits and flowers and design your own garden blueprints.

Taste:

What to Plant: When it comes to growing your own edible garden, I highly recommend planting at least one thing you know you like and at least one thing you know will grow well! This year, we tried (and succeeded!) at growing our own strawberries. We are on year 3 of very successful cherry tomatoes. If you want to mix it up a bit, grow a pizza garden with tomatoes, peppers, and favorite savory herbs. Or try a salsa garden with tomatoes, cilantro, garlic and onions and perhaps some hot peppers. Try a traditional Three Sisters Garden with squash, beans and corn. Growing our own produce has been a way to encourage trying new foods while also providing a unique and personalized "farm to table" experience in our own backyard.

U-Pick Plot-Luck Playdate: Summer is just beginning and our own garden is just beginning to provide us with a small harvest of arugula, sweet peppers, strawberries, and herbs, galore! Radishes are just a couple of weeks away and we have a steady crop of microgreens in our kitchen window. We pick and enjoy what we can as it comes, but at a certain point, the bounty exceeds our own plates and pallets! That's when it's time for a Plot-Luck Playdate! Gather some neighbors or friends and enjoy the harvest together. You can invite others to bring tasty treats from their own garden or provide the produce yourself. Build your own pizza parties are a popular choice and even pickier eaters might have fun with a garden salad bar! Children can be involved in as much of the process as possible--from harvesting and picking produce to washing, cutting, preparing and baking--and most importantly, eating!

Extra, Extra, Eat All About It: Pair some fresh picked produce with a popular children's book. Here are a few of our favorite pairings:

• Fresh Picked Jam Berries go quite nicely alongside Jamberry by Bruce Degen, Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban ,and The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood. They're so yummy right off the plant, but they are also quite delicious made into jam. Try out this easy recipe for Quick Refrigerator Strawberry Jam.

• Blueberries are great for snacking and delicious in pancakes. Mix up a batch of your favorite pancake recipe and see how many blueberries are left to add in once you're done munching! You'll definitely want to read Robert McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal while you're waiting for them to brown.

• Pick a Pickling Cucumber and read Pickles to Pittsburgh, the equally wonderful sequel to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Ron and Judi Barrett. Then whip up a batch of Easy Refrigerator Dill Pickles!

• Quick and Easy Fresh Mint Tea is the perfect way to use some of super easy to grow mint leaves in your garden or kitchen window. Enjoy it warm or iced or even mixed with lemonade and read Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk! 

Gardening with children is a full sensory experience. This is just a sampling of activities to accompany and enhance that experience. We will be back with more activities to take you from Garden to Table next time (although this post probably gave you a little taste of what's to come). Until then...

Happy Playing!

Shabbat Theme & My Five Senses: Part 4

As the next installment to our Five Senses of Shabbos theme, we explored our sense of touch and introduced the concept of different textures. So much of a toddler's experience is sensory-laden. Each and every day, my son is exposed to a variety of textures and tactile experiences. Having the formal opportunity to develop language and vocabulary around it was wonderful, and we had a lot of fun doing it!

Happy Hands-on Playing!

I never thought I'd have an educational opportunity to use Pat the Bunny or any of the other companion books that forever seem to make it into homes in gift bags after a baby arrives, but what do you know? They are a great tool for teaching about different textures (and other senses for that matter). "The bunny is soft!" my son shouted proudly after learning the word for the texture. 

Caught red-handed responding to his journal prompt at Table Time.

Shaping challah dough was initially the activity I had planned for the sense of touch, but since I am not baking this week, I decided to incorporate some different textures into our associated Shabbat craft activity--decorating a challah board. He had fun sanding the wood with the scratchy sandpaper block. I felt the block would be easier for his hands than a sheet of sandpaper at this point.

The sponge was initially intended for the upcoming painting part of the project, but he enjoyed using it to dust off the wood shavings and noticing its crinkly, squishy, somewhat scratchy texture.

And here it is again being used for painting.

He loved exploring the different designs it made by dabbing versus stroking it across the board. Once dry, we will add some stickers and a layer of Mod Podge before letting his very own challah board grace our Shabbos table.

And since we didn't make real challah, we still got the smooshy and squishy dough experience with some playdough!

