Lockdown Day 5 – PLANT CARE
Children are naturally drawn to nature, and they can develop huge empathy for all things natural if we give them this opportunity.
How about starting with giving your houseplants a good cleaning?
If you have houseplants, the chances are that they have not been ‘cleaned’ for a while. Granted, this is not necessarily usually on your list of chores, but during lockdown this could definitely be on top of the list of necessities!
Arm the child with a small spray bottle of water (those empty hand sanitiser bottles will come in handy here) and a small soft cloth. Show the child how you gently cup a leaf in your non-dominant hand, and give it a light spray of water with your dominant hand. Place the bottle down and pick up the cloth. Ensure that this is small enough for the little hand to hold and manipulate. Gently stroke the cloth over the leaf in a downwards motion to give it a good ‘clean’.
Repeat with the other five hundred and seventy five leaves on this plant, and then move onto the next plant!
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Consider the learning opportunities here:
- Lots of fine motor skills
- Hand-eye coordination
- Bilateral coordination
- Control of movement
- Awareness of different types of leave – shapes, colours, sizes etc.
- Lots of vocabulary development
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