wildflowers

How to Easily Make a Simple and Fun Kids DIY Flower Press

August 15, 2020 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

A fun kids diy flower press can turn a simple wildflower (or garden flower) unit study into a fun and memorable unit by adding in some simple hands-on activities.

Just a few dollars and a little time are all you need to create an easy perfectly portable flower press that you and your child can use again and again.

How to Easily Make a Simple and Fun Kids DIY Flower Press

Turn everything from black-eyed susans to hydrangeas into a dried keepsake.

Furthermore, make dried pressed flowers for crafts, homemade potpourri, or to put into a scrapbook.

Kids DIY Flower Press

Also, this flower press is great for on the go and can be toted around in your backpack to bring your floral treasures home.

Because it’s such a frugal project, everyone can have their own.

We spent $2.00 on wood at Dollar Tree; we had paint and twine already on hand making it a frugal and fun activity with a purpose.

You will need :

2 thin unfinished wood pieces
twine
hot glue gun/sticks
card stock
paint
foam brush

Directions:

I found these two unfinished wood pieces at Dollar Tree (my favorite place to find inexpensive supplies for homeschool projects) in the craft section.

If you don’t find them there you can get any two precut wood pieces from the craft store. Just be sure they are ¼” thick or less.

Paint one side of each of the wooden pieces and allow to dry completely.

Trace around your shape onto cardstock to create layers for your flower press.

You don’t need more than two layers, but you can cut extra as you will want to replace them after every few uses due to the moisture it will collect.

Steps for DIY Kids Flower Press

First, cut 2 pieces of twine into two foot lengths.

Then, hot glue one of the pieces of twine to the corner of the painted side of the wood. Secure it well.

On the other piece of wood glue the second length of twine to the opposite corner of the first.

If you prefer to give it a more finished look you can cover it up by glueing on silk flower or greenery like we did here.

To use your flower press lay flowers between sheets of cardstock on the bottom wooden piece, lay the other on top and wrap twine as tightly as you can around the sides, tying it off into a bow.

Allow your flowers to sit in the press for 2 or 3 days until flat and fully dry.

Hands-on Ideas for Kids DIY Flower Press

Try some of these additional hands on activities to expand on your flower explorations!

Head outside and gather up flowers from locals fields or your own backyard and try them out on your new flower press. Once you have them home search through field guides or use an app try to identify each.
Find out your state flower and try to locate one.
Use a real flower to label each of the parts.
Plant your own wildflowers after making these Wildflower Seed Bombs.
Take apart a flower and identify the parts- petal, pistel, stem, stigma, filament, etc…
Use watercolor paint to recreate your flower finds on paper.
Dig deep into this Wildflower Unit Study & Lapbook.
Try to identify at least 10 different types of flowers.
Create a flower sensory bin for young children with fresh flowers, leaves, and stems.
Young children can also count the petals on the flowers.
Use different types of flowers on long stems as natural paint brushes.
Plant a flower garden or even a small container of flowers together.

In addition, here are some great resources to help you identify your flower finds in the field or at home.

Trees, Leaves, Flowers, and Seeds

Audubon Field Guide to Flowers

Pocket Guide to Wildflowers

Fandex Wildflowers

Whether you have a budding botanist or love being outdoors, you’ll love making this fun DIY flower press.

If you’re wanting to add a few more activities to this activity, I know you’ll love these ideas below.

Hugs and love ya,

Foraging and Feasting Nature Unit Study and Lapbook

June 20, 2018 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

My kids have always loved ways of learning how to live off the land. This foraging and feasting nature unit study is not only a way to teach Tiny some basic survival skills, but a great way to sneak in tips about how to cook.

I don’t want to give you the wrong impression about our foraging efforts because we’re currently city dwellers although not by choice.

Foraging and Feasting Nature Unit Study and Lapbook

That means we have a lot to learn even if we can find a field nearby that is legal and safe to forage. Even though we don’t live in the country anymore, we still have a love of it.

Besides enjoying the beauty of nature, learning the basics of foraging makes for a fun unit study and appreciation for the gifts of plants.

When you can tie in learning about nature with a practical life skill like cooking, I think that it’s a win win.

Foraging and Feasting Nature Unit Study and Lapbook

Making healthy choices for food is important to us as well, but it starts first with being able to identify how to forage.

We live in an area that has lots of wildlife and nature, but it’s still a city like I mentioned earlier.

On our nature walks we try to take time to identify plants along the way and learn about wild edible plants.

