There are so many wonderful things to do in spring equinox that will keep your children busy but also having great fun, being super creative, inventive, and very imaginative.
The spring equinox is a season of mixed weather with rain one day and bright sunshine the next, so it’s important to keep the weather in mind and to provide crafts for indoor creativity and outdoor as well. These crafts are influenced by the natural drive to create with natural elements.
When the sun is shining and it’s a glorious day, then it’s the perfect day for making an herb/flower garden. Put everybody into the car and head on to the nursery to choose some wonderful herbs and flowers to take home to plant. Unless you have the necessary ingredients at home, then while you’re at the nursery be sure to purchase a planter box, a select number of herbs, soil, a digging instrument, a permanent marker, and sticker name tags.
What herbs should you buy? Buy the herbs that give the greatest aromas and may be ingested, too, such as lavender, mint, oregano, and definitely rosemary. Tarragon, basil, lilac (yes, lilacs can be eaten!), and parsley are some other fantastic smelling and tasting herbs and flowers. Decide with your children which herbs and flowers they like best and purchase those.
When you arrive home, decide where to place the planter box (if you’ve purchased a medium size planter box, this will accommodate 3-4 plants), fill it with soil and then plant your beautiful new herbs. Teach the children about watering the plants and how they must have the right amount of water because too much will drown the plants and too little will dehydrate the plants. If you don’t know yourself, then while you’re at the nursery, be sure to ask the attendant. S/he should be able to give you this important information.
Once you have the plants in the planter box, then on the name tags, with the permanent marker, have the children write the names of the herbs they’ve planted and stick the name tag on the planter box beneath each plant. By doing this, you remove the chance of a loose name tag blowing away in the wind or falling onto the floor never to be seen again. It’s very easy for children to forget the names of the plants until they’ve become very accustomed to the aroma, texture, and sight of the plants. The visual of nametags will help their memories connect and contain the information. The planter box may be secured indoors or outdoors, but if securing outdoors consider the elements of the weather to the plants.
A great craft for indoor weather on a rainy day is to create an ocean in a bottle. When we were kids we used to do this and it’s great fun and actually, the rolling, rhythmic, calming motion of the ocean in a bottle is a very soothing inducer to sleep along with some very peaceful music at bedtime.
What you’ll need is a clear, clean tall glass jar or a long plastic bottle (I personally prefer glass it’s clearer), some blue food coloring (some people use fabric dye, but I would highly recommend using food coloring just in case of accidental ingestion or the child’s rubbing of the eyes if the dye were on the child’s hands), sand, pebbles, or the pretty colorful glazed stones that are used in bathrooms as dcor, seashells, a hot glue gun, and the clearest of vegetable oils or a mineral oil (again, I recommend vegetable oil due to possible ingestion).
Guide your child to these directions. Pour a little sand into the bottle. Not too much, just a inch or so. After that, fill the bottle half way up with water. Add two or three drops of blue food coloring or more, depending on the blue you prefer to your ocean, drop the shells, pebbles or stones (or all) into the bottle, and then fill the bottle with the vegetable or mineral oil to a quarter from the top of the bottle. With the glue gun, secure the cap to the top of the bottle to avoid leakage. Lay the bottle on its side and watch as the ocean your child has created swirls and sways in a peaceful flowing motion.
As I mentioned, at bedtime, soothing music and the flow of your child’s ocean creation in a dim, dim light causes a very soothing, gentle effect. It’s comforting.
Another indoor activity that’s great for rainy days is to go into the refrigerator/pantry/spice cabinet and come out with everything colorful! Curry, paprika, dry mustard, beets, coffee, tea, grape juice, spinach, cocoa, and many other kinds of spices and food. Have your children place small amounts of these natural colorful edibles into the compartments of a muffin tin, add a little water, dip a paint brush into them and paint away on watercolor paper! This is wonderful, inventive, creative, and highly imaginative fun for children! They love it!
One more indoor/outdoor activity that is blasts of fun and a great way to keep your children in shape is to put on their favorite music (there are some wonderful music cds such as Mickey Mouse Disco, Dancin’ Tunes, and Radio Disney to name a few) and dance, dance, dance the afternoon away! Play follow-the-leader by having each child take a turn as the lead choreographer of a song. When the dancing dwindles down, sitting in a circle singing the songs is equally just as much fun!
Enjoy!