Shabbat Theme & My Five Senses: Part 3

Besomim (spice) box for Havdalah

Today we explored the sense of smell and, although it technically marks the separation between Shabbos and the rest of the week, Havdalah. The Havdalah rituals help us to say goodbye to the sweetness of Shabbos while welcoming a wonderful week ahead. Special blessings are made over wine/grape juice, a lit candle with at least two wicks (also to symbolize the separation between the holy [Shabbos] and the mundane [weekdays]), and besomim (sweet spices to awaken the senses and bring us joyfully into the coming week). Besomim is commonly comprised of cloves, cinnamon or other pleasant smelling spices. It can be simply used right from its spice box or decoratively displayed in handcrafted containers that are often works of art in and of themselves. As part of our Shabbos theme and exploration of our five senses, I felt making his own besomim box would be the perfect way to use our noses today and to create something very special my son can use at Havdalah, which now with the sun setting a bit earlier, he may even get to stay awake for soon!
Havdalah can be made only when there are three stars visible in the sky, at nightfall. This is the time that Shabbos officially ends and the rest of the week begins. We used star-shaped stickers to decorate the box and help us remember this as well as some smiley face stickers to help us remember that we should enter the week ahead with the same joyfulness that the Shabbos brings each week.

We began today's lesson with another great non-fiction find from the children's section of our local library all about the sense of smelling. I find books like these--with clear photographs and very simple/minimal language--are naturally interactive for even the smallest readers/listeners. They also encourage vocabulary development. We took the lesson over to the table to test out our own sniffers and some favorites from our spice shelf and natural medicine collection. My son loved smelling some of our favorite kitchen spices and extracts as well as some familiar essential oils. 

Next, I introduced our activity tray with a dish filled with cloves and some cinnamon sticks ready to go into his soon-to-be-decorated besomim box. I arranged it as a practice in transferring skills, providing a small measuring spoon for scooping, a small bowl to transfer from and the box to transfer into. I did not give specific instructions, but rather let him lead and show me what worked best for him. He did naturally pick up the larger cinnamon sticks and put them into the box and he also immediately took an interest in using the spoon to scoop and transfer. 

"Smells yummy!"

When it became a bit challenging to scoop the little cloves up and pour, he began using a helper hand to place them into the spoon, testing out picking them up and placing them right in the box and even tested out pouring.

He had so much fun with the transferring aspect of this activity alone that I set up a Montessori-style transfer tray with two dishes, another portion of whole cloves, and a small spoon for scooping. This kept him happy and busy for quite some time! I love when an activity unexpectedly holds his interest and inspires further exploration. One benefit to being in a homeschool environment is the ability to linger in these moments and not have to "finish" a project in a timely manner. 

Happy playing, learning and lingering when interest is sparked!

Shabbat Theme & My Five Senses Part 2

Our homeschool bookshelf and basket are stocked with favorites from home and some borrowed from the library that relate to our current themes. We incorporate reading formally and informally--both at set times and throughout the day as my son chooses books to be read aloud.

The night before a homeschool day, I pack a few of our special books and activity materials in my son's school bag. He was so excited to take it from the hook (at his level) and open it up to see what was inside waiting for us today!

Our folders also hold important materials for the day ahead.

Our big kick-off to Homeschool Preschool ended up happening with a bit less fanfare than I'd planned due to an unplanned and brief stint as substitute preschool teacher for myself and substitute preschool student for my son. Lack of planning and all, I think it was the perfect opportunity and transition for us. My son did beautifully in a "traditional" classroom setting, and I got to see (as a neurotic teacher-mommy) that he does indeed have the ability to adapt to classroom structure and routines even having been at home with me. When the time comes that he does enter a classroom environment I think we will both be more than OK! And as much as I love the structure and flow of a traditional classroom setting, I also love the ability to move at our own pace at home. School at home can happen in one large chunk of time or in smaller chunks throughout the day as we see fit. Working outside of the house for shorter hours allowed us time in the afternoon to engage in learning activities And today, on our first full day at home together, we were able to go through our morning routines and activities, break for the ever so important library visit and Story Time, return for some more learning and play and break again for some lunch and a nap. I love that my son had the idea today to bring a book outside. He was so excited to use his new homeschool bag that we made together a few weeks ago, he grabbed his board book copy of "Pete the Cat Wheels on the Bus," packed it inside and asked for help to carry his toy school bus and a few Fisher Price passengers! There are so many benefits from both the traditional early childhood classroom experience as well as the play at home experience. I'm so blessed to have had a glimpse into both worlds and I think both my son and I are eager to continue on our journey this year. Here's a peek at our next installment of our first Homeschool theme: Shabbat & My Five Senses. Wherever your day happens to take you, I wish you joyful learning and happy playing!

