I’ve been decluttering and deep cleaning a lot lately as I try to make space and adjust for the girls new skills and latest interests. A new interest that I have taken up is propagating plants. We have always had some plants around the house, but there is about to be a lot more, haha. There is one particular plant that I’ve had for years. It has been a great natural mobile for when the girls were infants and now something the girls are constantly drawn to.

We want to encourage their love for plants and foster it. One way to do that is by helping them learn to care for them. Watering is, of course, one way we care for them, but with the girls being very hands on, I decided it was time to introduce plant dusting.

Their little duster took less than 10 minutes to make.  I used items we already had on hand:

• five cotton balls
• scrap cloth 
• needle and thread

I used three cotton balls for the duster part and two for the knob they will hold. Using the thread and needle, I attached two cotton balls together with a few stitches, always making sure to hold the cotton in such a way that the needle wouldn’t pull the cotton apart. Once those were secure, I attached a third.

                              

On top of the three cotton balls, I threaded another ball placing a stitch through it and each one of the three balls. I then attached a second, right on top of the last one.

Without cutting the thread, I used it to slide the scrap cloth into position. This will make up the knob that the girls will hold as they dust. After a single stitch to the top cotton ball, I used the remaining thread to wrap the cloth around the fourth cotton ball, the base of the knob, and then tie it off. (The knob is similar to something my great-grandmother would put together for a tool she used in loom knitting hats for babies at the hospital. A great way to bring up and talk about family that is no longer physically with us.)

Voilà! A little plant duster. For more delicate plants you may want to loosen up the cotton balls while being mindful and ding it such a way that they don’t “catch” on the plants and cause harm.

To introduce this work to the girls, I brought an aloe plant to their level. I started to dust it myself. V saw an came over to have a closer look and decided to try it out for herself. The aloe is rather sturdy and has spikes, while not sharp, that encourage the girls to be more gentle.

                                            

Have you introduced plant dusting to you little one?

.

.

.