The Tiny Seed Theme for Toddlers
Montessori in Real Life
For the foreseeable future, we are homebound and homeschooling. For me, this has meant a lot more planning, structure, and purposeful or themed activities. As I wrote in a recent Instagram post, I don’t believe toddlers need themed or pre-planned activities. They can thrive on open-ended toys, practical life, and DIYS from whatever household items you can find. They thrive on routines and parnets who are present and engaged. But planning these activities keeps things interesting and gives me purpose when we are stuck in the confines of our home. This in turn, makes for a happier mom, and happier kids.
Our theme this week has been The Tiny Seed, based on the classic book by Eric Carle. Our more general theme is learning about how plants grow! As I do NOT have a green thumb, I've learned a bit along the way too! Here are some of the activities along this theme that we have enjoyed this week.
Planting Seeds, Beans, and Bulbs
Toddlers (and children of all ages really) learn best from concrete, hands-on materials. It is much easier to grasp a new concept when they can literally grasp it in their hands.
“What the hand does, the mind remembers. ”
To introduce the theme of seeds and how plants grow, we planted our own seeds and beans. Because it has still been quite cold here, and I am terrible at keeping indoor plants alive, we started with planting a bean in a jar. This has the added bonus of getting to see the growth through the glass, and fast too. Next week we will plant some cosmos or zinnias in our yard as well. We also planted a few garlic cloves in an indoor pot, and are hoping for some garlic greens to grow! D has loved watering her plants and checking on their progress each day.
Seed to Fruit/Veggie Matching
This is another great hands-on activity that gets all the senses involved! We picked out a few different fruits and vegetables with visible seeds, and opened them up for D to explore. Then she helped pick the seeds out of each one, eating the edible ones and composting the others. She enjoyed learning about the seeds, but also the fine motor work of picking out the small seeds and enjoying the fruits of her labor. :)
Seed Life Cycle
After planting our bean and watching it grow for a few days, we compared the growth to these green bean life cycle manipulatives. 3D objects are always more useful in learning new terminology than pictures, but real live plants are the very best!
Seed/Bean Shakers
We of course had to include something along the seed theme for baby brother, and this one involved both kids! D sorted five kinds of beans/seeds/pods into small spice jars. She screwed back on the lids and picked out a basket to put them in for S. S loved shaking them and making different noises with the different shaped/weighted seeds. Super simple and fun!
Parts of a Flower Felt Board
To go with our favorite seed songs, I created this felt flower scene to learn parts of a flower (tulip, namely) and what flowers need to grow. This felt board has gotten a lot of use over the last year, and I can create all kinds of felt shapes and animals from this stack of colorful craft felt. D has been enjoying giving “lessons’ to his brother with this flower felt board.
Pea Pod Counting
I had seen similar counting boards with food on Pinterest before, and thought doing a seed-themed one would be cute. I went with pea pods, as they are a familiar and favorite food for D. I made these by cutting and drawing on construction paper and then laminating. I have attached the scanned copy here if you’d like to print the PDF to use. You can have your child count with real peas, or like we did, use playdough peas that I rolled (and she helped). Just don’t expect those play dough peas to stay peas for long!
Flower Arranging
This has been a favorite for a year now. She especially enjoys flower arranging with the little wildflowers we pick on our daily walks. Yesterday we found a field full of daisies, and when she insisted on bringing more than a handful home, I knew we’d be in for another afternoon of flower arranging. When she was first doing this activity, I set out just one small vase, but now she divides the water and flowers into three vases or jars. She enjoys displaying them on her windowsill!
Favorite Songs
D loves doing this one called “Be a Seed” from Jbrary as a full body movement song!
Favorite (or Recommended) Books
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
We are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines
Botony for Babies by Jonathon Litton
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
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