Fine Motor
Science
SpringPreschoolers26 Comments
Pick as many of those dandelions from your yard as you can and use them for a fine motor threading activity!
A super fun dandelion activity challenge that also gets them out of your yard.
On Mother’s Day, we headed outside to pick dandelions at my mom’s house and collected them in a basket. Not doing anything in particular with them.
Later that week, we went outside and did the same thing again at home.
Henry enjoys any activity that includes picking dandelions.
He gets excited when he finds them. He says they’re pretty.
Henry has always loved these yellow flowers.
Most children do.
Likely it’s because they’re allowed to pick them at their own free will.
Henry collected the dandelions in a green basket, and about filled it completely!
Fine Motor Threading with Dandelions
Once the front yard was free of dandelions, we set out to do something with these weedy flowers.
We came up with a dandelion activity.
The basket of dandelions got dumped out on the sidewalk.
We turned the basket over.
The dandelions with stems attached were poked through the wire basket.
Henry hauled the flowers with his end loader, of course.
There was one dandelion with an extremely long stem.
This one proved to be tricky.
Henry found the longer stems were harder to thread through the basket.
Once we covered the top of the basket in dandelions, we started on the sides.
Henry didn’t find this part of the activity as interesting and he thought the dandelion hat was complete.
Though when I picked it up to put it on him, this is what we found:
Henry wouldn’t let me set it on his head, he made me wear the hat instead (Sorry, no pictures of that!)
Try out another dandelion activity:
- Dandelion Cupcakes and Goop by The Imagination Tree (find another version of this at The Chocolate Muffin Tree)
- Paint with Dandelions by little learners lounge
- Make a Dandelion Crown by 4 kids, 2 guinea pigs, one happy family
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Elex says
Such a cute idea for summer! Thank you for sharing.
Erin says
Why is it that whenever I want to do something with dandelions, I can never seem to find any?!! lol
Mama Pea Pod says
I commented on this post before, I know, but I just wanted to say thanks for linking it up to our Outdoor Play linky! Still love it :)
Having Fun at Home says
For another fun idea of what to do with dandelions, try making dandelion curls
http://havingfunathomeblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/dandelion-curls.html
Amy says
Thanks so much for sharing! My 2-yr-old, Noah, is exactly like Henry in his dandelion obsession! He picks every one he sees; one time he filled the whole trunk of his tricycle with them and I forgot and they turned into a huge moldy mountain…ick! Thanks for the great idea, Noah would looooove to try it and it'll keep him occupied for awhile. ;)
Amy
http://oneartmama.blogspot.com
phasejumper says
Great outdoor hand-eye coordination practice!
cathy @ NurtureStore says
My girls *love* dandelions too. They thread them together like a daisy chain to make a crown. Another thing we've done with the seed heads is blow them onto glue spread on a 'd is for dandelion' shape.
Michelle says
This is great. We love to simply blew them once they turn white! :)
Lauralee Moss says
Very cute. I think it is wonderful to turn simple ideas into learning ideas.
Stacy@{share and remember} says
Fun dandelion activities! We attempted to make a syrup from the 5 Orange Potatoes blog a few years ago. We made the dandelion cookies too but wouldn't really recommend them either. :) Fun!
http://shareandremember.blogspot.com/2009/05/dandelions.html
Brimful Curiosities says
Have you ever made dandelion spirals? My mom taught me how when I was little and my kids love this water/dandelion activity.
Jackie H. says
Hmmm, if my husband would let dandelions grow in his yard maybe we could do this. WE'll have to go pick them out of the neighbors yards. ;)
Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin Tree says
Really love this idea! All our dandelions are puffs now, but we could still do something like this with all of them! You are so Creative!
Mama Pea Pod says
What a sweet, child-initiated outdoor play activity! Love to see how they explore and learn on their own like that!
rachelle | tinkerlab says
So cool, Jamie! And look at all those dandelions!!! This reminds me of an activity we did with pipe cleaners and a colander, but I like it with the dandelions SO much better.
Tends to be Hippie says
Thank you for the idea!! I was thinking ‘I don’t have a basket like that. What will I use?…’ Then I saw your comment and boom!!
Michelle says
Very cute! We did a dandelion post last week as well! We're waiting for some that we pressed to be flat. Then I have no idea what we're going to do with them. Umm. . we really need to see the dandelion hat picture! LOL Have a great Monday!