Our Sense of Hearing:

Here are a couple of books we used today to explore our sense of hearing. The Sounds of my Jewish Year is an old favorite of my son's and yet he was so excited to unpack it from his homeschool bag this morning--as though it were brand new! I brought along Hearing, one of a great set on The Five Senses we found at our local library. The photos and simple text were a great way to start conversation about the sense of hearing and explore/expand vocabulary. 

These homemade egg shakers (dollar store "easter eggs" filled with rice/beans/bells and duct taped shut) are a regular installment here when we daven together in the morning or do other music & movement activities. It's a fun and fabulous DIY project that will be sure to get a lot of use. Today they were a great tool to explore different sounds together.

I used a couple of bells threaded through a pipe cleaner and some duct tape to create our jingle brushes. It made painting (an already beloved activity here) even more fun!

We are working on a book together throughout this theme I've titled "My Shabbos Five Senses Book." In addition, we are using many of our senses to create some special crafts and materials to decorate our family Shabbos table. My son was so excited to get to paint his own set of Shabbos candlesticks--and even more excited to hear his painting in action with our homemade jingle brushes.

The finished product, plus a layer of Mod Podge and some added LED lights shaped like candles for play. These could also be used as a display item or used with real candles (obviously out of child reach).

"Where are your ears?"

Themes in Depth: Shabbat Theme & My Five Senses Part I

This is one of my son's favorite Shabbos books. He requests it each week and we have also had a great deal of fun acting out the story as a play activity in our home. He loves to help clean and to use his toy shopping cart and brown paper bag to gather pretend food and challahs for the Shabbos meal. He also loves using his toy Shabbos sets to prepare his own Shabbos table, "light candles," and "make kiddush." We are intended to start each week with its end--Shabbos--in mind. It's a beautiful concept that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of preparations and chores--yet our youngest household members are often the ones who remind us of the true gift that observing Shabbos is each and every week.

Shabbos is something we observe every week in our house and something my son genuinely looks forward to. In our family, it means the table gets dressed in its most beautiful white tablecloth to sport our Shabbos candles, homemade challahs, kiddush cup and grape juice, and some delicious Shabbos meals prepared by both my husband and myself (sometimes with our son's help). We also dress in our best and enjoy the coziness of intentional, uninterrupted family time together. That may well be the number one reason my son begins asking for Shabbos at the beginning of the week!
This is also a time when we refrain from certain activities that are disallowed on Shabbos, like turning on electronics, using our phones and computers, writing and drawing, cooking and cleaning, driving and working and more. Growing up in a home that did not observe Shabbos in this way, I often felt that it came with a list of "don'ts" that was altogether too long. As an adult, I've come to appreciate quite a few of the items on that list of "don'ts," but I also want to make sure that keeping Shabbos in this way is something my son continues to feel positively about as he grows older and aware of the "outside world" that continues in our temporary absence from it. We make Shabbos a time for having extra special treats and spending time with neighborhood friends and genuinely making sure to really engage with our son and have fun together. I also see that value in him having a part in creating and preparing for the ways we honor Shabbos each week.

In our little homeschool, we are exploring the theme of Shabbos through the lens of our five senses. We are working together on a book incorporating each of the five senses in connection with Shabbos symbols or activities:

• We see the Shabbos candles burning: my son will be painting his own set of wooden candlesticks to use for play. 
• We hear the Shabbos blessings and songs: although we do not use instruments or play music on Shabbos, we sing a lot of fun and beautiful songs together!
• We feel the sticky challah dough: my son will be lending a hand (or two) in shaping some yummy cinnamon raisin challah rolls to freeze and save for the upcoming holidays. We will also be sanding and painting a wooden challah board and decorating a cloth challah cover.
• We taste the delicious Shabbos meal: my son is always eager to take charge of quality control in the kitchen when we are cooking and baking together for Shabbos and making sure everything is delectably up to par.
• We smell the besomim (spices) at Havdalah: we will be decorating and filling a small plastic box for besomim to use at Havdalah.

