Dandelion Fun

The girls have been serious dandelion hunters lately. Whenever we are near a patch of grass, they are searching for white dandelions to blow and wish upon. Last time we were at the library, I found the book Dandelion Adventures by L. Patricia Kite over in the kids' science book area. It tells about the different adventures of seven dandelion seeds as they blow around and land in various places. The girls have really been enjoying it. It also has all kinds of information and fun facts about dandelions at the end. (It doesn't seem to be available at Amazon right now, so definitely check your library!)

After reading the book several times, we pretended to be dandelion seeds floating in the breeze. We made up fun places to land and grow. The girls came up with Disneyland, a mountain stream, the mall, the park near our house, Grammy & Grampy's house, and lots more. A fun and simple creative movement activity.

We also did some dandelion art.I found a little plastic ring in our dress-up jewelry that looked like it might make good dandelion prints. The girls had fun drawing rows of green stems, and printing yellow dandelion flowers on top.

Natalie also wanted to try doing a crayon resist with white crayon & watercolor. No matter how many times we do this type of art, it is still magical to the girls when the white crayon "appears" as they paint over it.

Still on our list to do:

• Collect dandelions and make necklaces or crowns.
• Make our own paper parachutes to explore how dandelion seeds move through the air.
• Dig up a dandelion and check out it's flower, stem, leaves, and roots.
• Read some more books about dandelions!

If you have any fun dandelion activities, crafts or books to share, I'd love to hear about them!

Happy playing!

Comments

[Amy]

These are such great ideas- I forgot about the white crayons trick! So cool!

[Tab]

Wonderful ideas! I think kids and dandelions just magically go together. My boys and I found a recipe to make cookies out of dandelions. We haven't had that many in our yard this year, but we plan to go out to my dad's and "harvest" theirs so we can make these cookies. If you are interested I found the recipe here http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/dessert_dandelioncookies.shtml
I don't know if they are good or not, but my boys are really excited to try them.

[Tiera]

My daughter and I made a batch of Dandelion jelly last year. It takes a bit of time to prepare the blossoms for cooking, but it is fun and a neat conversation piece. It tastes a bit like honey depending on where else the bees have been. Make sure you find the flowers in an area that is not frequented by dogs or sprayed with pesticides.

[Tiera]

My daughter and I made a batch of Dandelion jelly last year. It takes a bit of time to prepare the blossoms for cooking, but it is fun and a neat conversation piece. It tastes a bit like honey depending on where else the bees have been. Make sure you find the flowers in an area that is not frequented by dogs or sprayed with pesticides.

[onemotherslove]

Didn't I see something you did on the Crafty Crow? There's also a link there to dandelion dye applied to a t-shirt on the Crafty Crow. Here's the link:
http://ourhouse.typepad.com/full_circle/2008/06/what-the-dandel.html

I love your blog & I'll be back to see the great ideas you have!