Here are five Plants & Seeds art activities to go with your Plants & Seeds Theme unit.
Flower Pot Art
Obtain a small clay flower pot for each child and have them draw pictures or designs to decorate the flower pot using oil pastels. The oil pastels will work much better than crayons or paint, and will not wash off if the flower pot gets wet. (You will not need to put a finishing coat on the pots.) These also make nice Mother’s Day gifts.
Check the craft supply stores to see if they have these flower pots on sale. Because of
Flowers Observational Drawing
During our study of plants, we went outside to the garden to draw flowers. We took clipboards and thin black ink pens for drawing lines. The first day we worked on this project, we focused only on drawing the flowers by observing them. We didn’t worry about color. When children hit a stumbling block, I told them to look at the flower for a moment, and we talked about how the flower looked; its lines, its curves, its shapes. The child decided on one part to draw first.
Another day, we used colored pencils to color in our black line drawings.
Painting Flowers with Tempera Paint
Children mixed their own pastel paints for flower paintings. They chose the tempera paint colors they wanted and mixed in some white paint. I let them mix various hues of each color. To keep from wasting any paint, each child can mix a different hue and all of the paints can be shared. Before asking them to paint flowers, make sure they’ve had many experiences observing flowers and touching flowers. It’s also a good idea to set out some flowers on the table while the children paint.
Seed Mosaic
Children make a seed mosaic by first drawing a simple line drawing with a pencil. Then, apply glue to the pencil lines, and add seeds. A half sheet of construction paper works best.
Seed Necklace
During a study of plants, make a seed necklace. Cut out a circle from posterboard, punch a hole in the top, and tie a length of yarn to the hole. Children glue a variety of seeds to make a mosaic necklace.
