Sunflowers

Inspired by Planting A Rainbow by Lois Ehlert and Sunshine On My Shoulders by John Denver, I thought it would be fun for Sophie to make flowers. Maybe she could even identify or utter "flower" after that. I love the way colours and flowers are subtly introduced via a child's experience gardening with his/her mother in Planting A Rainbow. The rich information might not be suitable for toddlers but the illustrations are wonderful. As for Sunshine On My Shoulders, I love it after Papa sang me the song. It gave me a warm and happy feeling, something that I would like Sophie to experience daily, if possible.

I started off with playdoh (since she liked it the other day), simulating one of the Art Time episodes. I made a flower and "talk" to her with a silly voice, but playdoh is too soft to hold the petals and she plucked them off almost immediately. So, we were left with the "face" of the flower. Nevertheless, Sophie was still happy to play with it.

After lunch, I thought of using paper plates to make a sunflower. They are huge and remarkably cheerful so I bet she would love them! Unfortunately, my art project was a little too ambitious for a restless, teething toddler. I had to cut out around 80 petals which translated to 15 plates. Also, I could only let Sophie paint the flower parts so she did not really have any clue to what she was making. In the end, I gave up trying to get her to participate in the project. Fortunately though, she did manage to identify flowers by the end of the day and became more interested in the books.

My sketch...

"Face" of the sunflowers completed and the petals ready for Sophie to paint...

"I" finished the petals... waiting for Sophie to fall asleep so that I could attach them onto the "faces"...

End Product - Sunflowers