The inspiration to create our “Wild Hair Creature Salon” came from two different sources.
The first was my life-long desire to own and grow a chia head (something I never got to do growing up).
The second inspiration was one of my kids’ favorite iPad apps, the Toca Hair Salon, where they get to cut, color, and style the hair of several creatures.
So with these sources as our inspiration, we came up with the idea to create a Wild Hair Creature Salon.
My kids just thought it was fun.
But from a learning perspective, I appreciated that our Wild Hair Creature Salon provided both a basic botany lesson as well as some fun and motivating fine motor skills development focused on scissors skills. And of course my kids got to let their creativity go wild as they created their creatures.
Psst. . . this Wild Hair Creature Salon is one of more than 150 activities in Learn with Play: 150+ Activities for Year-Round Fun & Learning. So if you like this activity, be sure to check out the book for tons of other fun and fabulous ideas!
To make your own Wild Hair Creature Salon, gather the following materials:
- Small disposable cup
- Dirt (enough to fill the cup)
- Grass seeds (or substitute with chia seeds)
- Items to decorate your cup, such as googly eyes, buttons, pom poms, etc.
- Glue
- Water
Step 1: Decorate your cup to create your creature. Let your imagination go wild here!
Step 2: Fill your cup almost to the top with dirt.
Step 3: Add water so that the dirt is damp.
Step 4: Place a layer of grass (or chia) seeds on top of the wet dirt.
Step 5: Add a bit more water so the seeds are damp.
Step 6: Place your creatures in a sunny spot and water them regularly until the hair grows. It took about 2 weeks for our creatures to grow a full head of “wild hair,” but the exact time it takes will depend on what seeds you use as well as the growing conditions in your area.
Step 7: Now for some fun – it’s haircut time! Your child is now the hair stylist. Hand your child a pair of kid-friendly scissors and invite them to give their creature a hair cut.
You may wish to place a tray underneath the work space to help contain any mess.
This particular creature ended up with a buzz cut.
But grass grows quickly, so as long you keep watering your creatures’ hair your kids can play hair stylist over and over again every couple of weeks!
P.S. You may want to explain to your children that it is okay for them to cut their creatures’ hair, but it is not okay for them to cut their own hair.
Learn with Play
I was honored to to have this activity included as one of the fun and fabulous ideas in the ebook Learn with Play: 150+ Activities for Year-Round Fun & Learning.
The ebook features more than 150 activities and ideas broken down into the following sections:
- General play / arts & crafts / activities
- Early childhood education
- Life skills
- Organization and set up of play / reading / explore areas
- Seasonal/holiday activities
There are activities for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners. The activities include fine motor skills, sensory play, DIY toys, play recipes, busy bag ideas, imagination play, color learning, math, shapes, letters, science, literacy, life skills, play area organization, and more!
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