Sensory fine motor florist fun! - The Empowered Educator

This easy activity takes its inspiration from nature and actually evolved from the family day care children and their interest in caring for the garden.

We had planned a little sensory walk around the garden to collect some flowers, leaves and herbs for touching and smelling but when our baskets were full my twins decided they wanted to use their treasures with the playdough that we had abandoned on the table outside. And so our sensory florist activity was borne!

We had collected lavender, rose geranium leaves, sage, basil, rosemary and lots of different sized and coloured leaves and flowers. There was a lot of sniffing and squishing and tearing of leaves as senses went into overdrive and textures were explored.

Sensory Fine Motor Florist Fun for all ages...includes links to EYLF. Mummy Musings and Mayhem

On the playdough table we already had some blue playdough, plates and trays as we had been ‘cooking' before our nature walk. All I added was a basket of green and the children took over.

There was some sorting, some choosing, some problem solving,some conversation and some sniffing…again!

Each of the children became engrossed in their own creations as stems were pushed into dough and leaves squashed on top until it looked just right. The beauty of the playdough plate bases is that it was easy for them to change their mind and rearrange just by pulling out pieces and pushing them back in.

They also made use of the trays to press small blobs of playdough into as another base and then added single flowers or leaves.

As the activity progressed Tara began to get frustrated that some stems were too long to hold the flowers upright in the dough due to the weight. She decided she needed to cut them ‘to fit better' so I passed out the scissors.

This added a whole new level of concentration and creativity to the activity. Leaves were trimmed, stalks were snipped to make them smaller and basil was chopped up into pieces for dinner.

It was a fantastic workout for fine motor muscles and hand eye coordination as well as their problem solving skills!

I didn't give scissors to the toddlers but their fine motor muscles had a real workout too just by pushing leaves and small flowers into their dough.

They were so proud of their finished creations and we later looked up some information on the computer about florists and the work that they do creating arrangements just like we had done that morning.

A very simple activity that took hardly any effort on my part but was beautifully child led and kept them busy for a long time. It is also a different way of bringing a little bit of nature inside with us as we displayed the arrangements around the house for all to see.

What do your children like to do with things they pick from the garden?

For the Australian educators reading about this activity I would link to the following EYLF outcomes….

Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity

Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and sense of agency
Children feel safe, secure, and supported

Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world

Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment

Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners

Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity
Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving,inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating
Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials

Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators

Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes
Children use information and communication technologies to access information, investigate ideas and represent their thinking

A Little About Me

Jodie Clarke is an early childhood professional supporting educators who want and need to stay passionate about the work they do! She has 30 years hands-on experience in the early childhood and human services sectors across many different roles.

Jodie is mum to 3 in Australia and has already helped thousands of educators with their work through her popular blog posts, activity ideas, online training and e-books.