"Our Love Grows" Valentine's Day Project for Mommy & Me

I'm really excited to feature today's blog post.  Brought to you by our dear friend, Carrie Fraser.  Carrie is the talented founder & owner of Happy Little Monkey.  She creates and sews many baby items (particularly known for the best swaddling blankets around) and has expanded her products to include toddler & up items.  If you are new to Happy Little Monkey, then you must head over to her Etsy shop to check everything out or join them on their facebook page.  Perfect for your baby/toddler or as gifts!

"Our Love Grows"

This project can easily be adapted for children of any age by just modifying the amount of assistance you provide.

Materials:
Shallow pot, pan, or other container
Small amount of soil
Rye grass seeds
Paper
Scissors
School Glue (non-toxic)
Paint brush
Wildflower seeds (optional)
newspaper
decorative rocks, leaves, or other materials

My children are ages three and four and always ready to jump right into a project.  In order to make the project go a little more smoothly, I try to get as much of the prep work done before I tell them about the project as I can by having all the materials I think I will need together and trying to do anything the kids can’t do.

Collecting materials.  You can probably find many of the things you will need around your house.  For a container, choose from what you have, it just needs a wide enough top,  old pie pans, an old plate, a flower pot, or you can even plant it in your yard.   We used rye grass seeds and some wildflower seeds.  (In case you aren’t familiar with rye grass seed, it is practically the same thing as chia grass, and it will grow on anything and everywhere- rocks, concrete, paper- so be careful with where you get the seeds because they will sprout later.)


By the time I collected the last of the materials, both my little monkeys were waiting with great interest to find out what we were going to do!

They helped me to put some soil in the bottom of each container. The quality of soil really doesn’t matter, its mostly for visual appeal because these seeds will sprout on anything.  We also had a little dirt on the side to bury our hearts later.

Next, we cut hearts out of the construction paper and made sure they fit inside of our containers.  (If your child is younger, you may want to do this in advance)

Then, each kid drizzled glue all over their heart.  They loved this part.  After drizzling they spread the glue around with a paint brush to cover the whole paper.  My four and a half year old conquered this task without problem, but my three year old needed a little assistance.

Now, the fun, cover the glue with seeds.  We just piled them on, patted them down a little, and let it sit for a minute or two.  Then, we listed the heart up, and held it up to let the excess seeds fall off.  We added some more glue on it and then put the excess seeds back on it.

When you are satisfied with the amount of seeds coating your heart, you bury it!   Just put it in your container and cover it with a little soil.


Initially, we covered ours with burlap. I was hopeful that the grass would grow through the holes, but the burlap was really just holding back growth.

In the end, we pulled some rocks from our yard, and decorated around the heart grass growth.

Other notes:
- We had some wildflower seeds, so after we added the extra grass seed, we outlined the heart with the wildflower seeds and are waiting to see if they grow.
- We left our containers outside and one day it rained, so they got extra water.  The container that sprouted the fastest was the one without any holes in the bottom.

Thanks Carrie!  Can't wait to start this project!

Peace,

Jen

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