Flower Crafts For Kids

Simple flower crafts with real flowers make very lovely art activities for kids throughout spring and summer.

They are a wonderful way to :

• Get creative outdoors
• Calm down when it's hot
• And explore the structure and lifecycle of all sorts of flowers.

Super pretty flower craft activities are also low to no-prep and FREE!!

So this summer give some of these fabulous flower craft activities a go.

There are all sorts of gorgeously easy flower crafts kids can enjoy :

• Painting with flowers
• Petal pictures
• Flower petal sun catchers
• Drawing flowers
• Pressing flowers
• Flower gifts

PLUS lots of simple, relaxing ways to have sensory fun with petals :

• Flower water play
• Flower potions
• Frozen flowers
• Flower chains & crowns
• Threading flowers
• Flower petal play dough

And even little kids can get scientific dissecting flowers.

1. Painting With Flowers

Even little kids can dunk flowers in paint and splodge away freestyle.

Dandelions are the perfect size for toddlers and stand up to heavy handedness from your little artist.

But painting with flowers is just plain gorgeous enough to attract older kids too and a wonderful way to explore colour, tones and blending.

They can have very satisfying sensory fun swishing larger daisy like flowers or carnations with big bold strokes to create striking artwork.

And can even make their own paint brushes with flowers, leaves & sticks.

2. Petal Pictures

Petal pictures are a lovely way to :

• Practise fine motor cutting
• Work with textures in collage
• Explore the structure of flowers.

Kids can easily create petal paintings of flowers or blossom trees ...

Or with very simple outlines adorable little flower fairies ...

Petals can also be combined with leaves and grasses to make these fabulously fun flower faces ...

Pulling petals off a flower is also a great opportunity to get up close and look at the petals themselves and the parts of the flower including the stigma, stamen and pollen ...

3. Flower Sun Catchers

Sun catchers are a beautiful craft for exploring nature all year round.

I love making fall leaf sun catchers but they are also gorgeous made with flowers in spring and summer.

They are basically just flowers stuck to sticky back plastic or cling film but there are lots of cool different ways to frame them so you can hang them in different places to catch the sun.

1. Cardboard Box Picture Frames
2. Spinning Sun Catchers
3. Sensory Bag Sun Catchers
4. Flower Mandalas
5. Stained Glass Flower Windows
6. 3D Flower Sun Catchers

Flower Picture Frames

Kids can make super simple flower picture frames with old painted boxes and cling film ...

Spinning Flower Sun Catchers

Or you can make these adorably easy flower sun catchers by cutting the centre out of paper plates. They are beautiful hung from the ceiling as they will spin in the sun.

They look lovely with daisies and buttercups and are a great opportunity to enjoy all your favourite daisy and buttercup songs.

Sensory Flower Sun Catchers

These sensory squidgy flower sun catchers are a fun way to get kids engaged with the flowers.

You just need freezer bags of some sort plus a good dollop of hair gel.

Flower Mandala Sun Catchers

Older kids can get really creative making these beautiful flower mandalas with petals and leaves ...

Petal Stained Glass Windows

If you've got access to plenty of petals the whole family can craft a whole set of stunning flower petal stained glass windows ...

Little snippings of fern are a lovely addition to the windows and give children the opportunity to explore the unusual lifecycle of ferns.

3D Flower Sun Catchers

If you are after a bigger creative project that will entertain kids for longer you could build these fantastic 3D flower suncatchers with any old box you have to hand ...

4. Flower Water Play

On sunny days simple water play is a brilliant way for kids to have fun outdoors and burn off energy.

But flower water play can also be a lovely way for kids to calm down when they have got crazy hot.

Just add flowers and petals to a water play tray or bucket or tub and enjoy swishing them around with your hands or a big spoon or a stick and soaking up the fragrance.

Or grab a ladle and some little bowls and serve everyone up some beautiful flower soup ...

5. Flower Potions

Making flower petal potions is a such a potent memory from childhood for me and another calming sensory activity for kids on hot days.

Kids can obviously just tear up flower petals and stir them in a jar with water as we did as children.

But it is also a lovely opportunity to really play potion making with :

• Tiny jars and bottles
• Fine scissors
• Tweezers
• Funnels
• Pipettes
• Drops of food colouring
• And little labels.

