Gardening
Gardening is a familiar, enjoyable activity
which can easily be created indoors. It offers a wide range of activities
ranging from pure multisensory experiences including sounds, smells and
flavours, to exploring the life of a plant from seed to being fully grown, how
to plant and care for vegetables and flowers, how plants give us food and
medicines.
Create an allotment area using a paddling pool
base, filled with fine, dry compost. Add to this small trowels, forks, sieves, watering cans and flowerpots. Include a variety of vegetables - carrots, potatoes,
beans, cabbage, onions. Herbs such as thyme, basil, sage,
oregano add options for taste and smell. Baskets and trays can be used for collecting produce.
Introduce planting/growing by offering bowls of sunflower seeds and white beans. Explore
the different sound/textural qualities of seeds and beans by pouring into
different containers. Fill
pots and bowls and roll them round, then plant them one by one into seed trays. WWater with
rainsticks to make them grow.
Here are fun activities to complement the theme: - Meet
the flowerpot puppet who appears from a pile of pots. Play his flowerpot instrument and sing as you dig and gather the vegetables
...or perhaps a cowardly scarecrow visits the garden, hiding from the crows. He's come to play
and greets each individual, assisting with tasks, dancing, making friends.
For additional sensory experience, try adding a pond to the garden.
