Ah, sunflowers — those sunny, bright, and cheerful heralds of warm and happy days. Let’s bring that joy and vibrant energy indoors with a delightful counting activity that’s perfect for preschoolers. Gather around little gardeners, it’s time to craft sunflower counting boards that are not just educational but oh-so-pretty and re-usable too!
WILL YOU TRY THIS SUNFLOWER COUNTING BOARDS ACTIVITY WITH YOUR CHILD? PIN IT FOR LATER!
Materials Needed for Sunflower Counting Boards
- Cardboard
- Scissors
- Markers
- Yellow washable kids finger paint
- Paper plate
- Clear packing tape
Steps to Blossom
Create the Base: Start by cutting the cardboard into flashcard-sized squares. These will be the sturdy base for our blossoming sunflowers.
Sketch Your Sunflowers: On each cardboard square, sketch a friendly sunflower face using markers. It’s the heart of our flower, waiting to burst into a riot of golden petals.
Number Them: In the center of each sunflower, write numbers from 1 to 10, or choose a range that suits the age and learning stage of your child.
Get Those Fingers Painting: It’s time for the most fun part! Squeeze out some washable yellow kids finger paint on a paper plate.
Counting Petals: Invite your child to first identify the number on the card. Then have them dip their finger in paint and begin to paint the petals around each sunflower face, matching the number in the center.
A Handy Tip for Reuse: Before the paint takes the stage, cover the squares with clear packing tape. This nifty trick means you can wipe away the paint once done, ready for round two, three, or even a hundred!
Skills Sprouting with Every Petal
While the little ones are having a blast with colors and numbers, they are also:
- Learning Numeracy: Identifying numbers and associating them with quantities is a foundational math skill budding beautifully with each petal they paint.
- Developing Fine Motor Skills: Those little fingers are getting quite the workout, gearing up for writing and other detailed tasks in the future.
- Exploring Colors and Creativity: As children choose colors for their petals, they dive into the world of art, nurturing their innate sense of creativity and aesthetics.
Tips for a Blooming Success
If your child doesn’t want to use their fingers to complete this activity no worries, hand them a spoon and invite them to create the petal with the back of the spoon instead.
As you craft and count, you’ll see not just sunflowers but little minds blooming, petal by petal, number by number. So set up that little garden studio and watch the joy and learning blossom with each sunflower counting board. It’s a sunny, happy space where learning meets fun, and every day is a day in the garden!
Age Suitability
This activity is good for toddlers aged children 3 years old and up with adult assistance.
Mess Level
The mess level for this activity is low.
Difficulty to Create
Low.
Skills Developed
Language development, shape recognition, color recognition, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, imaginative play, creativity.
Toddler and Preschooler Curriculums, Books & TV Show!
Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers
There is no limit to your toddler’s energy and curiosity. That energy and curiosity although a joy can be challenging at times. Their interest in just about everything around them is what makes them great learners. One and two year olds can soak up so much just from their senses!
But as a teacher or parent that thirst for learning can be exhausting. That is why I created this toddler and preschooler program. To help you get the most out of this time with your curious toddler without having to come up with creative ways to play and interact with them.
Play2Learn for Toddlers includes 20 Units for toddlers. Each 2-week toddler unit has 20 super easy to set up and engaging activities for toddlers 18 months to 3 years.
Play2Learn Preschool which includes 20 Units for preschoolers. Each 2-week preschoolers unit has 20 unique and easy to set up and engaging activities for preschoolers 3 years to 5 years. That’s over 800 learning activities for your toddler and preschooler at your fingertips! So many ideas you and your child will never be bored again!
These toddler and preschool lesson plans and activities will definitely keep you and your toddler and preschooler busy playing and learning!
Click here for more information: Play2Learn
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles tha. t show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to share my crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched in July 2022 on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube! Season 2 aired in August 2023! My show was also nominated in 2023 for Best Live Action Preschool Series by the Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.
Curious Crafting Season 1 is also now airing in Australia on ABC! Watch it here!
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
The Best Sensory Play Kits for Kids
Play is at the core of learning during the early years and it can take many forms. One of the most important of these is sensory play because it engages all of a child’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing) and has a enoumous positive impact on brain development.
Our Sensory Play Kits are some fun and easy ways to keep your child engaged while at the same time using sensory play to nurture their mind!
Shop our ready made play kits here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
WILL YOU TRY THIS SUNFLOWER COUNTING BOARDS ACTIVITY WITH YOUR CHILD? PIN IT FOR LATER!
