Earth Day: paint chip and found stick plant markers

I have to admit, I love paint chips, LOVE them. I however have stopped hitting up the paint store to stockpile said chips. It makes me feel guilty for the energy used in making the chips and for the gas consumed to drive to the store for something I really do not need (oh but all those colors are so lovely). So when I found this old stockpile of paint chips just in time to mark my seeds I thought it would be a fun idea to share for kiddos to use in creating their own plant markers.

The nifty thing about this project is that you can a little developmental goodness to the mix. There is color naming and recognition along with understanding tints, shades, and hues (hey look, new vocabulary words)! You have a smidge of literacy with the reading of the colors used and the writing of the seeds planted. There are fine motor skills involved with the punching of the paint chips and the ripping of the tape, and last but not least, you can add an environmental element by using sticks found on the ground and not picking or pulling from any plants or shrubs.

My sticks came from my front lawn. There is a very sad and sick carob tree in front of the tiny casa that is continuously losing it's branches and bits. The small lawn in from of our apartment is often covered in them. I picked up one longish branch and snapped into five pieces for my planting. 

The larger the punch the easier it is for your kiddos to punch, write, and affix to sticks. I use an extra large butterfly punch that I score with a 40% coupon at Michael's Crafts. Your kiddo can also cut out squares using a kid friendly pair of scissors. 

To affix to the sticks you can use masking tape or washi tape. Before you use washi tape, make sure your tape has stick-to-it-tiveness. Many washi tapes are not very tacky and come unstuck quite easily. If you are without tape, a dollop of glue will do ya just dandy.