A Story About A Little Flower

Back in April, we planted seeds as a way to connect with nature in honor of Earth Day.

We watered everyday.

Often more than once.

The stalks grew quite tall.

Then, one sunny day, a little bud popped up and bloomed into a beautiful, vibrant, flower!

The end.

Earth Day Round-Up!

Since the '70s, Earth Day's environmental significance has continued to grow. While it's true that "everyday should be Earth Day" sometimes we need a little reminder to stop for a moment and take a mental inventory of what we're doing to help .

Over the past few weeks, we have tried to engage in activities that would instill in Little Bit an appreciation for the natural beauty and wonder that surround us.

We:

• gave some of our birdies a yummy snack.
• enjoyed a laid-back nature walk.
• learned how to plant seedlings here and here.

We also read this very sweet Little Golden Book:

Aside from it being a little wordy at times, this book perfectly explains to little ones that everything we see around us is a gift from God.

Simple activities like such as these can have lasting impacts on our children.

Did you do anything with your family to commemorate this day? If so, please feel free to post your link to share with others!

Scissor Flowers

Our theme for this week's Unplugged Project was scissors. Scissors? What in the world can I do with a child just shy of 2 years old with scissors? She can't use them to cut with...I tried and she is nowhere near ready. So, I decided we would try to turn the scissors into flowers and make a garden!

I figured we could just use a pair of old-school safety scissors, separate them, and use each side as our flower structure. It sounded easy enough, but getting the scissors apart proved more difficult than expected.

Daddy-O had to break out the power tools.

Once the scissors were separated, I used pipe cleaners to shape flower petals around the handles. I then got an old shoe box and put florists foam on the inside.

I poked some holes for seeds.

Little Bit was responsible for sewing the seeds and watering.

 

She looks like she's trying so hard to water her little seedlings well without spilling anything!

And voila! Instant blooms!

   

Here is our finished flower box. We added some moss to help hide the unsightly florists foam, and overall I think it turned out rather nicely!

While this isn't a project I would do again, due to the difficulty of breaking the scissors, I was glad to be able to reiterate the steps in planting seeds with Little Bit.

To see what others did with scissors this week, click here!

A Seed Has Been Planted

Yesterday we planted a few seeds...

We got some annuals and followed these directions on using eggshells and toilet paper rolls for planters.

Little Bit did a fantastic job at pouring the potting soil into our tiny planters.

In fact, she didn't want to stop handling the dirt; so soft and fluffy!

I helped her use her new snail-shaped watering can.

And now we wait!

Seeds. Soil. Water. This was all it took to hold my little girl's attention longer than any of our projects thus far. What is it about gardening that is so attractive to youngsters? Is it the getting dirty part? Or is it that on some level we are all drawn to the natural world?

The flowers we planted will sprout, bloom, and die, but my daughter will learn lessons to last a lifetime: responsibility, patience, and an appreciation for God's creations.

Yesterday we planted a few seeds...