Water Play with Spring Flowers

We had a beautiful spring day yesterday. After a long week of illness, it was lovely to get the girls out in the sunshine at the park while their brother practised riding his bike along the path.

We had bought a ball with us however it was quickly neglected in exchange for some nature exploration.

With spring, our bare Park was springing back to life. We admired the new shoots, flowers, buds and seeds. There were insects bustling about – ants, slaters, stink beetles, grasshoppers and bees.

When the wind dropped you could hear the soft hum of the bees in the clover patches on the grass and the flowers in the border around the path.

The girls were entranced by the bees. I think for Miss 4 it was the element of danger that came with a bee and its stinger.

We spoke about what the bees were doing – gathering pollen and nectar so they may make themselves food and honey. We recently visited our local honey farm so this experience tied in well with that excursion.

After an hour, the chill in the wind was playing havoc on the girls noses so gave them 5 minutes notice that we were going to head home. Both of them started moaning as they really preferred to stay outside and play.

I love their longing to be outside however after them being so sick the last week I really needed to insist they get out of the cold wind that was buffering across the open park.

So we came to a compromise. I’m not usually one to allow them to do this however lack of sleep and just wanting to keep the peace I suggested they pick some flowers for an activity we can do at home. #youcanonlydothebestyoucaninthemoment

So here it is, our compromise – Spring Flower Water Play!

With protection from the cold wind from the fences of our yard, the girls were excited to be presented this invitation to play.

I simply filled up a storage tub a quarter way up with water, dropped in our collected flowers and some leaves from the hedge in our front yard and present it with a couple of bowls and a slotted spoon.

Before letting them loose, I gave Miss 18m the spoon and asked her to scoop the flowers and leaves and to put each into their own bowls. After quick coaching, she took to the task like a duck to water.

Miss 4 patiently waited her turn before having a go herself. She tipped the flowers and leaves back into the water to initiate her turn.

Once she had organised the flowers and leaves, both the girls played together in the water. They were scooping, pouring, pretending to make Wombat Stew (much like the classic Aussie story featuring a dingo, wombat and lots of other Aussie icon animals), stirring and agitating the water.

Both the girls really enjoyed themselves.

Although simple, there were many learning opportunities throughout this activity.

• Patience
• Turn taking
• Hand eye coordination
• Crossing the midline
• Gross motor skills
• Fine motor skills
• Sensory play
• Speech and Language development
• Sorting
• Social skills

We will definitely be revisiting this activity especially when the warmer weather hits in be coming weeks.

Dani D x

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