If you've got old soda bottles or jars with a good lid you could also add in other bits and bobs from the garden with your flowers and create these spring flower sensory bottles ...

6. Frozen Flowers

On hot days freezing flowers is another fun sensory activity for kids.

Simply add cut up flowers and water to an ice cube tray or little tubs that can go in the freezer for 24 hours. Then add the flower cubes to water play for more stirring and swishing.

7. Flower Chains & Crowns

Making daisy chains is another lovely flower craft many of us have fond memories of doing as kids ...

Daisy chains - or buttercup chains or dandelion chains - truly take NO prep and are totally FREE so they are a fantastic fun outdoor activity for kids in the park or countryside.

If you want to get more creative and have access to bigger flowers you could make traditional midsummer flower crowns with your kids ...

8. Threading Flowers

If you've made daisy chains and flower crowns galore you can go further and thread petals to make beautiful garlands and necklaces ...

It is again a very simple flower craft activity but allows kids to see for themselves the structure of bigger and stronger petals and leaves and think about how water and food is transported through plants.

9. Flower Petal Play Dough

Adding petals to play dough is a simple sensory flower craft that lets kids explore the colour of flowers.

You can dye the play dough to match the colour of your flowers with a little food colouring, and have a think about "Why are flowers pink?"

Or look for different coloured flowers to add to natural play dough and wonder "Why are leaves all green but flowers lots of different colours?"

The key trick I think is to let kids make the play dough and add the colour and flowers themselves.

The play dough will not last with flowers in it so you don't need fancy heated play dough recipes with cream of tartar and a bag of salt!!

Just provide kids with, or even better let them measure out themselves:

• Even volumes of flour & water
• Roughly 1 cup of each or 250ml water & 120g of flour per child

Get them to add food colouring to the water and then mix and knead away to bring their dough together before adding flowers and petals.

Alternatively let kids make this fabulously fluid wild flower goop which is nothing more than :

• Any wild flowers (aka weeds) from your backyard or local park
• Corn starch (US) / Corn flour (UK)
• And as much water as you like.

It's great fun to stir gloop with a big spoon and you can keep thickening up and thinning it down whilst chatting about the flowers.

You could also add some green food colouring and add grass seeds to make meadow flower oobleck ...

10. Dissecting Flowers

Whilst having fun with any of these flower crafts you can also dissect the inner structure of the flower.

It's a great way to learn how to recognise and name different parts of the flower including the :

• Stamen
• Pollen
• Stigma
• Ovary
• And hidden ovules or eggs.

I think the best flowers for dissecting are daffodils as you can easily see different parts and especially eggs.

But kids can cut up and explore all sorts of garden flowers as they start to fade a bit including :

• Tulips
• Crocuses
• Irises
• Gladioli
• Lilies
• Bluebells.

Use this simple guide to dissecting daffodils to help you understand (remember) what you're looking at.

11. Drawing Flowers

Dissecting flowers is also a great prompt for drawing flowers ...

With the help of a magnifying glass or a phone camera you can encourage kindergarten and elementary kids and older to look at and recreate key details of the flower with pencils or water colours.

12. Pressing Flowers

Pressing flowers is another one of those age-old flower crafts we remember from our own childhood.

But to be honest kids soon forget about flowers hidden under a pile of heavy books for 4 long weeks!!

So use instead this clever method for pressing flowers with a hammer which gives instant results ...

And yes it does involve a hammer but kids can use one of their own from a tool set or you can show them how to use a real one safely with a gentle guiding hand.

You can also press flowers super quickly in the microwave and they really do come out beautifully ...

13. Flower Gifts

If you do press flowers, you an use them to make the loveliest of Mothers Day and Christmas gifts.

These pressed flower bookmarks are very pretty and easy to make:

But you could also just pop pressed flowers between two sheets of contact paper and cut into strips ...

Or even simpler make these lovely little spring flower key rings ...

14. Flower Games

If your kids are totally done with flower crafts you could have fun instead playing flower games.

You can play everything from simple flower colour matching to wild flower hopscotch and daisy and buttercup tic-tac-toe!!

I do hope you and your kids enjoy these simple flower crafts.

For more simple creative fun this summer check out these guides :

• Fun Outdoor Activities For Kids
• Painting Outdoors With Kids
• Balancing Activities For Kids
• Building Kids Confidence
• Slower Happier Parenting
• Classic Party Games For Kids

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