This year’s Spring season is particularly colorful as California is experiencing a superbloom – which means that after an especially rainy Winter, a large number of flowers are blooming at approximately the same time. All of the flowers budding and blossoming create beautiful scenery to enjoy, as well as a unique learning opportunity for the children in our care. In this article, you’ll find activities and children’s books for exploring and learning all about wildflowers!
A note about sourcing flowers: As a reminder, it is illegal in California (and many other states!) to pick wildflowers. For the following activities, consider collecting flowers from your own yard, or ask families to bring in flowers from their homes. You can also purchase budget-friendly flowers from stores like Costco and Trader Joe’s.
If you do decide to collect flowers from around the neighborhood, consider looking for petals, leaves, and other parts of flowers that have naturally fallen to the ground. We want to ensure that we are teaching little ones to protect the natural beauty in our communities!
image & activity from Toddler at Play
This activity is simple and easy-to-set-up, requiring only a recycled egg carton and colored markers. The first step is to invite the children to decorate the egg cartons with markers. You can enhance the opportunity for individual creativity by offering the children paints, stickers, stamps, and other materials to use to decorate their egg cartons. If you’d like to make the egg cartons easier to open and close, you might also use a pair of scissors to cut the flaps off, although this step is not necessary.
Then take the children, with their egg cartons in hand, into your yard for a nature walk. Encourage the children to collect flowers, leaves, and other natural objects that they find and place them into their egg cartons. As children find new items, you can introduce deeper learning by talking about the different colors of the petals and the various shapes of the leaves, and by comparing the lengths of the stems. This activity also engages gross motor skill development in children’s large walking muscles and supports fine motor skill development as children use their hands and fingers to examine the flowers and decorate the egg cartons.
image & activity from Fantastic Fun and Learning
This simple, creative activity allows children to construct their own flowers on a sticky surface. All you’ll need is clear contact paper, tape, and flowers taken apart (with stems, petals, and leaves separated into groups). Use the tape to stick the contact paper on the wall, with the sticky side facing out. Once the wall is up, encourage children to construct their own flowers by sticking the different flower parts and pieces onto the wall.
Placing the petals onto the sticky paper is a fun sensory experience, and creating a flower from pieces and parts presents an opportunity to learn some basic plant biology. This activity also encourages fine motor skill practice as children have to carefully handle the flower petals to keep them from breaking.
image & activity from Pre-K Pages
Another fun way to use flower petals is to make this simple flower play dough recipe from Pre-K Pages. Working with play dough is a sensory exploration activity that engages children’s fine motor skills as they knead, stretch, squish, and squeeze!
For the play dough recipe, you will need the following items: 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of salt, 2 tsp of cream of tartar, food coloring, and flower petals. Put all of the items, except the flower petals, into a large bowl and combine everything into a play dough mixture. Depending on the age of the children in your care, you might invite them to help by adding ingredients or mixing the items together. Once the mixture has been combined, pour it into a saucepan, place it on the stovetop, and cook over low heat until the mixture thickens and forms a dough-like consistency. Then, remove the pot from the stove and allow the mixture to cool. Once the mixture has cooled enough, knead the dough to get the final lumps out before adding in the flower petals.
Once the petals have been mixed in, place the dough on a tray and offer it to the children, along with cookie cutters and other play dough accessories!
image & activity from Tinkergarten
This Frida Khalo-inspired activity from Tinkergarten is a fun twist on making self-portraits. This activity requires construction paper, glue, coloring supplies (such as markers, crayons, pencils, etc.), and flowers. To add variety to your portrait, you might also use other natural items such as twigs and colorful leaves. To start, help children draw a picture of themselves by offering them a mirror to use to view their facial features as they work on their portraits. Invite children to draw their faces, using markers, paint, pencils, crayons, or any other supplies you have available. Once the portraits are complete, help the children glue the flower petals onto their drawings to decorate their hair or faces or to enhance their facial features on their self-portraits.
Finally, display the colorful pictures in your classroom so children can enjoy admiring their creations!
This children’s book, written by Melanie Brown and illustrated by Sara Gillingham, tells the story of a wildflower named Daisy. After being told that she is “just a weed,” Daisy embarks on a journey to find her place in the garden. This simple story has a powerful message about self-confidence – reminding readers that each of us is special in our own way. Pick up a copy of this book at your local library or find a free read-aloud of the book here.
This board book, written by Mrs. Peanuckle and illustrated by Jessie Ford, introduces young children to a variety of different flowers – from the aster to the zinnia. The book is colorful and informative, offering a quick fact about each of the flowers to highlight what makes each of them unique. Pick up this book at your local library, or view a free read-aloud video of the book here.
This interactive book, by Christie Matheson, will help children learn all about seeds and flowers. The story follows the life cycle of a flower, with children helping it grow by wiggling their fingers to water the seeds, clapping to bring sunshine after the rain, and shooing away a hungry snail. Pick up this book at your local library, or find a free read-aloud video with the book’s author here.
