Bulb stages concertina

We have a spring bulb concertina which shows the different stages of a spring flower. You can have fun making your own too. Cut a piece of paper in half lengthways. Glue or tape the ends together so you have a long strip of paper. Fold the paper concertina style. Now use the markings of the folds as your guidelines – each section can display a picture and text about the stage of life. These would work great with other life cycles or series of events such as frogs, caterpillars and butterflies or the changing of the seasons. As you’ll only be drawing on one side of the concertina, it can be stuck into a nature journal or work book and adds to the interest of the page.

Force hyacinth bulbs in water.

Growing hyacinths in water can be done in the winter time and is a lovely way to bring bright flowers into your home in the darkest of days. 

Place the bulbs in a dark cold place to rick them into thinking it is winter time. Do this for about 5 weeks.

When the bulbs have been in the dark for 5 weeks you can take them out into your warm home and trick them into believing spring has arrived. Using a jar or clear container, fill two thirds with water, place the bulb on top of the jar with the root-base facing down, making sure your bulb doesn’t touch the water. 

Watch the roots begin to grow and the flower head begin to appear over the coming weeks. When your flower blooms the room will be filled with the delightful  scent of spring.

Paper Dolls

Studying nature doesn’t have to only be a study of that which is ‘real’. Studying nature can involve imagination and story, as well as spirituality, creativity, and emotion.  Our Field Guide to flowers has a delightful set of paper dolls that you can cut out and dress. They are a wonderful tool for storytelling, and imagining the world of flowers when nobody is looking. You can have fun creating your own stories, making your own characters, writing tales, and acting them out in a little paper theatre. 

Pressed flower pictures

As you find common flowers which are growing abundantly you can pick a variety and press them either in a flower press or between to pages of watercolour paper under a stack of heavy books. There’s something delightful about finding forgotten pressed flowers from seasons passed when you open a book, isn’t there? On the occasions when you don’t forget about your flowers you can remove them a week or two later and create picture with them. Lay all the flowers on a sheet of paper and have a plain sheet of paper for your arrangements. You will have fun playing with the possibilities before finally sticking the flowers down.

Art Study

Many famous artists have created beautiful depictions of flowers. This is such a simple activity but I have found children to really enjoy learning about ‘real life’ artists and the work they made. Find images of artists paintings of flowers in book or printed from online. Set up a painting area with paper, paints, the artists works, and real flowers in vases on the table. Sit with your child and paint together. Talk about what you enjoy, find challenging, how you think the artist worked, why they chose the flowers.