- Jun 13

3, 2, 1... GRAND summer fun! how does your garden grow?

Thursday, June 13, 2024

We’re so excited to be back to share

our first weekly theme of the summer with you all!

But, first things first…

Last week, to celebrate our 100th post, we had a fun Amazon giveaway!

We announced that we’d be giving away TWO $50.00 Amazon gift cards,

with one winner randomly chosen from our OGL blog readers

AND

one winner randomly chosen from our OGL Instagram/Facebook readers!

The winners are…

Catie H and Carol R!

Congratulations, Catie & Carol!

We contacted you yesterday afternoon!

Please email us back ASAP to claim your prize!

WOO HOO!

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Each Thursday during the coming weeks, we’ll share 3 ideas

all centered around a highlighted theme!

Hopefully, those of you who spend time with Littles during the summer months

will find that these activities are simple to use

and that each provides extra fun for you to share together!

This week we kick things off with our first theme of the season…

Gardening… it’s such an amazing hobby

and one we can easily share with our Littles!

There are so many fabulous directions you can go with this theme

Let your Littles - toddler and older - dig in the dirt!

LET THEM GET DIRTY!

Have fun digging for worms together!

Let your Littles help you with tasks like watering!

Older Littles, with a bit of guidance, can help plant, weed

and even gather the garden’s harvest!

Go on a Garden Scavenger Hunt in search of different plants and creatures!

Nibble on a few treats straight from the garden!

Celebrate the garden and all it provides!

Here’s this week’s 3 ideas!

This was an activity that Laurie did in school with kindergartners

who loved the idea of giving themselves a safe haircut!

Recently, she adapted the idea to give it a try

with her 2 ½ year old granddaughter, Little D!

The nice thing about this project is that grass seed generally grows pretty fast, so impatient young Littles see the finished result quickly!

MATERIALS NEEDED

*Planting materials (cups/pots, dirt, grass seed)

*A picture of your Little’s face, trimmed to the very top of the head

*A spray bottle for watering

*Clear packing tape

DIRECTIONS

1. Attach the picture of your Little to a cup. We did one of Little D and one of her little sister. I covered them with clear packing tape so water would not ruin them.

2. Fill the cup with dirt. Sprinkle grass seeds on the top. Cover with a thin layer of dirt.

3. Water each cup with a spray bottle. (A spray water works best as the slow spray does not drown the seeds like pouring water over them can do.)

4. Set the Grass Head Friend(s) outside or by a sunny window. Lightly water them daily. And wait……. When the grass has grown to a reasonable length, your Littles will be ready to give themselves a haircut!!

Unless you have a young, wild kitty who will climb to great lengths

to explore a cup full of dirt and grass..

UH, OH!

Luckily, the spilled cup belonged to the 7 month old who really didn’t care at all!

5. Little D is still a bit young to be able to cut the grass properly. She tried and pulled some out, so then I “helped” with the cutting.

An Important Grand Tip!

Remember to tell your kids that this is a fun project

where the end result is to cut the grass!

It is never OK. to give yourself or someone else a haircut without a grownup's permission!

😉

Even though the cutting was a bit tricky for a 2 year old,

Little D enjoyed the planting and watering...

and seeing herself with grass hair, of course!

Now, we call that a success!

Do you remember when Laura’s Little L kept busy by putting flowers in a colander?

This was over a year ago

and since then

Little L's fine motor skills have grown so much!

This past weekend, Little L and her family were in town

so we took the opportunity to host family and friends

for a Welcome to the World, Little P gathering!

On Saturday, while I cooked and got ready for our celebration

I gave Little L a collection of silk flowers

and a low container that I’d put a block of styrofoam in.

(I found these two items at The Dollar Tree.)

That was all the prep that was needed!

Little L had fun creating bouquets and

she was equally delighted to pull them apart!

She was entertained for a good half hour that morning,

working alongside me as I cooked and baked!

So pretty, right?

For Our Older Littles…

School age kids will love it if you set up a Flower Shop for them! This was a favorite Spring play center in kindergarten and it’s easy to replicate at home, too! Simply provide vases (plastic ones work best), silk flowers and some styrofoam blocks (optional). You could also add ribbons and a cash register - whatever you and your Little would like! Another fun addition is to create simple “order forms” that older/grown up “customers’ can fill out, requesting a bouquet delivery! Your Littles - and their green thumbs - will have so much fun!

