The girls and I love flowers but sometime they don't last very long and a great way to preserve them is to press them. Pressing flowers is an old tradition but it can be lots of fun and give our little gardeners an opportunity to get close up and familiar with all the flowers in the garden.
In this activity the girls have used the Hape Flower Press Art DIY Kit but any flower press can be used.
If not many flowers are available, grasses and leaves can also be used to create stunning pieces of work.
You'll need:
- Flower press
- Paper
- Acrylic paint and brushes (plus cup of water to rinse out brushes between colours)
- Or Hape Flower Press Art DIY Kit which contains a flower press, paper with pre-printed designs and paint plus brush
- Fresh flowers, grasses and leaves
- Glue (if required)
First of all, you'll need your mini gardener/s to go out and do what they do best....pick flower heads, leaves and grasses. If your mini gardener is anything like mine, this is a regular activity usually followed by the mixing of soil and water together with the flower heads in order to create magic potions. This time, they will need to refrain from creating such a mixture and bring their bounty inside so they can start the flower pressing process. If the flowers/leaves/grasses are wet, I would suggest leaving them to dry out a little before getting them in the flower press.
The Hape Kit come with pre-designed sheets so your little one can arrange the flowers/leaves/grasses that they have collected in a way that follow the drawing. If you have a regular flower press, you can create a nice design yourself or just go with a less structured approach.
Once the flowers are in place the flower press can be tightened so that the flowers are pressed flat and left in it for a least a week. If your flowers were quite thick you might need to leave the flower in the press for longer.
Once the flowers are dry (and pressed) you can undo the flower press and admire the beautiful creation. The sheets can now be finished and decorated with the acrylic paint if a design was created on the paper. If any of the flowers come off the sheet or don't feel completely attached, you can use a little PVA glue to secure them into place.
Now you just need the paint to dry and voila' you will have a lovely flower picture!!!
If you don't want to use the flowers to make a picture but for other activities such as sun-catchers or card decoration, you can follow the same procedure but use greaseproof paper instead of regular paper and remove the flowers after drying/pressing process.