08/18/2026
☀️Tomorrow is the last summer session of the Nature Play series with Miss April. Register now so you don’t miss it! $10 per family, scholarships available. Link in comments.
📍LOCATION UPDATE: We’ll meet at Four Seasons Park on Main St. so we can check in on the progress of the sunflower house! And be sure to come early to catch the end of the St. J Farmers Market in the park!
🌻A few notes from Miss April for anyone stopping by the park to check out the sunflower house:
The Sunflower House is starting to bloom. So take some time to notice that no two sunflowers seem to be growing quite the same way.
You’ll notice sunflowers of all different heights. Some blooms are petite little bursts of yellow, while others are already stretching wider and taller. And we aren’t done growing yet!
Eventually, our Mammoth Sunflowers will join the party. 🌻 These aptly named giants can grow 8 to 12 feet tall, sometimes even taller when conditions are just right. Their enormous flower heads can reach close to a foot across and eventually become packed with seeds. I love planting Mammoths with children because they turn gardening into a full-body experience. You don’t just look at these flowers. You crane your neck toward the sky and wonder, How did THAT grow from one tiny seed?!
And that wonder is exactly what the Sunflower House is all about. 💛
Miss April from has been watering the Sunflower House throughout the summer and recruiting some very important junior gardeners to help keep our thirsty sunflowers growing.
On Saturday, 6-year-old Kiara Rios and her dad, Brandon Rios, joined the watering crew. 💦🌻
Kiara quickly discovered a sunflower that was exactly her height and began noticing all the different sizes of the flowers around her. Some were tiny. Some were big. Some plants towered above her, while others were still catching up.
That kind of spontaneous noticing is one of the reasons I love creating nature spaces for children. We don’t have to hand them a worksheet about measurement, comparison, plant growth, or observation. We can simply give them a garden and invite them to pay attention.
Suddenly children are asking:
🌻 Which sunflower is the tallest?
🌻 Which one is shortest?
🌻 Can you find one your exact height?
🌻 Which flower has the biggest center?
🌻 How many petals do you think it has?
🌻 Can you find a bee collecting pollen?
🌻 Which sunflower is just beginning to open?
🌻 What do you think this garden will look like next week?
That’s nature-inspired learning happening right before our eyes.
We are so grateful for the children, families, neighbors, and community members who have helped water, visit, notice, and care for this little patch of happiness. The Sunflower House belongs to the community, and watching people interact with it is every bit as wonderful as watching the flowers grow.
🌻 Stop by the Sunflower House and make your own little adventure.
Bring a picnic and eat inside the Sunflower House.
Find the sunflower that is closest to your child’s height and take a photo beside it. Come back in a week or two and see who grew more. 📏
Go on a sunflower scavenger hunt. Find the smallest bloom, the largest bloom, the tallest plant, a flower bud that hasn’t opened yet, and one that has a visiting pollinator.
Bring a magnifying glass and investigate the center of a sunflower up close. 🔎
Look for bees, butterflies, beetles, and other tiny garden visitors.
Lie down or crouch low and look up through the sunflowers. The garden feels completely different from a child’s-eye view.
Sketch your favorite sunflower or bring some crayons and have a little nature-art picnic. 🎨
Read a sunflower story inside the house.
Count flowers, compare heights, hunt for patterns, or simply wander through and enjoy being surrounded by something beautiful.
And, of course, take pictures. Lots of pictures. Because before we know it, these little blooms will become giant golden faces nodding above us, the season will shift again, and the Sunflower House will begin producing seeds for birds, wildlife, and perhaps another generation of sunflowers. 🌻🐦
A garden changes every single day.
Maybe even see if you can find a sunflower exactly your size. 💛🌻
