Happy Earth Day! We planted sunflowers and talked about planting flowers to attract bees as we’re concerned about the decline in the bee population. If you’re planning to plant sunflowers, Mummy’s Little Sunflowers is a lovely story which shows that you need patience when you plant seeds!
The Story: Scurry brings a sunflower seed home from nursery but next morning he’s cross when he finds that little brother Scamp has eaten most of it. Blackbird tells them there are lots of sunflowers in the lane and Cow lifts them up so they can collect some seeds. They get very messy planting their seeds and after dinner Scamp is very upset that they haven’t already grown. Scurry takes Scamp upstairs where they prepare a special sunflower surprise for Mummy.
Mummy’s Little Sunflowers shows a lovely relationship between the two siblings, Scurry is the caring, sensible older brother in comparison to impetuous Scamp. Scurry looks after Scamp when he falls over, explains the difference between a dandelion and a sunflower and shows caution when Scamp asks Cow for help. He also consoles Scamp with a sunflower activity when the sunflowers haven’t grown.
The text in Mummy’s Little Sunflowers is easy to read and the illustrations are beautiful. The little mice are very cute and Cow is gentle and kind despite Scurry’s initial fears that she might squash them. The double page spread showing a sea of sunflowers is wonderful and includes bees which helped to stimulate our discussion about how important bees are. My daughter’s favourite page shows the two little mice looking muddy after their planting session, their red wellingtons are adorable!
Mummy’s Little Sunflowers is the perfect story for this time of year and children will easily identify with the actions and emotions of the two little mice.
Age Range: 3 +
Author: Angela McAllister / Illustrator: Alison Edgson
We decorated flowerpots for our sunflower plants. First we soaked terracotta pots in water before painting them using acrylic paints. My daughter wanted to paint one with flowers, for the second flowerpot we put drops of paint at the top and let them run down but we had most fun with the third one. We used cocktail sticks to spread out blobs of paint so they looked like splats of paint. Finally we sealed the paint with an acrylic spray. It’s an easy, enjoyable craft which I have often done in school and is also a lovely activity for a birthday party. The sunflower plants would make a great present for Mothers’ Day which is celebrated in many countries on May 10th. Hopefully our sunflowers will have grown a little bit by then!
We also made crepe paper sunflowers to enjoy while we’re waiting for ours to grow. First we cut out yellow crepe paper petals and stuck them onto a circle of brown card. Then we stuck another circle on the back to secure them. We sprinkled tealeaves onto the circles to give a fantastic pollen effect before adding a green pipe cleaner for the stalk. My daughter was so inspired by the activity that she also made a daisy using white feathers and yellow craft foam.
Do you have any favourite stories that you read on Earth Day? We would love to hear about them in the comments.
Thank you to Antonia Wilkinson for sending us a copy of Mummy’s Little Sunflowers. We love the story and the activities and discussions that it stimulated.
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