Science Week: Spring Blooms.
Welcome to my new Science Series, where we we will be exploring a new nature topic each week through picture books, sensory play and other hands-on activities!
For the first seven weeks, we will be exploring topics “Through the Garden.”
The topics will include: Seeds, Pollinators, Wildflowers, Garden Flowers, and Edible Plants.
This week, we learned about Spring Blooms with a focus on Cherry Blossoms!
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Spring Blooms: Books
Recommended Readings:
Slow Down: 50 Mindful Moments in Nature by Rachel Williams and illustrated by Freya Hartas (pgs 62-63)
The Big Book of Blooms by Yuval Zommer (pgs 22-23)
Nature Explained: A family guide to 20 nature cycles by Helen Brown & Claire Scully (pgs 8-9; 30-31)
The Secret World of Plants by Ben Hoare (pgs 132-133)
Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard Pak
You can find all of these books and the other books I will be using for our “Through the Garden” Science Weeks in my Amazon Storefront here.
Spring Blooms: Sensory Tray
I began our week by setting out a simple sensory tray. This is something I like to keep out all week, so the kids can continue to explore and play with the weekly theme.
For this week’s sensory tray, I focused on Cherry Blossoms. I created our own “cherry blossom petals” by coloring coffee filters with pink marker, dipping them in water and letting them dry (creating a soft pink color). I then cut the coffee filters into petal shapes and placed in the sensory bin as our filler.
Also in the sensory tray:
– loose parts by Grapat
– felt spring tree by Tara Treasures
For this nature theme, we also used printables from A Year of Learning’s Slow Down Collection. These collections include additional activities and printbales for each of the Slow Down Moments featured in this book.
See more of our Slow Down Activities here.
Spring Blooms: Art Activity
Materials:
– white paper (cardstock works best)
– washable paint
– straws
– droppers
– cups or small containers
– brown crayon
Instructions:
1. Place your paints in small cups and add a little water to water the paints down.
2. Use a brown crayon to draw a simple branch (or tree trunk).
3. Using the droppers, add dots of paint to your paper.
4. Blow through a straw to spread the paint (great to build oral motor skills!)
5. Continue experimenting by adding different colors of paint (we focused on different shades of pink and white).
6. Let your art dry and display!
Remember to enjoy the process as you are making your art! It’s about letting your child experiment and be creative with their art. No two pieces will turn out the same!
Through the Garden Science Encouragement
I hope you can use my science series “Through the Garden” as inspiration for your own learning-at-home activities.
Use these ideas as a starting point:
– Choose topics based on the season of the year and topics that are of interest to your child
– Do activities that are of interest to your child and age-appropriate
– Use books you own or ones you can borrow from the library
Picture books paired with hands-on activities are an incredible way for children to gain knowledge and interest in a topic.
– stay inspired, ❤️Allison