Watch It Grow Wednesday
Watch It Grow Wednesday Activity
I like to try and incorporate multiple facets of learning into Cousin Camp and this year I wanted to focus on nature and growing. I taught an Environmental Literature course at the high school through Lake Superior College and found I had many students that were passionate about our planet. I wanted to inspire that in the boys.
Our activity was an easy one for the two-and-a-half-year-old, and the five-year-old and seven-year-old could enjoy as well. I placed the focus on environmental concerns that are necessary for our next generations to embrace. We were starting with the basics: growing plants. I didn’t choose edible seeds, I chose flowers, simply because it was the time of year. We were rounding out the summer and planting season was over months ago for vegetables.
To begin, I bought a seed starter at Home Depot for $5.47. I’ve bought the same one at WalMart in the spring, so depending on the time of year you might be able to find them elsewhere. You can still order the same one I bought online at Walmart for $11.97. You could even purchase a pack of three at Amazon.com for $16.97.
Then I bought some flower seeds at WalMart for about $1, although depending on the time of year or if you wanted to focus on planting vegetables you could take your pick at the local hardware store or Home Depot or Menards or wherever you usually see seeds. Whatever you choose, I recommend making sure they are large enough for little hands to manage grabbing them. Depending on the age group, it is a great manual dexterity activity to boot.
As we planted, we talked a little bit about how we needed to tuck the seeds into the dirt of the peat pot starters. We watered them too, because all living things need water we decided. They also knew they needed sun, so we put the green house on the kitchen sill in the afternoon summer sun to start to grow.
Watch it Grow Wednesday Craft
For the craft that day I fell back on the creative ideas I used when doing the playgroup way back in the day. We painted flowerpots!
It is so simple and takes as much time as your little artists need. The youngest of the boys lasted a few strokes of paint and Paw Patrol stickers before calling it quits. The middle nephew focused on his completion of the task very seriously and very rapidly. The oldest took a lot of time and care on his pots.
The idea was that once the seeds we had just planted start to bloom, they could put them in the pots. The deal was, they had to make one pot for themselves and another for me!
Home Depot was the cheapest with 3 inch Terra Cotta Pots at $0.97 each!
Once I had the pots, I had to find acrylic paints. I was a little nervous because they last longer on little hands and make bigger messes, but we wanted them to last after watering our plants!
I bought a bunch of tiny pots at Michael’s for $2.99. I have my own set of larger bottles at home, but this was enough for them to use on this project and then if need be, put away.
I also bought them each a sponge brush for $0.59 at Michael’s to use.
I liked buying the items at Michael’s because they were more easily accessible small quantity options that I could buy to keep the cost down. Of course, if you were planning ahead a little more, you could order items in larger quantities from
A slightly larger set with bigger pots for $15.00
And a slightly larger mix of foam brushes. A set of 8 for $3.00.
The last item you need to finish the pots, once they have been painted and dried, is Modge Podge to ensure that they stay safe while watering their plants. It will dry clear and put a protective coating over the artwork.
I also spoiled the boys by buying them each a set of stickers. Dinos for the oldest, Spiderman for the middle and Paw Patrol for the youngest. It allowed them to personalize their pots. You have to make sure they get the stickers onto the pots snugly and get those covered with Modge Podge so they stay on in the watering.
Another tip, whenever doing messy crafts, buy a plastic party tablecloth to cover the table. It’s a great way to do it because you can just put any mess in it at the end tie up the corners and put it in the trash and we are cleaned up. They are $0.97 at Walmart, and a life and time saver!
Then it was unleashing the beasts, and they decorated away. I made it very clear that we had to keep the paint on the pots not on our clothes or hands and we had to wipe any “oops” up right away because this was adult paint. They did great, even the two-year-old!
Watch It Grow Wednesday Snack
Watch it Grow Wednesday rounded out with a “midnight snack” as my middle nephew always calls eating later in the evening. The snack was super easy, not to mention soooo good: dirt dessert! At first, the middle nephew wasn’t buying it. He was not going to eat dirt. I am guessing at some point he was told not to eat dirt, so it makes a kind of sense.
However, once he saw how good they looked assembled? He was sold.
If, for some reason, you have never had the pleasure of eating dirt desert, it is made up of three basic ingredients, although you can find twists all over the internet.
For the very basic recipe, you need:
- Chocolate pudding
- Oreos (or chocolate wafer cookies)
- Gummy Worms
To make it as simple as possible, I didn’t even make chocolate pudding. Maybe, had they all been older, we would have had time and patience to do that, but I simply bought Snack Pack Pudding Cups at Target for $1.39. Walmart had them to for $1.27 if you are making this as affordable as possible.
Instead of leaving my sister with an entire package of Oreos, which would be a persistent lure in the pantry, I bought a Snak Sack of Mini Oreos at Target for $2.99. They were at Walmart for $2.98
The final ingredient, and my middle nephew’s favorite, was gummy worms. I went with the Target store brand Favorite Day for $1.39. You could use whatever you wanted, however. I also went with plain worms, because sour gummies are hit or miss. My middle nephew was appreciative of that choice.
Like I said, if you want to get crazy with this, you can make layers. You could make it in little dirt pails, or one large one. We just crushed our Oreos in snack size Ziploc bags. I am a firm believer in crushing my own Graham Crackers for crusts and Oreos for desserts because it is a great for stress relief. Or if you are a little boy, getting to ruin something and it is approved. We sprinkled the Oreos to look like soil on top of the pudding that we had scooped into clear plastic cups and then put the worms on top. All of us, except, for Middle Nephew who felt the need to keep them separated. Until he didn’t. Easy, delicious, a little messy, and not too hard on the calorie count either!
Variations on Dirt Dessert if you want to get SUPER crazy:
Britney over at Play, Party, Plan has a couple of different options for dirt dessert twists. Like Oreo Dirt Cake and Dirt Cookies. Another Dirt Cake twist is this one by Krystyn at Liilluna.com. Or a Dirt Pie from the Frugal Navy Wife. Lots of fun options!
Watch It Grow Wednesday Book
This year my oldest of the nephews was starting to read books. I chose a book that he could help me read, which limited some of the content. There are so many options that could be used on the topic of growing plants. I chose to return to a version of Johnny Appleseed, because it does fit with my family and our prayers.
This is the copy I picked: Johnny Appleseed: My Story (Step-Into-Reading, Step 3). It is a leveled text so that he could use the skill levels he was at in school to read in the future. I thought maybe we would read it together, but it was late so that night we read the book after a bath while they were in bed, so I read it. Twice. With that the trio slept and we waited for the next time to play Cousin Camp!
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