The theme of the fourth day in our Fall Recipes for Play series was scents of fall. (If you happened to miss any of the first three days in the series, Monday was Fall Playdough Recipes, Tuesday was Homemade Fall Paints, and Wednesday was Glowing fun). When I think of Fall, I often think of teas, pumpkin spice lattes, apple ciders, and hot cocoas. So for our scented day, I set up a Pretend Tea Shop for S.
One thing I really wanted to have was pretend tea bags. (PS - this will make more sense if you follow along with the photo below. Hopefully.) I grabbed some super cheap coffee filters from our art supply stash and folded them first in half, then I folded each side over (such that it was in thirds), then I folded it in half again and bent each corner in so that it made thirds again. Finally I tucked the sides into the center.
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S spent some time sniffing each of the scents. I set her up with some cinnamon, some pumpkin pie spice, and some cocoa powder. I also added some super stale marshmallows (ha - perfect for play!) and I made some colored "tea powders" by mixing red, orange, and yellow liquid watercolors with baking soda (you could substitute food coloring for liquid watercolors and salt would also work as a cheap way to add color if you don't have baking soda). She immediately began thinking out her first tea.
I also made some tea tags out of paper folded and stapled to yarn. I provided S a pen to name/label her teas - a job she took very seriously.
Once she was done labeling the tag, I took the finished tag, folded it into the teabag and stapled. It really looked like an actual teabag! Here she is making a goofy face with her "berry" spice tea. The rest of the writing is on the inside of the tag. ;) She added a lot of the red baking soda to make the berry part of the tea, I'm told.
She was so thoughtful about each tea - making sure they each had a different composition. And she was SO EXCITED the whole time. It was such a hoot to watch her go.
In addition to the scents, it was also a great tactile sensory play.
Yes, we are weird and don't have a tea kettle. Hahaha. I am too lazy and always heat our water in the microwave! Here I filled a measuring cup with warm tap water. S is skilled enough at pouring that I let her do the pouring herself.
Mmm, a warm toasty cup of B tea. :) Just the perfect thing for Fall.
Now that you've seen how we played with Fall Scents, don't forget to check out the other three amazing posts that are part of the series. And be sure to come back tomorrow for our final day - Nature-Inspired Fall Activities!!!
Homemade Fall Spices Scented Candles from Blog Me Mom
Erupting Fall Playdough from Housing a Forest
Pumpkin Spice Latte Oobleck from Learn Play Imagine
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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children. As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family. I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.
So lovely! This is a great set-up for pretend play. My kids are like me and love tea and we have done set-ups like this, but always with tea that they could actually try. I love how you used the coffee filter for the tea bag, genius! We have always used pre-made tea bags, but we will have to try this idea next time!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristan!!! Your tea parties sound so fun!
DeleteHello Asia! I love your blog, it is wonderful! There are so many great ideas I can't wait to get busy with my daughter! I featured your blog on mine today.. http://littlebitofsunshineblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/friday-finds.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing so many great ideas, this one is really adorable!!
Hi Leslie! Thank you so much and thanks so much for the feature! So kind of you!!!! :)
DeleteThose tea bags are so PERFECT I can't believe it. We're going to have so much fun at our next tea party making our own!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jessica! Oh yay!!!!
DeleteA perfect combination of sensory play and pretend play! Peanut would LOVE this. He always wants to play with tea bags (I let him have a few occasionally) and T-Discs. We are so doing this!
ReplyDeleteYAY! I hope he loves it. And I hope he creates some amazing "teas" for you. ;)
DeleteI just love this post ;) And I really like how she carefully "labelled" her tea bags- such an awesome way to connect play and literacy. That's totally how it should be done! Featuring this on Discover & Explore tomorrow ;)
ReplyDeleteYAY! Thank you for the feature, Stephanie! :)
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