flowers at the sticky easel

I dismantled a bunch of our play flowers so that the children could arrange flowers on our sticky easel. I added a paper vase and a few pipe cleaner stems and let them have a go at it. This is a nifty activity to invite both solitary play and companion play. A lot of dialogue happens here and it is really fun to watch. Many of these flower parts traveled back to our play dough table, some even made it into our play kitchen and ended up on pizza and in salad. I love seeing what they do with the materials we put out.

flowers and play dough

This project is not really that different from our flower arranging center yet the children play with it differently. They arrange and display their bouquets and work those fine motors to fill the pails with play dough. We used the same playdough as we did for Monday's flower play. The appearance of the arranging looks different so the children approach it as a different activity, it's really cool and super pretty!

fower petal art

This project came from one of my co-teachers and the children really loved it. The results are really pretty even if they do fade over the months. This is not really a keep but still great work for fine motor and discussing design elements with children. My co-teacher used cardboard cake rounds with the centers cut out. I repurposed cereal boxes. We had originally covered the children's art with another layer of clear contact paper but the moisture trapped inside quickly aided the flowers in molding and it was not pretty so you only need one layer of contact paper.

*clear contact paper
*cut cardboard frames from old boxes, cereal boxes, or cake rounds
*assorted flower petals and leaves (we used roses and other edibles)
*scissors

Step 1. Assemble frames. Cut a square or rectangle of cardboard and carefully cut out the center.

Step 2. Cut a sheet of clear contact paper slightly larger than your frame, attach sticky-side up with the blank side of the cardboard facing forward/top. Trim excess contact paper.

Step 3. Set out flower petals for the children to adhere to their sticky frames. Young children end ot explore by putting things in their mouths, for this reason, it might be best to stick with edible flowers such as roses, nasturtiums, geraniums, and flowering herbs. Go for what is in your garden or better yet, have the children bring in flowers and plants to share. They can dismantle/dissect them a day or two before this project. Store petals and leaves in a bag in the refrigerator.

Step 4. Hang in a window so that the light shines through. Have fun!

flower arranging with preschoolers

The children in my classroom love florist foam. They LOVE it. If I do not glue or tape it down, they will grab that green block up into their little hands and squeeze and squish away until every little last foamy bit is scattered across our carpet. It makes sense, the foam has a delicious texture and a satisfying bite when smooshed. The smooshing also raises the energy level in the classroom which quickly shifts concentrated play into chaotic play. For this reason, our older blocks will appear outside for all the smooshing (and running around) they want but the inside blocks are anchored down so that the kiddos can poke things into them. We reuse shipping styrofoam for toothpick/golf tee, and feather poking but the floral foam comes out for flower arranging so that the children do not have to push so hard. And really, with the flowers, they don't. Some children approach the set up and jab one flower into the mix and dash off while others will sustain 20-30 minutes or more of arranging and rearranging. It's really sweet and lovely! I have used these flowers for all sorts of projects over the past three years!

*small basket w sides 3"-4" high

*1-2 blocks of floral foam

*double stick tape, masking tape or glue

*faux flowers with stems trimmed to 6"-8"

*shallow tray, basket, or plate

Step 1. Adhere foam to baskets.

Step 2. Trim flowers with wire cutters so that they do not tower over the basket. You want them sized for small hands.

Step 3. Arrange flowers on tray and set next to basket

Step 4. Allow play to begin!

a {floral} invitation to play

A lot fo flower cookies were made. We're talking oodles of them. After the cookies were" eaten" the children began making pizzas. If you keep the stems of your flowers you can reattach and put them to some other use. The dough was homemade and tinted green with plants from my garden. The flowers came from the dollar store...$3 worth...not bad, not bad at all.