During our preschool seed theme I put together a seed tray for the kids to explore. They each used the tray in different ways, and it gave us a lot of opportunities to practice fine motor skills, engage in math activities, and discuss the properties of seeds.
Find all of our seed activities in our printable lesson plans
for home preschool and preschool classrooms.
LEARN MORE ABOUT FINE MOTOR SKILLS
Looking for more detailed information on supporting fine motor development? In Basics of Fine Motor Skills, you’ll learn which skills are important for fine motor development, plus what fine motor development looks like in children at all age levels.Your go-to-guide for everything fine motor related, it’s the perfect resource for parents, teachers, and therapists.
SEEDS FINE MOTOR SORTING TRAY
Lovey’s first choice for exploring the tray was trying to transfer seeds using the tweezers. I always know she’s really concentrating when that little tongue starts to peek out, but she persevered and ended up with a great collection of seeds in the small pots.
After she finished with the tweezers she used the flower tray to sort the seeds by kind.
Big Buddy preferred using small scoops. To begin he filled the tray with seeds at random. Then he emptied the tray and began to sort them by kind. I loved his creativity…he very carefully arranged the seeds in the flower spots so that the seeds made the shape of the flower. It was awesome! Sadly, he dumped it before I snapped a picture.
Tinker also enjoyed the seed tray. She preferred using her fingers to transfer the seeds and fill up the pots…over and over again in toddler fashion!
You might also extend these activities by:
- Counting how many seeds it takes to fill one spot on the flower tray (and compare the numbers when different kinds of seeds are used)
- Practicing nonstandard measuring by counting how many scoops of seeds it takes to fill one of the small pots
- Making seed patterns with the seeds
How else would you encourage kids to explore this seed tray?
If you’re hoping to find a little more inspiration, you might be interested in The Garden Classroom. This new book is a terrific resource for learning to create your own garden classroom no matter the size of your gardening space or your skill level. In addition to great tips about gardening with kids, there are literacy, math, science, craft, and play ideas.
You can find more activities and ideas for teaching kids about seeds on my Pinterest boards.
Please be sure to supervise young children closely when they are using small objects like seeds.
Get a full week of playful seed theme ideas!
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
Get Your Copy
Jill
What a fun hands on way for some seed learning fun! Thank you for sharing this post this week on our Hearts for Home Blog Hop!
Shaunna
Thank you! We were able to include a lot of learning and play with this tray.
Seemi
What a wonderful use of different seed types. Our students love this kind of fine motor sorting works! Thanks for sharing.
Shaunna
Thank you! I think this kind of sorting and fine motor practice is great for this age group.
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I picked up these wooden tongs, toaster tongs, that would be perfect for kids activities like this.
would love for you to come link on our #kidsinthekitchen linky this week 🙂
http://lookwhatmomfound.com/2013/04/starting-a-garden-with-the-kids-kidsinthekitchen.html
Shaunna
Thanks so much for the invitation to share on your site. I’ve been looking for some different kinds of tongs to try with our activities. The kids love variety.
Hannah
Super great fun… math, fine motor, science all in one! I’d love if you shared your post with us at Eco-Kids Tuesday!! Hope to see you there!
Shaunna
Thanks! I love to incorporate many different skills into our activities so they can interact with the materials in a way that is most meaningful to them.
Heather
I love how the activity was presented in a fashion that was appropriate for all three ages and they could choose, great sorting activity!
Shaunna
Thank you! I do try to present them with materials that they can all interact with in their own way. It is also interesting to see them experiment with more challenging materials/tasks when I make them available along with their preferred methods.
Jessica @ Play Trains!
I really liked that Big Buddy put the seeds in to fit the shape of the flower…too bad you missed that photo! That always is frustrating. This would be a great activity to do with my son…thanks!
Shaunna
I loved it, too. I try not to be too intrusive with my picture taking when they are working, but I did secretly wish he would remake it. He has a very creative mind. 🙂
Jessica @ Play Trains!
I know how that goes! I’m the class photographer at my son’s school, and I try really hard for them to not notice I’m there. Harder to do now that they’re getting older and a few of them love to ham it up for the camera and then see the results on my view screen!
Shaunna
I know what you mean. It seems like we’re either at “hey, look at me!” or “don’t take my picture!”
Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest
Love how you include such a variety of activities in your units, Shaunna!
Shaunna
Thank you! I try to include all the skills that they need to practice in a thematic way. So far it has been a lot of fun, and they are all making progress in the areas I wanted to focus on this year.
Angela @ Teaching Mama
The seed series is fantastic!! I love it and can’t wait to try with my boys. I love the fine motor skills used in this activity. Would love for you to link up to my Toddlers and Preschool link up party on Thursdays. (www.teachingmama.org) Hope to see you there! 🙂
Shaunna
Thank you! We enjoyed exploring seeds…just wish I had time to share ALL of the fun we had. I’m trying to include the best pieces. 🙂 Thanks for the invitation to link up. I also had a look around your blog…it’s lovely! Looks like we’ve been blogging about the same amount of time. I started following you and look forward to seeing more of your posts.