Do you have some fresh flowers that are looking past their used by date or have some flowers in the garden to pick? Here are some fun flower play ideas that your kids will love!
Play using items from nature, such as flowers, is not only fun, but allows children to explore their natural environment. This helps them to grow an appreciation for the wonderful world that we live in.
🌟 Important: All play was supervised by an adult. Always supervise water play at all times. Play ideas recommended for children ages 3+
These 4 flower play ideas for kids are not only lots of fun, but are a fantastic way for children to learn through their play. These ideas offer opportunities to explore important concepts, such as capacity and measurement, whilst allowing for the child's imagination and creativity to further develop as they play.
Possible learning opportunities include:
Capacity - full, empty
Vocabulary- More and less
Self-regulation through the calming effects of playing with water
Appreciation for nature
Collaboration and social skills when playing with others.
Creativity and imagination- deciding what to add and how to play
Communication- developing skills if playing with others
Ideas for extending on the learning:
Introduce any new vocabulary to your child e.g. full, half full, empty, mix, etc.
Follow up with some play around capacity - filling empty bottles and containers with water.
Read books about soups and potion making.
Go on a nature walk and collect more natural treasures for potion making.
Have children write a procedure to tell how they made their soup.
4 Fun Flower Play Ideas for Kids
1. Flower Soup
Always a winner and so easy to do! This soup is fun to make and looks pretty too!
You will need:
A tray - ours is the Inspire My Play play tray, but any container/tray that can hold water will work.
Water - you can colour it with few drops of food colouring to make different coloured soups. We used pink.
Flowers - fresh from the garden or from a bunch of flowers that are no longer looking beautiful.
Spoons or scoops
Mini saucepans or bowls
Mat or towels underneath if playing inside.
What to do:
Set up the mat and materials.
Pour coloured water into the tray or container.
Invite your child to explore pouring the water and mixing in flowers to make pretend soup.
2. Fizzy Flower Potions
This was a fun way to extend the flower soup play with some fizzy potions.
We added in:
Some bicarb soda
Some vinegar
A muffin tray
Some squeezy droppers
Allow your child to explore mixing the ingredients together to make their potions fizz.
My girls enjoyed adding in some bicarb soda and then some vinegar to watch the fizzy potion go. We used this plastic beaker that came in a little kit from Officeworks and a muffin tin for making the fizzy potions.
3. Flower Gelatine Play
This fun play idea was inspired by @tinkeringwithtwo on Instagram. You will need to prepare this one ahead of time to allow the gelatine time to set.
You will need:
Gelatine (you could also use jelly)
Water
Food colouring
Flowers
Tweezers
Tray and container
Mini saucepans, spoons etc.
What to do:
Following the directions on the gelatine packet, mix up some gelatine and add a couple of drops of food colouring. (Adults only complete this step).
Carefully pour into a container. (Adults only complete this step).
Add in some flowers and petals.
Put in the fridge to set.
Once set you are ready to play.
4. Messy Flower Play in the Mud Kitchen
This messy flower play was a combination of the flower soup and gelatine play mixed together.
Taking all the messy play outside is even more fun because the kids can make as much mess as they like while mixing, pouring, stirring and creating.
Hosing down everything at the end makes clean up time simple.
Tip: Make sure you clean up any gelatine as soon as they have finished playing. We left ours overnight and it dried on the mud kitchen. This resulted in it peeling off some of the wood stain on it.
Flower Play Ideas For Kids - 4 Fun Ways to Play with Real Flowers!
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Thank you for reading this blog post! I hope you found some inspiration for using flowers for play with your child.
Fresh flowers work well with coloured water, uncoloured water, gelatine, fizzy potions and in the mud kitchen.
There are so many possibilities and creative ways to use flowers in play!
I hope you enjoy playing and exploring together.
Until next time, have fun learning in a playful way!
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