Since we do not do art projects or cook on Shabbos itself, I wanted to make sure to include some materials and activities my son could use and play with during Shabbos as well as during the week. While we put away electronic and battery operated toys during Shabbos, we also make sure to take out some Shabbos-friendly ones as well to make the day extra special. Here are a couple of new ones I put together at home that he has really enjoyed:

We do have a store-bought plush Shabbos set that my son loves to play with and pretend about setting the table with. I saw this idea done by another Jewish preschool teacher and decided to make my own set of Shabbos photo blocks at home. I used photos found online to print and laminate and hot glued wooden blocks to the back of each. We will be making similar sets for holidays as well. 

This is another adaptation of a printable activity found on the Jewish Homeschool Blog I've previously posted on. I cut out and laminated the pictures as well as the "Shabbat Table" page and added velcro circles to the back of each picture and the table page for a move-able and reusable activity.

Even in weeks that Shabbos is not a theme we are exploring in depth, we have some added family routines to make the day extra special and to help alleviate some of the potential for stress as we cook, clean and prepare:

• TOYS & PLAYTHINGS: I try to keep our "not-Shabbos friendly" toys and materials on our top shelf, leaving extra space for the few battery-operated toys or puzzles that may also need to be moved out of sight over Shabbos. Right before Shabbos, I drape the scarf over the shelf. The idea is if it's out of sight, it's hopefully out of mind!
  
• CREATING A SENSE OF NOVELTY: To counter that, I also keep certain toys and books less visible during the week and am mindful to make them accessible and ready to use over Shabbos. These may be Shabbos themed toys and books or just a puzzle or some blocks we haven't used in a while. I know some families who keep a Shabbos box of just-for-Shabbos toys to use each week and many families before a long holiday will do a toy swap for added excitement. Remember--it doesn't have to be new to be novel!
• ATTITUDE CHECK: My husband and I try very hard to maintain a positive attitude as we get ready and not express frustration or negative feelings about it. That can be hard to do when you are feeling anxious and running out of time! I think my son is my greatest reminder to prepare for Shabbos b'simcha. He genuinely gets joy out of helping to clean and cook! When the going gets tough, we turn up some fun music to help get in the Shabbos spirit.
• ENLISTING HELP: That said, we encourage his help even when it can simultaneously be a hindrance and take more time. Even very little ones can dust and wash a table, help wash veggies and fruits for salads and assist in setting the table.
• "ME DO IT!" We are in the phase of that phrase right now. As much as we can, we like to say "yes," and make it a positive experience. He can't light his own candles now, but he can decorate and have his own candleholders. He wants his own special kiddush cup, so each Friday morning, I give him a plastic disposable cup from the Dollar Tree or party store and he decorates it with stickers to use at the Shabbos table. He wanted to participate in making kiddush the way he sees his Tatty do it, so I made him his own laminated sheet of the Shabbos blessings complete with pictures to help him identify what each is for.
• MAINTAINING ROUTINES Keeping Shabbos and Jewish holidays is an exercise in balancing our need to maintain certain routines for our toddler and allowing for some stretching of the rules to honor the celebratory nature of the day. We try to keep to bed and naptime routines on Shabbos and holidays. Nothing makes for a greater disaster on a long Shabbos day or holiday than a very overtired and unhappy toddler! That said, in the summer when Shabbos begins very late, that means my son is asleep before it even begins. We make him his own little kiddush and Shabbos party to ensure he doesn't feel he has missed out. We also try to make him his own havdalah on Sunday morning, though admittedly this is one we have forgotten repeatedly. On the other end of that, we do allow a bit of lenience when it comes to the start of bedtime or naptimes on occasions when we have guests or are visiting with friends. We are a bit more lenient with the number of tasty treats offered on Shabbos. 

However you honor and celebrate family traditions, know that these are the memories that are forever being etched into your little ones' hearts. One of the greatest ways to foster great memories is through play and time together. Happy playing!