Now spring has (almost) finally sprung, it is time to introduce some spring festivities into our play! We have gathered together 5 play activities which are easy, low cost and just perfect for spring!
1. Frozen Flowers Sensory Play
You’ll need:
· Flowers
· Muffin Tray
· Water
· A Freezer
· Pipettes/syringes/small pouring jugs
· A play tray/large bowl
Now that Spring is (finally) here, start by collecting some flowers; they don’t have to be a beautiful bouquet, this works as well with daises and dandelions as it does roses and tulips.
Arrange the flowers in a muffin tray, or something similar, fill with water and pop in the freezer. Most of the flowers will float to the top but will still set nice and icily.
After a few hours, you can take tray out of the freezer. Leave it out on the side for a few minutes and the frozen flower cups will automatically start to melt a little and loosen in the tray, and you’ll be able to remove them.
Pop them in a bowl or a play tray and voila! Have your child use pipette droppers or a small pouring jug of warm water to melt the ice and ‘free’ the flowers. When the ice is all melted, they can serve flower soup!
Pictures: Crafts on Sea
2. Chromatography Flowers
You’ll need:
· Coffee filters
· Water-soluble felt-tip pens in secondary or tertiary colours
· Small pipettes/syringes (the ones that come with a packet of Calpol work fine!)
· Green pipe cleaners
Start by flattening out the coffee filters and then, using one (or more) of the felt-tip pens, draw a circle in the middle of the filter.
Have Little One drop about 0.5 ml of water on to the filter and let them watch while the colours separate and spread out. The more water you add to the filter, the further the colours will travel.
When you’re satisfied with the colour separation, let the filters dry out completely. Once dry, scrunch and fold them up into a flower shape.
Wrap a green pipe cleaner around the base of the flower and hey presto, you’ve got a chromatographic flower!
Pictures: Color Meanings and 123HomeSchool4Me.
3. Fingerprint Blossom Tree
You’ll need:
· Child-safe paint: pink, white
· Card
· Brown pencil/crayon
This lovely springtime craft really couldn’t be simpler!
Draw a simple tree on the card and provide your child with two dipping pots of paint: one pink, one white.
Encourage them to dip their finger into the paint, and to make fingerprints on the branches of the tree!
Picture: Arty Krafty Kids
4. Butterfly Playdough
You’ll need:
· Sensory dough
· A stick
· Loose parts (beads, buttons, chickpeas, pebbles, shells, flowers, wooden loose parts etc.)
Optional extras:
· Textured dough rollers
· Cookie cutters
· Butterfly sensory board/stencil
Once you’ve set this out for your child, you can just let them ‘roll’ with it! (Pun intended!) If they need help making the butterfly shape, then you can do that for them, but the most beautiful butterflies are the ones created by happy little hands using all the bits and bobs they fancy!
Pictures: Early Learning Ideas
5. Spring Sensory Bin/Tray
You’ll need:
· A sensory base
· Baby animal figures (lambs, rabbits, calves, chicks, ducklings, colts etc.)
· Flowers (real or artificial!)
Optional extras:
· Loose parts
· Other animal figures (bees, butterflies etc.)
A sensory play set-up with a Spring theme is a lovely way to explore the changes in the season with your little one.
The beauty of this type of play is that you have free rein over what you set up, the world’s your oyster!
If you’re time-poor but still want to create a beautiful invitation to play for your child, then you can get this gorgeous Spring Lamb kit from Tray Play Toolkits which comes with all these lovely bits and bobs and all you need to do is pop it in a tray. Which, in my book, means that you have have a much greater chance of actually drinking that cup of coffee whilst it’s still warm, and that’s a big win!
Pictures: Tray Play Toolkits
And there you have it! Five easy-peasy ways to play this Spring!
If you need to do a bit of shopping before you crack on; here are a few of the resources I’ve mentioned that you might like to stock up on:
Sensory Dough and Accessories