Arts and Crafts, Education
Arts and Crafts
Crafts inspired by flowers
13 March, 2023
Flowers are beautiful. Stopping to appreciate their beauty can make us feel happy, content and inclined to smile. Flowers provide food for bees and insects and are vital for pollination, so plants can grow seeds and food. Many species are also used for medicine. To celebrate flowers, we’ve rounded up some great craft projects inspired by flora to share their beauty and wonder with young children.
Before you pull out your craft supplies, consider taking your children for a walk in the garden (or a neighbour’s), down the street or to a park to find some flowers for inspiration, to start a conversation about nature or just to admire them.
Egg carton flowers
This activity is super simple with minimal preparation and the finished product looks so sweet. It’s also great because it uses up old egg cartons that would otherwise end up in the recycling bin. It does involve paint, which kids love but can get messy, so remember to lay down some newspaper first or an old tablecloth that you designate especially for craft.
Flower art with crepe paper and a spray bottle
If your little one isn’t usually keen on crafting, this may be the activity to entice them. They get to tear up crepe paper and then use a spray bottle to wet the crepe paper with water and watch the colours run. Fun! That creates the backdrop for their masterpiece drawn in black ink on tissue paper. There’s a little bit of gluing too. If you like, you can slip in some education by talking about what colours are made when two are mixed together.
Daisies from the bathroom cupboard
Is there anything sweeter than the perfect simplicity of a daisy? Its traditional flower shape makes it a great flower for young children to try to recreate. It doesn’t matter if the end result isn’t perfect, there are loads to be gained in the process. This activity involves kids rolling a ball of yellow playdough to make the flower’s centre, which is great for building their finger strength in preparation for writing. Then they practice their fine motor skills by carefully inserting cotton tips to create the petals. Taa daa!
A rainbow of flowers
Doing a craft activity inspired by a book can be a wonderful way to encourage children to start connecting with stories and thinking about what they’re reading. This activity is specifically linked to the picture book Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert, which you may find at your local library, but you could link it to whatever book you have on hand about flowers. The activity uses cupcake wrappers, scissors and glue, but the cutting doesn’t need to be precise, so it’s a great introduction to using scissors for young children – under supervision, of course.
Printing roses with celery stalks
Celery is a tasty snack smeared with peanut butter, but children may look at it in a whole new way when they learn they can use it to make art. The end of the celery stem makes a really effective stamp that really does resemble a rose. To extend the activity, children may be interested to learn the meanings given to different coloured roses – red for true love, yellow for friendship, lavender for adoration, pink for grace. You can also make stamps out of other foods – see what you’ve got in the fridge or the fruit bowl. Apples, with their star seed centre, oranges and cabbage all have great textures that print well.
Arts and Crafts