It’s not just a matter of finding the right plant parts, but identifying which parts are safe to eat and ones are tasty. We’ve been learning out of this beautiful book, Foraging & Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook to use for our guide for this fun summer unit study.

One of the reasons I chose the book was because not only did it have beautiful detailed plant images and colorful plant guides in the front, but it has tons of recipes. A science cookbook as I call it.

In addition, at the bottom in the gray area are details about how to use the plant parts.

Although it may seem easier to identify plants, one key thing we have been learning is that it’s equally important in which parts of the plant are the most tasty.

Also, you need to learn how to leave enough of it to so that it can replenish and that may mean taking an inventory.

So it’s responsibly foraging too so that enough remains of the plant to reproduce.There is so much to learn about each of the plant parts and their uses for cooking that it has taken us a while to identify and learn about them.

It has made an awesome reference book for tying in science and nature study with a life skill like cooking.

I’ve gathered some resources to help you round out this unit study and of course I have my next free nature study lapbook that I’ve been doing in this series.

Edible Wild Plant Unit Study Resources, Lesson Plans, and Activities

Plant parts you eat.
Plant Part Exploration – Stems.
Needs of Plants.

Which Plant is Which.
5 Edible Plants for the Brown Thumb Gardener.
Edible model plant cell.

52 Weeks to a Healthier You: Grow Your Own Produce.
Exploring Edible Cactus: Hands-on Learning (The Desert).

How To Identify Plants On A Nature Walk.
Edible Plants and Wild Crafting Handbook.
Surviving in the Wild: 19 Common Edible Plants.

Seed to Plate Lessons.
Edible Plant Parts.

Probing into Plant Parts.
Survival Curriculum.
10 Plants that Could Kill You – YouTube

Edible Parts of Plants – YouTube
16 page booklet showing all of the plant parts we eat.
Free Book – The First Book of Plants.

Make a char cloth to start a fire.
Plant Parts We Eat – 11 page pdf.

Science Fun You Can Eat -Parts of a Plant Salad.
How to forage for wild edibles with kids.
Homeschooling Wild Food.

A Beginners Guide to Foraging for Wild Edibles With Kids.
Foraging For Wild Edibles With Kids.
Choosing and Using Edible Flowers Book.

If you’re looking to do any nature studies, you’ll want to get a few of the NaturExplorers. I love those studies for multiple ages.

You’ll love these other nature studies articles:

How to Download the Lapbook.
It’s a Subscriber Only Gift.

From time to time, I do Subscriber Freebies only. This lapbook is a subscriber freebie. I do this to show my appreciation and because I want you to follow me and give me a chance to make a difference in your homeschool.

Too, when you join my email list, you get access to my Subscriber’s Only Exclusive Library of Freebies.

This is how you get access to this form quickly.
1) Sign up on my list.
2) Go to to your inbox and confirm your email.
3) Look for the automatic reply giving you the password to the private subscriber’s area. You should have it soon.

IF you are already a follower/subscriber, PLEASE do NOT email me asking how to find it. You may not want to wait on me replying since I get bombarded with emails.

IF you’ll find the MOST RECENT email from me, the password and link to the Subscribers Area are ALWAYS at the bottom of every email. Look for the most current email since I change the password frequently.

Look at these other links:

5 Senses at Sunset Walk from Barbara at Handbook of Nature Study
Discovering Nature in the Garden Scavenger Hunt from Jenny at Faith & Good Works
Nature Walk Alphabet Hunt from Emily at Table Life Blog
Guided Tide Pool Hike from Eva at Eva Varga
Foraging & Feasting Unit Study & Lapbook from Tina at Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Fairy Gardens and Online Book Club from Dachelle at Hide The Chocolate
Decoupage Art with Nature Walk Findings from Katrina at Rule This Roost
Summer Nature Hike from Thaleia from Something 2 Offer
Leaf Shape Hunt from Karyn at Teach Beside Me
Easy Peasy Beginner Nature Journal Ideas for Kids from Cassidy at Freshly Planted

An InLinkz Link-up

This foraging and feasting nature unit study is not only a way to teach some basic survival skills like learning how to live off the land, but a great way to sneak in tips about how to cook. CLICK HERE to grab this FREE Foraging and Feasting Lapbook and unit study resources!

Free Wildflowers Unit Study & Lapbook

May 20, 2018 | 13 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When the Texas wildflowers blanket the fields here we’ve never been able to stay indoors. We’re always thinking of ways to get outside. Sharing this wildflower unit study and lapbook along with some hands-on ideas, I hope they’ll help your kids get excited about a fun wildflowers nature study.

