*Mini Class video coming at the end
Do you have a garden in your house? Indoor or outdoor?
My husband planted some vegetable seeds and herb seedlings at the end of April and I’m enjoying seeing them growing. (I love to have a garden but I’m not a good gardener.😂)
Gardening is a seasonal activity that we can do only at this time of year and I wanted to introduce a nice garden-related activity for toddlers and preschoolers.
Have you ever read the book “The Curious Garden” by Peter Brown? I found this book on the internet and read it on Youtube. I used to go to the local library to borrow children books, but I stopped going for now due to the COVID concerns. And buying the books every time I find good ones feels like too much sometimes. If you feel like this too, pay attention to the books that I introduce in the blog because many of the books that I recommend here are available on the internet. If you love the book and you want your child to read it again and again, you can buy it after! 😉
“The Curious Garden” is a picture book published in 2009. The main character, Liam, finds some dying flowers beside the abandoned railway and decides to care for them. With continuous learning, loving and caring, his garden gets bigger and bigger along the railway. The garden finally transforms the whole city that was dark and grey.
I love the idea of changing a dreary, dark city to a bright, lively place with plants and flowers. And the garden goes around the whole city along the railway. Isn’t that an amazing idea?!😍 I thought I had to share this great idea with children so I came up with this activity.
Let’s make our railway garden.
Materials
- Cardboard/plate (for a base of creation)
- Clay
- Seeds (all kinds of)
- Tissue papers (different colours)
- Pencil
I thought clay was a great material for this activity because it resembles soil and it has unique texture so it can give different tactile experience. But if you don’t have any clay available at home, you can use play-dough, too.
Imagine a railway around a city and put the soil (clay) beside the railway.
Feel the unique texture of clay.
If the soil is all ready,
plant the seeds.
I had pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and lentils.
Talk about different kinds of seeds and where you want to plant them.
Do a pretend play.
What do we need to do now as a gardener?
Give water, make sure they get lots of sunlight and clean air and give a place to grow and lots of love.
Think. After caring and loving, what is going to happen to those seeds? They will be sprouts, leaves, vegetables, fruits or flowers.
We can represent these with tissue papers.
Cut tissue papers into small squares. (I used some crepe papers as well because I could add more colours with them. Both tissue papers and crepe papers work well in this activity.)
Put a piece of tissue paper on the spot that you want to make flower and gently push it down in the centre with a dull pencil.
Decorate your garden however you want.
This process of “implanting” leaves/flowers in the clay is so fun!!🤩 You have to try it. Really. And the final product is beautiful as well.🌷🌹🌱
Tip: You can add artificial flowers or leaves if you have them.
Bring your trains and people to play in the clay garden.
This activity is process-focused and has a lot of room for imagination. Read the book “The Curious Garden” and do this activity. Your child will be able to develop her/his creativity and self-esteem through this activity.
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🦄 Do you have all materials with you?
🦄 Make the railway clay garden with Missangela!
Happy learning and quality time!
Missangela👩🏻🎀