With Valentine's Day (the biggest flower day of the year!) around the corner, I set up a little play flower shop for my daughter to get a flavor. She absolutely
loves it and wants to play all day! She tells me in the morning that she "opened the shop", asks all day if she can be the florist, and closes the shop before bedtime.
I wanted to share the idea because not only is she enjoying it, she's learning a ton in the process.
Flower names and ID. I am proud (as a hort major!) that these words are common in our house: gerbera, rose, ranuculus, orchid, dahlia, and daisy. I just got out some of my old flower books for 'catalogs' and rounded up all the artificial flowers I could find in the house. You could even make your own catalogs from magazines and pictures online.
Money. Maddie is obsessed with money, and this has been a fun way to teach her the difference between dollars and cents, as well as work on counting and numbers.
Writing. As part of the purchasing process I have her write down my order. She usually scribbles, but she has also sounded out some names and learned to write a few numbers.
Desigining. Look at this little florist in the making! She made me a corsage (with a hair clip and bracelet) and changes flowers out of vases.
Imagination. We have had lots of fun pretending we're celebrating birthdays, going to parties and dances, getting married, visiting someone who is sick, and giving people flowers just because we
love them.
I'm actually quite enjoying the little bouquets around the house.
***And now a little note on buying real flowers for the big day...
As much as I think it's important to support the local shops, we all know Costco has the best prices, hands down, right?!
Happy Valentine's Day!
I wanted to share the idea because not only is she enjoying it, she's learning a ton in the process.
Flower names and ID. I am proud (as a hort major!) that these words are common in our house: gerbera, rose, ranuculus, orchid, dahlia, and daisy. I just got out some of my old flower books for 'catalogs' and rounded up all the artificial flowers I could find in the house. You could even make your own catalogs from magazines and pictures online.
Money. Maddie is obsessed with money, and this has been a fun way to teach her the difference between dollars and cents, as well as work on counting and numbers.
Writing. As part of the purchasing process I have her write down my order. She usually scribbles, but she has also sounded out some names and learned to write a few numbers.
Desigining. Look at this little florist in the making! She made me a corsage (with a hair clip and bracelet) and changes flowers out of vases.
Imagination. We have had lots of fun pretending we're celebrating birthdays, going to parties and dances, getting married, visiting someone who is sick, and giving people flowers just because we love them.
I'm actually quite enjoying the little bouquets around the house.
Fold colored paper in half and draw heart or flower designs. Have little people (if proficient in scissoring) cut them out.
While paper is folded make two little snips and slide green pipe cleaners in for the stems. Tie with a ribbon.
We also gave Doris some of this decadent Chocolate Body Scrub. I made this for all my girl family members for Christmas and fell in love! My mom called me after she used it and said she smelled like chocolate all day. The best part is you have the ingredients in your kitchen, and they are all natural. (Maddie will even tell you it tastes delicious... she licked the bowl!)
How about some Valentine projects that incorporate horticulture in some fashion? It's the biggest flower day of the year, so I wanted to do something fun with flowers first.
We started with three white carnations from the local florist. They aren't my favorite flower but I have to say they smell delicious and I love them in white... sort of frilly and sweet.
Add some food coloring to the water. The idea is that during transpiration (like that big word? :)) the flower will drink in the water and move it up through the leaves and petals, coloring them along the way.
It was also a fun color mixing lesson... red and blue make purple! Maddie has been telling me since that colors have mommies and daddies. Too funny!
I love this of Ella's pudgy hand mixing the color.
My friend Molly gave us this idea for Valentine blossoms from Family Fun. They are so easy and cute! Just cut out three hearts, a flower center, and a leaf. Punch holes, tape them together on the bottom, and stick a sucker in the middle.
Lastly we made potato stamps. Maddie has a blast with anything involving paint.
So there ya go! Hope this gives you a few sugarless ideas to make the holiday fun!
