{"id":121,"date":"2015-06-10T12:34:16","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T12:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/?p=121"},"modified":"2015-06-10T12:34:16","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T12:34:16","slug":"childrens-fun-planters-a-meadows-day-nursery-favourite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/activities\/childrens-fun-planters-a-meadows-day-nursery-favourite\/","title":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s Fun Planters, a Meadows Day Nursery Favourite!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Use up old or outgrown children\u2019s welly boots as a great alternative flower pot.\u00a0The children at Meadows Day Nursery really enjoyed this activity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What you need:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An old Wellington boot.<\/li>\n<li>A couple of handfuls of gravel or small stones.<\/li>\n<li>Enough compost to fill the boot. Use general purpose compost.<\/li>\n<li>Choice of plant.<br \/>\n<em>It&#8217;s good to pick a plant that&#8217;s already flowering, with a few more new flowers coming on. We used pansies.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Strong, sharp scissors.<\/li>\n<li>A trowel (or just use a spoon or your hands).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The activity, step by step:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cut some slits or holes in the bottom of the welly boot for drainage (adults only to cut). It might be safer to prepare this before you start.<\/li>\n<li>Put a couple of handfuls of gravel or small stones in the bottom of the boot to provide drainage.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage the child to scoop the compost into the boot until it is about 3cm from the top.<br \/>\nStop occasionally to give the boot a shake or ask the child to make the boot walk on the floor. This firms down the soil as you go.<\/li>\n<li>Pull the plant out of its container keeping as much compost as you can on the roots. Ask the child to make a hole in the soil big enough to take the roots, and pop the plant in.<\/li>\n<li>Press down the compost around the plant with your knuckles or the back of the spoon (not too hard).<\/li>\n<li>Sprinkle on a little water.<\/li>\n<li>You could add gravel to the top as a mulch to reduce water loss. Or how about adding crushed egg shells to put off slugs and snails?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Teaching points &#8211; things you can talk about while you&#8217;re enjoying this activity:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What does the compost feel like?<\/li>\n<li>Compost is a form of recycling. Talk about what goes into the compost (food, plant cuttings, etc). You&#8217;re also recycling the welly boots.<\/li>\n<li>Count the spoonfuls of compost as you put them in.<\/li>\n<li>Give the plant a drink; plants need water to grow just like people.<\/li>\n<li>Talk about the different creatures that will like the plant. Bees will take the pollen, slugs and snails will eat the leaves, worms will live in the soil.<\/li>\n<li>Talk about the colour of the flowers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>This childcare activity promotes:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy.<\/li>\n<li>Communication, language and literacy.<\/li>\n<li>Knowledge and Understanding of the World.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Use up old or outgrown children\u2019s welly boots as a great alternative flower pot.\u00a0The children at Meadows Day Nursery really enjoyed this activity. What you need: An old Wellington boot. A couple of handfuls of gravel or small stones. Enough compost to fill the boot. Use general purpose compost. Choice of plant. It&#8217;s good to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/activities\/childrens-fun-planters-a-meadows-day-nursery-favourite\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Children\u2019s Fun Planters, a Meadows Day Nursery Favourite!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activities","odd","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123,"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121\/revisions\/123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meadowsdaynursery.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}