• Home
  • SAVE TIME IN THE ACADEMY
  • BROWSE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LIBRARY
  • MEMBER LOGIN

The Empowered Educator

Inspiring ideas, training and resources for early learning.

  • SHOP EDUCATOR RESOURCES
  • NEW? START HERE
  • FREE Planning Guide
  • My Story

Sustainable Fun with Kids – Making Lavender Perfume

by The Empowered Educator 1 Comment

My 3 and 4 year old family day care group have been showing a lot of interest in the lavender growing in the garden the past few weeks. We have done a few activities with the lavender but I had promised that we would make some special perfume as soon as there were enough flower heads so one beautiful Winter's morning that's exactly what we did and I think I enjoyed it as much as them!

 
You don't need much to set up this sort of activity. I am always saving jars so I looked in my stash and found some old spice bottles with lids that I knew would make perfect perfume bottles.
 
After peeling the labels off I displayed them in a rack I recently found in  the thrift shop and encouraged the girls to pick the bottle they wanted to make their ‘perfume' in. I added a few baskets for collecting our lavender treasure (I love baskets and find them at markets and thrift shops quite cheaply).
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
With the important work of choosing the right basket behind us we began our nature walk around the gardens…Don't you just love the fact that my Ruby decided she needed to be a pirate with one glove to go picking flowers!
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem

It's always an adventure to get outside the family day care gate and head off to explore….

Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
These two are the best of friends…gorgeous aren't they?
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
There was rose geranium to smell, lavender flowers to find and leaves to rub to see if they had a smell. The senses were really getting a workout and filling their baskets with just the right fragrant treasures was important work
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
We explored the wheelbarrow herb and flower gardens as well as the larger gardens around the house….
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
With the booty collected we headed back to our table to begin the creative process…
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
Now it was time to challenge those fine motor muscles as the girls stripped leaves, scrunched flowers and rolled stems to fit into their bottles.
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
I also added some dried lavender I already had and a few tools to challenge them a little!
 
 
There were tweezers, small measuring spoons and recycled scoops from formula tins. Each tool provided a different challenge and worked different muscles. They had to really focus on their eye hand coordination and spatial awareness skills to successfully fill their bottles.
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
The girls decided what they wanted to put in their bottles and I loved watching as they made their decisions.
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
They were totally engrossed in the process of selecting the leaves and flowers and fitting everything in. There was a little problem solving as some realised the jars were too full..
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
There was much opportunity for group discussion and sensory exploration as well as focusing on a job from start to finish.
 
Such confident and involved little learners!
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
When each girl decided their jar was full they moved over to a bucket of warm water I had ready nearby and used the teapots and jugs from our outdoor cafe to scoop up some water and pour carefully into their jars.
 
This was really tricky and I could see they were concentrating very hard to make sure the water was poured into their jar.
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
When the water reached the top of the jar edge it was time to screw the lids on and give them a good shake. I have also done this with olive or another carrier oil oil to make a fragrant massage oil and half water, half oil works well too if you give it a shake before opening each time.
 
 

I explained to the girls that we would be leaving them on the rack in the sun while we had a rest and by then the water would have taken on the smell of the lavender and rose geranium leaves.

 
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
When they got up from their rest time I handed them some sticky labels and they each made their own unique design to stick onto their bottle.
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
They also make lovely gifts with a little extra ‘wrapping'. The girls had lots of fun unscrewing their lids and poking a finger into the water in their jars then dabbing the scented water onto wrists and behind ears.
 
The collection and creative process in this activity was just as important  as the end product  (perfume) though.
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
In the afternoon I decided to use up the rest of the fresh and dried lavender to make some scented bags to put under their pillows at sleep time!
 
I used some little bags left over from the twins recent Birthday party and pulled out the trays of lavender and tools again…..
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem

They were soon very busy selecting their leaves with tweezers, scoops, spoons or fingers and filling their special bags.

Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
 
At the end of a very busy day they took home a lavender sachet for their bed or clothes drawer and some homemade perfume for Mum.
 
Let me tell you we all smelled so beautiful by the end of the day…some might even say a tad overpowering 😉
 
Sustainable sensory fun with kids - making lavender perfume. Find out how at mummy musings and mayhem
 
 
I really enjoyed setting up and participating in this activity with the girls. They showed such excitement and yet took the process and their creations very seriously.
 
Nature has so many treasures to offer us, I love being able to introduce this concept to children and watch them grow to love the outdoors and natures gifts as much as I do.

What could you do with something from the garden this week?

Have you joined my Facebook Group yet? It's full of educators from around the world.

If you enjoyed this post why not PIN IT to Pinterest.

Filed Under: Connecting with Communication, frugal fun, imaginative play, outdoor fun, outdoor play, sensory play, world around us

« Ideas for promoting and advertising a home day care business.
Plunger Painting – Fun for all ages! »

Comments

  1. karen says

    04/08/2014 at 5:02 am

    this is great, I think id better start saving spice jars 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Jodie
Hi, I'm Jode, Mum to twins and a teen, and an early childhood educator.
I love to share ideas & resources for play based learning
Find out more about me here...

pinterestfacebooktwitterinstagram

What Can I Help You With?

Family Day Care

Outdoor Play

Sensory Play

Simple Planning

The World Around Us
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Refund Policy
  • Privacy Policy

.

Copyright © 2023 · Market theme by Restored 316