Learn with a Counting Garden
Spring is finally here! Whether you are a teacher teaching in a classroom or a parent educating your young child at home, Spring brings lots of opportunities for fun and engaging theme-based learning!
Creating a “Counting Garden,” is one way to do that. With some very simple materials and the free printable found below you can DIY a hands-on activity that will provide your child with opportunities to:
practice counting numbers 1-10
build their fine motor skills
practice matching colors
experience the benefits of sensory bin exploration
Materials Needed:
Pipe cleaners (I used green to represent stems)
beads of corresponding number and coordinating colors to the flowers if you want to extend this activity into color matching
Print and cut out free printable or if you don’t have a printer, draw and cut out your own flowers with numbers! Laminating the flowers is a great choice to ensure multiple uses.
Optional: dried beans dyed green and small plastic container to use as sensory bin
Here is the FREE PRINTABLE
The child will select a flower from the garden, identify the number on that flower and then select the corresponding number of beads to slide onto the pipe cleaner. When finished beading, “plant” the flower back into the garden.
To create the “garden” you will first find a container or bin to use to hold the beans. This does not need to be large. Next, to dye the dried beans you will put 1 teaspoon of vinegar to every 1 cup of dried beans, along with 4 drops of green food coloring into a baggie and massage thoroughly. Once the dye is evenly dispersed throughout the beans dump them out onto a cookie sheet lined with paper towel to dry. Once dry, your garden sensory bin is ready for use!
Learn with an Alphabet Flower Garden
Another fun Spring themed activity you could use in your sensory garden incorporates uppercase and lowercase letter matching. Alphabet matching enhances letter recognition which is a crucial skill for reading and writing development. This activity is a fun and playful way for children to practice this integral skill. The child digs through the beans to match the lowercase flower center to the velcro on the corresponding uppercase flowerpot. You can easily DIY this activity by once again drawing your own flower centers and flowerpots, or you can purchase this activity already made and ready to ship to you here in my Etsy Shop.
In my opinion, young children can never get too much exposure and practice with letters. Strong letter recognition is a predictor of future reading success, and this play-based alphabet matching activity addresses a key component.
Learn with a Garden of Shapes
Nothing says Spring like flowers and bumble bees! Young children are often intrigued by bees. This hands-on shape matching activity captures a young child’s attention as they match the shape on the bee to the correct corresponding shape on the flower card. Learning to match and identify shapes is an essential early childhood skill. Learning any new skill or information helps a child to better understand and navigate the world around them. Shape recognition specifically improves spatial awareness, pattern recognition and an understanding of early math concepts. If you would like to purchase this shape matching activity already made and ready for your child to use it is also available in my Etsy Shop.
Here’s to a fun-filled spring with your young child, and as always, happy learning!
