The Empowered Educator

Inspiring ideas, training and resources for early learning.

Sunflowers: A Journey Through Sustainability & Creativity.

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The weather has been glorious here lately and I have been doing lots of work in the garden and vegetable patch with the twins and also the family day care kids.

There is nothing better than seeing the joy on a child's face when they pick something from the garden that they have helped to plant and nurture. Lately there has been a lot of interest in the beautiful sunflowers that have been brightening the vegie patch. I decided we couldn't let this little gem from nature just be admired, I wanted the children to really experience the wonder of nature and engage in some hands on activities to extend their interest and learning.

As the twins picked purple beans from the vegie patch one afternoon we talked about the colours and sizes of the sunflowers and picked a few to arrange and display inside their bedrooms. They couldn't stop talking about them and because we had talked about how much the king parrots love to munch on them they were a little worried at first that the parrots would fly into their rooms to find them…precious!
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
When the flowers began to die off we collected the heads with some of the day care children and left them to dry in the sun. We talked about where the bright yellow colour had gone and what was inside the flower head.
 
They were amazed to learn that all those black things were seeds and that is what the parrots love to eat.
 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
When they had dried out a little I showed the children how to pick the seeds carefully out of the flower head. It was quite a challenge and really worked those little hands and fine motor muscles.
 
There was lots of communication, problem solving and pride in their achievements.As we worked together I began to talk about how we could grow new sunflowers from these seeds because we were collecting them instead of just throwing away and having to buy a new seed packet. it was a fantastic opportunity to talk about sustainability and how we can grow things from seed over and over just by putting in a little extra time and hard work.
 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
Check out the concentration…Tara stayed with this for nearly an hour!
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
Ruby got frustrated at times but we worked together to problem solve. She found that by ripping the flower open into smaller parts it was easier to get the seeds out herself.
 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
I handed everyone a little cup to collect their hard earned treasure in and help give them a sense of ownership.
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem

I labelled the cups and they went home with the children to plant in their own gardens with their siblings and parents. I have encouraged them to bring me back a flower or photo when they grow.

Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
I hadn't finished with those beautiful sunflowers yet, I knew they would make the perfect sensory painting activity. A few shallow dishes of paint and some of the flower heads (with built in handles!) and we were ready to get creative.
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
It was such an interesting activity as they all explored the process in different ways. There was splattering, stamping and smoothing back and forth…..the little sunflower stems provided the perfect handles for small hands to grasp tightly.
 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
The stems helped them have more control over how they wanted to paint with the sunflowers….
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
They made some lovely patterns….
 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
And the dry sunflower heads provided a wonderful sensory experience that really got the 3 year olds talking and investigating.
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem

They also began to notice that sometimes seeds would fall out as they painted so they were excited to make them part of their masterpieces or pick them up and carefully rearrange. Lots of lovely pincer grip practice!

 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
The seeds stayed on the paper even when dry so we came back to explore how rough the pictures felt and Tara told us that the parrots would love our paintings!
 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 

Their creations were all unique and reflected their different styles and it was lovely to hear them talking so excitedly about sunflowers and all the fun things they could do with them rather than just look at the flowers as they walked by in the garden.

 
 
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
 
There are always little treasures in nature that we can incorporate into children's play and learning and it really needn't take much effort or planning. It just takes a little thinking outside the box!
Activities with sunflowers for children- from growing to painting! See more at Mummy Musings and Mayhem

How does this activity promote learning for your child?

 It introduces a respect and awareness for nature, sustainability practices, and a love of gardening.
 
It provides an opportunity for children to engage in dialogue about the process and problem solve as they work.
 
Depending on the size of the sunflowers you use it can provide an opportunity to talk about the basic concepts of big and small with toddlers and for older children a sequencing activity.
 
Painting with the sunflowers encourages self expression, creativity and sensory development.
 
Collecting the seeds provides practice and strengthening for fine motor muscle control and hand eye coordination skills.
 
You can encourage children to use their senses as they smell the flowers, touch the softness of the leaves and then the smoothness of the seeds and the rough flower head when it dries. Talk about why adding paint makes that sort of pattern on the paper. Get them talking and investigating.
 
It encourages a sense of self worth and pride in their efforts as they collect the seeds and then grow again after nurturing their plants. They can see the lifecycle of plants in action and participate in the process.

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Learning through Sunflowers

A Little About Me

Jodie Clarke is an early childhood professional supporting educators who want and need to stay passionate about the work they do! She has 30 years hands-on experience in the early childhood and human services sectors across many different roles.


Jodie is mum to 3 in Australia and has already helped thousands of educators with their work through her popular blog posts, activity ideas, online training and e-books.

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    I love your ideas, I would never have thought of collecting the seeds and using the head for painting. You are truly inspirational Jodie. Thank-you so much for sharing. I follow your blog with great enthusiasm.

    Reply

    • Jodie Clarke says

      Aww thanks so much….I’m a bit weird that way, i see things around the house, yard or cheap shops and always see another use for them, usually something fun. The other half thinks I am a bit nuts I fear! Thanks for taking the time to comment and for following along, comments like yours make the late nights worthwhile 🙂 x

      Reply

  2. Ena Greco says

    I love the use of sunflowers for such a multifaceted lesson. What variety of sunflower did you use? It looks like you got tons of seeds!

    Reply

    • Jodie Clarke says

      We actually got some wonderful heads and so many seeds from them. I’m not sure the variety I’m afraid as we used up a few old pkts of seeds. If I find the pkt I will let you know. The parrots didn’t touch these ones which was also a bonus and highly unusual!!

      Reply

  3. Penny Whitehouse says

    Jod, that’s sooo cool! Love the sunflower exploration and craft! I had a sunflower and it was doing very well but one of the girls bent the stem and then, well let’s say we never go to the point we could get sunflower seeds. So sad. I love watching the native bees buzzing around them. I wonder if it’s too late to try again!

    Reply

    • The Empowered Educator says

      It is my absolute pleasure Ranjana – I’m glad you find what I share useful 🙂

      Reply

  8. Suet Vandermeer says

    Your article is such a inspiration for me just reading them what
    you posted have help my work tremendously in many ways.
    Thanks again. ?

    Reply

  9. Leonie says

    Thankyou for your ideas we I work for an oshc service we now have a new manager who is more about education &. Learning . We now have a quiet reading area & will be growing plants very soon I will put your sunflower idea to the manager so many activities & learning experiences. Your information truly helps me learn &. Keep up with the outcomes with eylf . Very appreciative xx

    Reply

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