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23 May 2012

Dandelions and other flowers





Our garden is full of dandelions and this is what we've been doing with them.

We made a "dandelion wishes" keyring with dandelion seeds,



and another keyring with more wild flowers.



We made a dandelions and other flowers pool.














We made dandelion prints in clay (this was inspired by a dandelion post at You're Not Lost, You're Here).







We painted a picture using dandelion flowers as paint brushes (this was inspired by a dandelion post at Simple Kids).



We've been reading dandelion poems and stories.

Dandelions
Bright coinage of the generous sun,
Down-flung, and scattered, one by one -
They star with gold the green plateau,
And light the landscape with their glow!

Andrew Downing [1838-1917]

The Dandelion Fairy
Here's the Dandelion's rhyme;
See my leaves with tooth-like edges;
Blow my clocks to tell the time;
See me flaunting by the hedges,
In the meadow, in the lane,
Gay and naughty in the garden;
Pull me up - I grow again,
Asking neither leave nor pardon.
Sillies, what are you about
With you spades and hoes of iron?
You can never drive me out -
Me, the dauntless Dandelion!

Cicely Mary Parker [1895-1973]

THE LEGEND OF THE DANDELION

Of course we've also been picking more dandelions.







We often pick dandelions to put in a vase indoors during the spring and summer, and for the first time we kept them in the vase until the flowers had changed to seed heads (this was inspired by a dandelion post at Almost Unschoolers). We didn't take any photographs of those dandelions but here's a time lapse video we found on YouTube.



Dandelion links:
Dandelions Indoors at Almost Unschoolers
Dandelion Flower Paintbrush Cards at Simple Kids
Dandelions at You're not Lost, You're Here
Fun with Dandelions! at Universal Preschool
Wildflowers-Dandelions at Handbook of Nature Study
Dandy Dandelions at In the Sparrow's Nest
Dandelion Crafts & Recipes at The Crafty Crow
What the Dandelions Gave Us at Full Circle
Celebrating Dandelions at Jan White Natural Play
O’ Dandelion Song at 5 Orange Potatoes
My Quest to make Dandelion Wine at Aprils Cooking and Lifestyle Show
Taraxacum officinale, the common dandelion at Wikipedia

If you have a post about a summer craft, activity or nature study, or any post with a summer theme, we'd love you to link up at our All Year Round Blog Carnival: Summer, which is open for new links until 31st August.

sunnydaytodaymama

You may also like:

Homemade pressed flower keyrings


Science experiments with plastic bottles


Lemonade with frozen strawberries


Bunting made from an old children's book


Making a mini pond


Rainbows


Click here to see the play, crafts and learning ideas blog link-ups we share at.

NATURE STUDY on Sunny Days Pinterest.
SUMMER on Sunny Days Pinterest.

sunnydaytodaymama

16 comments:

  1. I love your dandelion ideas!!

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  2. I love dandelions too! So glad to see someone else appreciates these fab little yellow flowers. Love the key ring & the painting best. Thanks so much for adding this to the outdoor play link up this week.

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  3. This is brilliant, I love the wishes key ring especially x

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  4. I love your wishes key chain. And the dandelion time lapse clip.

    sandi
    rubber boots and elf shoes

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  5. I shall look at dandelions in a new light now! So many different activities,I love the paint brush idea. Thank you for joining me on Country Kids.

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  6. What a greta study of Dandelions and I never would have thought of painting with them, but that is inspired!

    Thanks for sharing on Family Frolics.

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  7. What a lovely and creative post! I will be pinning and sharing. Thanks! Kristi

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  8. I love the keyrings, and your dandelion painting!

    Thank you for linking up to Learning Laboratory at Mama Smiles =)

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  9. What DANDY ideas! The keychains and dandelion painting will be a HUGE hit with my kids. Thanks so much for sharing this post on this week's Kids Co-Op linky!

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  10. I love the keychain...such a cool idea. How do you make them? Our pastor is moving on to another church next month and she is a big fan of dandelions. I think it'd be a very neat gift to give her before she leaves. :-)

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  11. What great ideas! I love the pool and the keyring!

    Thanks so much for linking to Fun Sparks xx

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  12. What wonderful ideas!! I love the key chain and pool. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!

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    1. Just wanted to let you know that I'm featuring this post at Sharing Saturday tonight! Feel free to stop by and grab a Featured button if you would like. Have a great weekend!!

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  13. Great ideas, thank you for linking to my post! So many fun things to do with dandelions!

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  14. My girls love playing with dandelions. These are all such terrific ideas. I especially love the dandelion wishes key chain. Thanks so much for sharing in the Discover & Explore linky. I'm featuring this post today.

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