Basil Seed Tuff Spot

In 2008 I was lucky to visit China on a Teacher exchange programme. During one evening meal we were given a Basil Seed drink. The drink is meant to have many health benefits from weight loss to blood sugar management. My immediate thought was that it looked like frog spawn!

When I returned home I managed to find a packet of Basil Seeds (affiliate link). I used the packet in the class Tuff Spot during our Life Cycles topic when teaching about the life cycle of a frog.

I couldn’t resist doing a Basil Seed Tuff Spot for the letter B as part of our Tuff Spot A-Z Challenge.

Basil seeds are brilliant. In the packet the seeds are tiny but when you soak them they absorb the water and expand to 30 times their original size. I placed approximately 100g of Basil seeds into a large lunch box, filled the box with warm water and left the seeds to soak for half an hour.

In our blue Tuff Spot (affiliate link) I placed a log from Nana’s wood, a selection of frog toys ,an ice cube tray, three bowls and some formula scoops.

Knowing how Adam is with messy play I did not expect him to touch the basil seeds at all. However, he surprised me and didn’t hesitate making a frog jump into the goop and he got basil seeds all over his fingers. The basil seeds stick to you very easily so it’s best to have a towel close to hand.

Adam had a wonderful time exploring the basil seeds with the frogs. We sang “5 Little Speckled Frogs” several times and Adam thought it was hilarious when we played with his frog bath toy:

Adam loved using the formula scoops to transfer the basil seeds into the ice cube tray and spent ages wiping each seed off of his hand.

After playing for over an hour I started to tidy up the tuff spot. I managed to scoop all of the basil seeds into a lunch box when Adam shouted “No Mum-Mum” and tipped the seeds back into the tuff spot. He had managed to make a circle of basil seeds which Adam described as “the moon”. Needless to say the basil seeds are still in our Tuff Spot and Adam keeps trying to create several moons!

Basil seeds are safe to eat. They do however stick to everything. A single basil seed dries out over time and sticks to where it is left. I would advise cleaning away the activity once play has finished. I left ours out over night and had to pick lots of dried basil seeds off of the Tuff Spot Tray.

Equipment (with affiliate links):

* Basil Seeds

* blue Tuff Spot

* Tuff Spot Stand – click here for our review from Cosy Direct

* 4 Toy Frogs

* A log

 

Tuff Spot A-Z Blog Hop:

Today Best Toys For Toddlers joins us as part of our Tuff Spot A-Z Blog Hop. Best Toys For Toddlers has been having lots of bubble fun! Take a look at there B is for Bubble Blowing Fun Tuff Spot.

 

Other Tuff Spot activities beginning with B: 

Bubbles, Bird Seed, Buttons, Beads, Beach, Balls, Bubble Wrap, Baked Beans, Bricks, Building Site, Balloons, Book Themed Play, Bottles, Build A House, Bark, Bricks

To find out more about our Tuff Spot A-Z Challenge click here.

 

Tomorrow’s Tuff Spot A-Z Challenge letter is C.

 

C is for ….

Cloud Dough, Cereal, Clothespins, Car Track, Cotton Wool, Clay, Colours, Colour Mixing, Contact Paper, City Landscape, Countryside Landscape, Chalk, Cement (sand and water), Cornflour, Compost, Castles, Coffee

 

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