Tu B'Shevat Flower Threading

Even though it is currently cold where we live and there are not new blossoms blooming, in Israel Tu B’Shevat marks the start of the spring season of nature blossoming and it’s always lovely to incorporate some bright and beautiful nature activities in our Tu B’Shevat learning, such as this Tu B’Shevat Flower Threading activity.

It’s a super inexpensive and simple activity and is also a great fine motor skill practice. There’s opportunities for creativity, as well as pattern making, color identification and of course, a hearty discussion about nature, what is so important about it, why we love it, and how this all connects to the holiday of Tu B’Shevat!

What You’ll Need

Fake flowers. Make sure you get the ones that you can easily remove from the stems and pull out any bits at the center so that your flower has a clear hole. We got our flowers at Dollar Tree.
Child-friendly needle
Embroidery Thread

Putting It Together

Remove the flowers from their stems so that you have a collection of flowers with a hole at the center.
Thread the needle with embroidery thread. Our kids enjoyed doing this part too, but kids newer to sewing practice and/or young children, will probably need help. We tied the thread around the needle head.
Invite your children to thread the flowers through the holes. Remind them not to push the first flower too far down the thread so it falls off the end.
Your children may be happy with just the threading practice or with turning their practice into something else. My daughter made hers into a crown!

Finished & Loving It!

My daughter is obsessed with fake flowers so I already had her sold as soon as she saw them on the tray, ha! But she was even more intrigued when she saw I was removing the flowers from their stems. She quickly jumped in to help. And to ask if she can use the stems for one of her creative projects. Yes, definitely! I love children’s ability to see ways of using materials that would otherwise be discarded. They have an innate sense of bal tashchit, the idea of not being wasteful.

There are multiple opportunities for choice in this activity. I let each child choose which color needle to use, as well as which color thread they wanted. This was also a great way to practice our preschooler’s speech therapy goals of color identification and articulation. And of course, the children had the choice of multiple types of flowers to choose to thread.

Both of my older children were able to thread the needles themselves (such great fine motor practice in itself!) and then start threading. My preschooler was very focused on threading the needle himself and after awhile, was able to do it. Such a wonderful opportunity for perseverance!

The preschooler actually had no interest in threading the flowers. He loved the needle and running around with the thread trailing from it. I was totally fine with that. The opportunity was presented and we can always present it again and see if it piques his interest.

The older two were very interested in the actual threading. My son made a pattern of colors/types of flowers. I love how he decided to do this all on his own! It was an added bonus to this activity. Pattern making and practice helps children develop predictions, logical connections and reasoning. It also requires them to focus and concentrate and check their work. So amazing!

My daughter also threaded in a pattern and then turned her threading into a crown. It was absolutely beautiful and filled both of us with such joy. It also made me think about the promise of spring and blossoms and beautiful nature that Tu B’Shevat embodies.

I love incorporating nature into our Tu B’Shevat learning. If you have real flowers that have a distinct center that you could thread through, I think you should totally try it! For us, the fake flowers worked not only as a fine motor practice, but as a beautiful way to review the holiday of Tu B’Shevat and celebrate nature!