Using some mildly wilted flowers from arrangements we had in the house, I set up an invitation to explore for my boys, ages 6 and 3 1/2.

Some of the tools I included for the exploration included a bamboo cutting board, magnifying glass, child friendly knives, forks, chopsticks and a pizza cutter.  Other items that I’ve used in the past are lobster pickers, meat tenderizer, potato masher and scissors.

I particularly like the Vivitar magnifying glasses with the lights because we can see more detail even with dim lighting or on a dreary day.  They also have a thick handle that is great for small hands.  For knives, I always go back to our Zyliss lettuce knife as it’s been used over and over again by both boys.  I also included butter knives and cheese spreaders that again, are great for little hands.

 

I set everything up on my favorite plastic trays from IKEA.  I have also used cutting boards and cookie sheets.

The boys were free to pull, peel, chop, cut, slice, smash, poke, pinch, explore and examine as they please.  I mainly stepped back, took photos and listened to their observations.

“This one has these deep holes.  I think they go all the way down to the bottom.  I need to scrape all this stuff off.”

“This stem is all squishy.  Yuck.”

“It’s like juice that comes out.”

“There, I sliced it up.  I can see inside the whole thing now.”

“I can’t cut this one.  It’s too wiggly.”

“This one smells delicious.”

“It looks all flowery in there.”

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