Here are a few fun facts about wildflowers.

Wildflowers by definition are soft-stemmed flowering plants that bloom once each year.
Some regenerate from the same rootstock (perennials), while others grow from seeds.
The flowering stem typically grows upright, but may be climbing, creeping, or trailing.

Wildflowers can be identified by color, but also by the shape of the flower head:

Bell shape
Cross shape
Trumpet shape
Ray flower
Two-lipped shape
Iris
Pea-shaped

Wildflowers Unit Study & Lapbook

Your kids will love this free wildflower unit study and lapbook along with some hands-on ideas, crafts, lesson plans and fun activities. I hope they'll help your kids get excited about a fun nature study about wildflowers. CLICK here to grab it!

I’ve rounded up some resources to make this wildflower unit study come to life.

Wildflowers Lesson Plan & Ideas

Petal Attraction. Why different pollinators are attracted to different types of flowers
Wildflowers in Bloom has images of many of the most showy wildflowers.
Use this poem about botany for some memory work or copywork.
Great interactive site about the biology of plants.
Life science plant structure and function lesson plan. 13 page pdf.

Seed dispersal. 8 page pdf.
Wildflower vocabulary.
Oh wow, check out this list of state flowers.
Celebrate wildflowers through art.
Native plants – our medicine.

Flowers seeking pollinators. Geared for 2nd to 7th grade.
Wildflower bingo and lesson plan.
Fun with flowers printables. Nice!
Pollinator Activity Book.
Bee Guides. Helpful.

Flower dissection instructions.
For the littles, printable flower color cards.

Texas wildflowers guide.
Plant life cycle worksheets.
Another list of state flowers.

Studying seeds printable book.

Wildflowers Media & Interactive.

Video about Flower Pollination.
How Plants Grow Game.
Photosynthesis video and karaoke.
Parts of the Plant.
Parts of the flower interactive guide.

Funny young teen making edible candy flower.
Pick the Pollinator.
Life Cycle of a Flowering Plant.
Up Close Parts of Flower – Harcourt School

Fun and EASY Crafts, Hands-on Ideas, and Activities About Wildflowers!

Look at these ideas for making wildflower notecards, making your own perfume, preserving wildflowers, and a wildflower book mark.
Do not miss these fabulous and free 7 coloring books full of wildflowers. These also make great covers for the outside of your lapbook. They coloring books are California Plants to Color, Coloring Book of the Western Great Lakes Region, Plants to Color from the Aspen Forest, Wildflowers of the Colorado Mountain Tops, Wildflowers of Ponderosa Pine Forests, Celebrate Wildflowers of Southwest Idaho and Wildflowers of the Western U.S.

Look at this Nature Study: Daffodils – Dissection, Poetry & Drawings.
Oh goodness, what is there to not love about the ideas on this flower and garden site? Tissue paper flowers, make flowers out of household items like straws, make paper flower baskets, create stinkin’ cute hand print flowers, spinning paper plate flower, make cupcake wrapper flowers, egg carton flowers, crepe flowers and make a booklet that opens up into a daisy.
Make leafy animal crafts.
Something for the littles, cut and paste shapes to make flowers.

A long list of fun things to do with plants.
Use a plastic bottle to make a flower. Great for a tween or teen.
Springtime STEAM: Wildflower papermaking.
Creative flower arrangements. Great for a tween or teen.
How to Press Flowers. Top 10 Tips.

Z Is For Zinnias| Planting Wild Flowers.
Botanical Illustration step by step – Painting a Sweet Pea.
Create a dish garden.
Make a hydroponic garden with bottle.
Flower experiment for kids.

42 flowers you can eat.
Preschool math counting flower petals.
How to make a flower crown.
Spring flower activities for kids.
Cork-Stamped Flower Craft with Corks and Buttons.

Dyeing flowers.

Books & Fun Activities About Wildflowers

And grab this free reading guide to go with the book, Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers.

And grab this free make your own flowers guide to go with this sweet book, Rose’s Garden. While waiting for her garden to bloom children bring Rose flowers they’ve made from different material.

If you’re looking to do any spring nature studies, you’ll want to get a few of the NaturExplorers. I love those studies for multiple ages.

Other Nature Study Ideas

Parts of a Dandelion Nature Study.
DIY Wildflower Seed Bombs.
Exploring Wildflowers.
Fun Flower Garden for Kids with Upcycled Cartons.
See Like a Bee Wildflower Hunt.

