Gardening Kit In A Clay Pot
05/06/2021
A first-grade teacher does a project with her class where she gives each student a bag of “mystery seeds” to plant. With no idea what they are, the kids can only guess at the right soil and the best amount of water and sun. Then they watch them sprout and grow.
Isn’t being a parent kind of the same thing? When our kids are born, they are mysteries. We plant them in a solid soil of encouragement, discipline and love. We water them with our values, and feed them on our interests. But still, we can never be sure how they’ll grow. We do our best, and we hope only to turn around one spring and be amazed by the incredible person who has blossomed.
Here’s a fun spring activity that gets everyone growing and giving to one another in creative ways. It’s a “gardening kit in a clay pot” that you and your kids can create in three easy steps. Give it to someone celebrating a birthday, a teacher, or surprise a special neighbor.
PAINT A CLAY POT
Place a medium-size clay pot on a newspaper-covered surface. Use acrylic paints and make designs with a paintbrush or a piece of sponge. Use a variety of colors and experiment with zigzags, stripes and dots. Let dry.
MAKE A WATERPROOF FLOWER-GARDEN MARKER
Save a quart-size plastic water or soda bottle with a patterned, inverted base. Cut off the base and notice how it looks like a single flower bloom. Paint both sides with acrylic paints, and on the center of the inner side, add dots with a contrasting color for the stamen. Use a plastic fork for the flower’s stem. Glue the handle end of the fork to the bloom. (The tine end will eventually be poked into the soil). For a leaf, break off the concave part of a plastic spoon from its handle and glue it to the “stem.” Draw veins on the leaf with a permanent marker.
ASSEMBLE
Fill the pot with soil and poke the flower marker into the center.
Tuck in a packet of seeds and a card with instructions to use the handy garden marker when the seedlings are ready to be transplanted outdoors.
TIP: Make several more kits to give to Mom, an aunt or Grandmother on Mother’s Day. Or, let guests make them at a birthday party for a unique take-home party favor.
Share with friends!
You might also like:
Blow A Tune With Bottles And Water
Blow up a balloon, blow your nose and we hope the pitcher doesn’t blow the save in tonight’s baseball game. If it’s your birthday, blow out all the candles on your cake to make the wishes, blow in the wind … It’s fun to play a mind game with kids using a fun word like…
Zucchini Chile-Cheese Bake
Leaves that were green may be turning to brown, gold and red, but summer’s growing season isn’t over yet. Tall and free, sunflowers still climb upward like Jack’s beanstalk. Their bright yellow blooms sway with afternoon breezes, crossing property lines and surpassing the heights of fences. So full of life and growth, I recently observed…
Put Waffles On The Menu For Mother’s Day Breakfast In Bed
Wouldn’t a fluffy, crisp waffle taste good right now?Keep that thought, and now think about Mother’s Day. Mom would no doubt be delighted with breakfast-in-bed waffles smothered with her favorite toppings. Dollops of whipped cream and strawberries on top, or real maple syrup flooding the plate. I could go for that!Here are two ways to…
Decorate Mini Notebooks For A Mom’s Day Gift
Think of all the times you need a little notebook: to jot down an inspiring quote, the name of a must-see movie, an appointment and all things in between. But wait; it’s 2021. Isn’t that what memo apps on phones are for? Where reminders and inspirational “aha” moments go up to the Cloud and back…
Traditional-Look Silhouettes With Photos
Remember back in your kindergarten days, making large shadow silhouettes on black construction paper for a one-of-a-kind Mother’s Day gift? Next to small handprints pressed into a round of plaster of Paris, silhouettes rank high on the list of personalized gifts Mom expects to receive sometime along the road of motherhood. To keep with tradition,…
Make and Decorate Easy Bunny Balloons
What is the difference between a bunny and a rabbit? And, just as perplexing, what is a bunny rabbit?To California artist Ivy Chew, whether you call them “bunnies,” “rabbits” or “bunny rabbits, they’re the inspiration for her charming “Rabbit Run” series of archival ink and colored pencil art where her imagination takes us into the…
Decorate Easter Eggs Five Creative Ways
Hop to it! Easter is on its way. Here are some Easter egg-y ideas that are real kid-pleasers. For the first three, all you need are hard-cooked white eggs, prepared decorating dyes in small bowls and a variety of household items.RUBBER-BAND TIE-DYEWind two or three rubber bands of various widths snuggly around egg. Dye the…
Spring Bouquet With Branches That Sprout Pom-Pom “Blooms”
The first signs of spring are everywhere. Maybe you are noting them on your family calendar with your kids. Crocuses and daffodils poking up through dry leaves and songs of returning birds. Even in places where there aren’t mittens and woolen hats to put away, the first, fresh spring breezes and longer days of sunshine…
Shake and Decorate an “Egg Plant”
Shake and decorate hollowed-out Easter eggs, then save them as keepsakes to display from year to year as a whimsical “egg plant” centerpiece. The lovely eggs, together with other favorites, can be “blooming” out of a pretty Easter basket, a medium-size flowerpot or several mini containers lined down the center of your table or along…
“Character” Egg-Decorating For Families
Which came first – the chicken or the egg? Well, for many families at this time of year, there’s no doubt. Eggs rule! While the kids are busy mixing, dipping and dying Easter eggs, rescue a few from the frenzy and decorate them together to fit each child’s personality, interest or something special you share…
- « Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next »
DONNA ERICKSON
