As we walked home from school, today, we were discussing how many different yellow flowers we passed. There were daffodils, celandine, dandelions, crocuses and tulips.
We also noticed that there seemed to be a surge of white flowers also coming through, almost like the second wave of spring. We spotted May blossom, apple blossom, comfrey, daisies, crocuses and other small white flowers which we haven’t identified yet.
When we got home, we decided to take a closer look at the blossom in our orchard. The children noticed that the blossom, had five round petals and yellow stamens in the middle. They wanted to paint them, so I dug out card for bookmarks and they set to work. They used their fingers to paint the petals and the end of a used match and paintbrush to paint the stamens and stem.
They all brought their own interpretations for the stems. I love the spirals that BL did.
Even Gwin could not resist joining in, although she left the actual painting to those who don’t mind washing their hands.
Needless to say, they are all mighty proud of their bookmarks. The girls have a good idea what blossom looks like close up as well as being part of the general hedgerow picture. TF listened to it all and enjoyed painting, but I think there is room to revisit this in future years. He likes his bookmark. So do I. I like all their bookmarks.
While painting, there was much discussion about the fragrance of the cherry blossom we had selected. It was very faint, which the girls found disappointing. While the bookmarks were drying, we went out to compare the fragrant flowers currently in bloom in the garden.
The cherry blossom was not much stronger on the tree.
The plum blossom was slightly stronger and was a more “delightful” fragrance.
The lilac was the undisputed winner, today. I am sure we will be testing all the flowers as the days go by. I don’t think any of us will need a lot of encouragement.
I’m linking this in to 5 Orange Potatoes Great Outdoor Challenge.
Beautiful bookmarks!
Thanks for joining the challenge.
lisa
Thanks, Lisa. I’m enjoying the challenge.
The blossoms look lovely (as do the bookmarks!) I love the smell of lilac
We’ll have the lilac to look forward too…the grass has appeared on the school yard …well the brown mat that will green up soon :0) and the first dandelion flower was found by one of the children and much excitement was expressed (everything else except pussy willow is still in bed )
I love lilac, Val. You can’t beat the fragrance. I was really pleased when I discovered it the year after we moved here.
How exciting to see what’s been under the snow for so long. I can imagine the excitement on seeing the first dandelion of the season. Everything is greening up here, that winter seems so long ago, especially the snow.
I love that bookmark idea. I’m planning to post one soon using flowers that we pick, press and dry with my 4-year-old….should be fun!
Stephanie – I love your bookmark idea. We went through a session of pressing flowers and using them in our crafting. I still keep on finding forgotten flowers in books. Lovely reminder of summer.
[…] by Linda Last week two of my grandchildren and I found some great inspiration from a blog called Time to Craft and followed their lead and made some bookmarks. We used acrylic paints, brushes, our fingers, card […]