Nature Sensory Bags.
All About Flowers Printable Unit Study: Flower Printables for Kids.
Sorting parts of flower.
Daffodil dissection :: parts of a flower lesson.
Cheeto pollination experiment.

How to Download the Lapbook.
It’s a Subscriber Only Gift.

Too, when you join my email list, you get access to my Subscriber’s Only Exclusive Library of Freebies.

IF you are already a follower/subscriber, PLEASE do NOT email me asking how to find it. You may not want to wait on me replying since I get bombarded with emails.

You’ll love my other nature study ideas and posts below:

Miss Rumphius Mixed Media Art from Emily at Table Life Blog
Wildflower Walk and Pressing Flowers from Barbara at Handbook of Nature Study
Wildflowers Nature Study from Jenny at Faith and Good Works
Oregon Nature Study Quiz: Wildflower Edition from Eva at Eva Varga
Wildflower Fairy Poetry & Art Activity from Melanie at Wind in a Letterbox
Flower Fairy Peg Dolls from Cassidy at Freshly Planted
Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms Online Book Club from Dachelle at Hide the Chocolate
Wildflowers Unit Study & Lapbook from Tina at Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Fingerprint Painting on Canvas Activity from Katrina at Rule This Roost
DIY Flower Press from Thaleia at Something 2 Offer
Dandelion Life Cycle Learning Activities from Karyn at Teach Beside Me

An InLinkz Link-up

Did You Miss some Awesome Nature Post in Our Previous Parties?

Hands-On Mixed Media Flower Art Fun Nature Study

May 14, 2018 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

You’ll want to grab my free Nature Lapbooks.They are facebook only follower freebies.

Be sure you join my Homeschool Dynamics by Tina Robertson facebook group

Written by Shawna at Not the Former Things.

Every spring, my youngest son and I go to the local nursery and pick out a few, inexpensive, flowering plants. He brings them home and plants them in “his pot.” It’s a springtime routine we have enjoyed together since he was a toddler.

He likes to get his hands in the dirt. I love the look of flowers on my patio. It’s a win-win.

This year, I decided to take this gardening activity and use to it to fuel a quick nature study as well.

Hands-On Mixed Media Spring Nature Study

What you’ll need for this activity:

Flowering plants (either purchased or in your own yard)
Something to draw and color with (we used chalk pastels because they are very forgiving, but color pencils, crayons and even markers will work too)
A large piece of white construction paper (make sure it’s pretty heavy)
Clear glue

Nature Study At Home

The day after my son planted his special spring pot, we completed a basic geology lesson about soil.

I began by asking him what components he thought made up soil. He was easily able to answer broken down pieces of rock, but we decided to do some more research.

Soil is defined by Dictionary.com as the loose top layer of the Earth’s surface, consisting of rock and mineral particles mixed with decayed organic matter (humus), and capable of retaining water, providing nutrients for plants, and supporting a wide range of biotic communities.

You’ll love this AWESOME art program that I use!

We learned that different soils exist in different locations around the globe, based on their environment and weather. This came as a bit of surprise to my son, so we spent some time discussing a the clay soil we saw on our last family trip, verses the rocky silt that exists in our backyard.

Then, we decided it was time to move on to the fun, hands-on part of our learning.

Mixed Media Nature Study

In the past, we have collected items from the beach and from our hikes in the forest, and then used them to create mixed media art as a record of our experience.

Instead of using shells or pine needles, for this activity, we used the soil, leaves and flower petals available in our own flower pot.

He started by drawing his potted flowers with chalk pastels. (Because he dislikes the feeling of chalk on his fingers, he always wears latex gloves, but it works.)

After blurring the chalk lines, we then took some of the leaves and flower petals from our plants (only a few to keep the pot looking pretty!).

You’ll love these nature living books curriculum!

We then glued the leaves and petals to the picture in various locations.

After allowing the glue to dry, he grabbed a handful of our soil and we observed the various bits of rocks and sticks that blended together to create our top layer.

We then spread glue around the bottom of the picture and rubbed the soil into it to create an additional area of interest in his art.

That’s it! The result was a beautiful representation of our hands-on, spring time activity.

I really love this idea for anyone not able to get out into more obvious natural environments like a hike through the woods or a tide pool at the beach.

Nature study can happen anywhere, with the help of a few pants, some soil and an interested learner!

See more fun ways to learn about nature in your homeschool!

wildflowers

How to Easily Make a Simple and Fun Kids DIY Flower Press

Kids DIY Flower Press