Make potions and flower petal soup in the outdoor play kitchen for summer sensory play fun and learning!
I love how the warmer days lend themselves to lots and lots of outdoor play, where the messy and sensory play activities can take over without any worry about tidy up time. Some of our best moments have been at the outdoor play kitchen, digging and planting in the play garden and making a marvellous mess at the sensory table. If in doubt, stick them in the paddling pool or wash them off with a hose before going back inside!
Every year, when the two big rose bushes in our garden start to drop their petals, we go out and gather them up to make fairy perfume or mix them into soups and play concoctions. They provide hours of open-ended fun and smell fantastic.
At our latest invitation to play at the sensory table I adde some items from our outdoor play kitchen, and some from the real kitchen, including an old colander, small mixing bowls, rotary whisk (fantastic for gross motor co-ordination), spoons and a coffee pot. I also handed them a tub of red glitter to add liberally to the mixture as they poured and stirred, which of course they were over the moon about! We poured in about an inch or two of water and handfuls of yellow and pink rose petals, then started to play!
They all played at the table at various times throughout the day, with friends too who all ranged in ages from 2 to 5. They mixed up soups and drinks, poured “flower coffee” into cups and sprinkled over glitter sugar.
The holes in the colanders were great for straining out the water and prompted some good problem solving from Miss 2 who couldn’t work out how to keep her water in her bowl to begin with! The rotary whisk provided a physical challenge and they all wanted a go, seeing how could make the water whizz and zoom around the fastest!
Tip: add some dish soap/ washing up liquid to the eater tray and get hem to use the whisk to create the bubbles. They love the surprise of this and that they are able to make them magically appear by whisking!
What they are learning as they play:
creativity: imaginative play, storytelling, using natural items to represent other objects in play
physical: gross motor skills and coordination, fine motor dexterity, pouring, scooping, squeezing
The children are currently ages 5, 4 and 2.
See all our other Sensory Play Activities in the archives
Yes! Cooking in the garden is something Mr Frog really likes 🙂 Great invitation to play 🙂
Absolutely love your blog and ethos here – it’s much of what we did as home educators – so miss it now! Great to connect. x
This is so awesome and totally up my kids alley 🙂