Back in early November we planted bulbs in pots to give as Christmas presents. I thought planting them and watching them grow would make a good "sciencey" project for an almost three year old and that we could also enjoy making papier mache pots to put the bulbs in.
I came to the conclusion that papier mache is not great with children this young - mine slapped on a few strips and announced she was done. She certainly didn't want to make sure that she'd covered it all and then repeat this over and over again, so, even though she enjoyed painting the pots, I think we'll avoid papier mache itself for another couple of years.
But she did love planting the bulbs themselves and watching them grow. We started them off outside on her bedroom window sill so that they would root properly and then brought them in after a few weeks. It's been a great opportunity to talk about:
- which is the tallest and which is the smallest?
- why are they growing at different speeds?
- how could we make them grow faster? e.g. more light, more warmth, more water
Littl'un was due to give a pot each to her current and former key workers at nursery last Friday. We wanted the bulbs to be at their peak for Christmas itself and to be honest the bulbs were looking a bit weedy last week so we tarted them up with two bits of spare ribbon. Littl'un was absolutely as proud as punch handing over her presents.
We'll definitely find some more things for her to grow after Christmas.
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