SPROUTING SEEDS IN A BAG!

When Laura was teaching kindergarten,

this was a project she’d do with her students each spring.

It was a really effective way to show Littles how seeds sprout

and how the different parts of a plant (the roots, the stem, the leaves) emerge!

Plus, it was super easy to make and it could be used in a variety of ways!

FULL DISCLOSURE…

When Little L was visiting this past weekend,

I had plans to make this project with her

but time got the best of us!

Before we knew it, Little L and family were packed up and headed home

without us even thinking about completing this project.

OH GOLLY, GRANDS! CAN YOU RELATE???

Since this project was just too good and too simple for me to not share

I recreated it for Little L and I (Bacco) to show you!

Don’t worry though, I’ll repeat it with her later this summer!

Your Littles will be amazed that a seed can grow without any soil!

I’ve provided the set up and directions

as well as some possible ways to expand the project for older Littles, too!

MATERIALS NEEDED

• Ziploc bags (a sandwich or quart size bag for each person)

• Paper towels

• Bean or sunflower seeds (both of these grow fast!)

• A permanent marker & scotch/masking tape

A Grand Tip for Before You Begin!

The night before you plan on doing this activity,

soak your bean seeds in water.

This will “wake up: the seeds and will speed up the process!

Drain the water from the seeds before you begin!

DIRECTIONS

1. If more than one person will be making a bag of sprouting seeds, use a permanent marker to write a name on each bag.

2. Dampen a paper towel, fold it and place it in a Ziploc bag. Place 5-6 soaked seeds at the bottom of one side of a bag. Be sure that the seeds are touching the paper towel.

3. Shut the bag and hang it in a window using scotch or masking tape. Make sure that your Littles can see the seeds in the bag so they can easily observe any changes that take place!

4. Watch and wait!!! Within a day or two you should see the seeds begin to sprout. Within 3 days to a week, you will have fully sprouted seeds and, soon after, you’ll see the seed start to break away and leaves begin to emerge!

NOTE:

Since I only put the seeds in the paper towel two days ago,

minimal changes have taken place at this point!

But… if you look closely, you’ll see some things beginning to change!

We’ll update you in future posts and we’ll share the progress

on Instagram/Facebook, too!

For Our Older Littles…

Take this experiment a step farther! Have older Littles measure the progress their plants make as they grow! Your Littles can also plant different types of seeds, each kind in a different Ziploc bag. Have your Little watch to see which type of seed sprouts first, which one last, which one grows the fastest and so on! Finally, once a plant has established, pull it from the bag and look at all the parts. If you have a magnifying glass, use that to take a close look!

A DIY GREENHOUSE!

Here’s another extension of this activity to try with older Littles!

Rather than planting seeds in a Ziploc bag,

plant them in a greenhouse that you and your Little create together!

OR…

once seeds have sprouted in the Ziploc bags and grown a bit

you can transplant those seeds into your DIY greenhouse, too!

You don’t need many materials to make your very own DIY greenhouse but the effort will certainly be worth it!

MATERIALS NEEDED

• a recycled plastic bottle (a water bottle or a 2-liter one works well), washed & dried

• an Exacto knife and/or a pair of scissors

• potting soil

• bean seeds OR a bean seedling

• water (we use a spray bottle)

DIRECTIONS

1. If using a water bottle, cut it in half. If using a 2-liter bottle, cut it about 4 inches from the bottom. Keep the top of the bottle (it will become the lid of your greenhouse).

2. Fill the bottom half of the bottle with soil. Show your Little how to use his/her index finger to push down into the soil about ½ inch. Plant 1-2 seeds if using a water bottle and plant 4-6 seeds if using a 2-liter bottle.

3. Cover each seed lightly with soil. Spray some water on the soil to moisten it. You will need to do this every few days as it will be important to keep the soil slightly wet. Put your DIY greenhouse in a sunny spot. Once again it's TIME TO WATCH AND WAIT! Within a week you should see your seeds begin to sprout!