Headbands from Flowers

[30 Minutes]

Celebrate spring with a dance wearing headbands you've decorated yourselves! The pastel colors your child mixes will have everyone feeling like spring.

You'll need:

• brown grocery bag • tempera paints - blue, yellow, red, white • sponge • paper plates • paint brush • tape • instrumental music (optional)

What to do:

1. Prepare headbands by cutting 3 inch strips from the paper grocery bags.
2. Pour a small amount of white paint on each of three paper plates.
3. Invite your child to take a small bit of blue, yellow, or red paint on a brush or cotton swab and to stir some into the white paint on one of the plates. Add a different color on each plate.
4. Talk about the shades that appear.
5. Encourage your child to dip a sponge into the paint and to apply it to the headband, decorating it in her own way.
6. When the headband is dry, fit it to your child's head and fasten it with tape.

How to use:

1. Create a spring "dance" together by planning movements for the flower. Help your child move as you make suggestions, such as, " How could your arms show that the flower is blooming?"
2. Guide her imagination by describing a gentle rainstorm, a warm sunny day, a cool spring evening, and a thunderstorm. Think about ending with a rainbow. Add instrumental music if your child wishes.

Let's Talk: Ideas to Explore Together.

• Do you know the names of the flowers you painted? Which one is your favorite?
• How does a flower look in the rain? Wind? Storm? Show with your body how the flower moves.

Useful information:

While you are having fun together, this activity helps your child develop eye/hand coordination, small muscle skills, and large muscle skills. Talking about flowers brings your child closer to nature and the world around him.