Spring has sprung, the grass is ris,

I wonder where the flowers is.

This has always been one of my favorite lines of poetry, and it always rings so true. Today, we welcome spring, but the flowers are still several weeks away! To fill the interim, Veronika played with fake flowers in two ways today.

I had purchased bunches of fake flowers on sale at the craft store and then used a wire cutter to snip them into individual segments instead of big bouquets.

First, Veronika got to be a florist! Plastic cups and colanders were perfect for toddler-safe vases and making “arrangements”.

The colander is great because your little one will need to poke the stems down into the holes, which is excellent for fine motor skills.

She also loved just holding the flowers, peeling back the layers of petals to peer inside and talk about the colors of each, including great vocab like “lavender” and “peach”.

When this game was done, we made things even more realistic… with a potting soil sandbox! Potting soil makes a great alternative to sand as an indoor sandbox. I poured some into a tray with the pretend flowers on the side. Make sure you cover the floor underneath with newspaper!

Veronika trotted over to help “plant” the flowers.

She also loved scooping dirt between two containers, using a beach shovel as her gardening spade.

Or picking up bandfuls to see how the dirt felt, and then letting it sprinkle down.

Overall, what beautiful flower play to tide us over for a few more weeks!