Flower-Arranging

The arrival of spring is usually announced in this country with the blooming of daffodils everywhere and I have really missed it.  For us, the added surprise has been discovering the different types of plants that have appeared in our garden.  (We have been living abroad for four years and moved into our current house last November, so we haven't yet seen the garden through all the seasons).  The boys have been learning to spot the daffodils and crocuses on our various walks around the neighbourhood.  Today I gave them an opportunity to pick them and arrange them.

I gave Wugs a basket and some scissors and let him cut the flowers he wished to arrange.  He needed some instruction on cutting the stem as far away from the flower as he could (otherwise the flowers wouldn't fit into the vase).  This would have been an easier activity if I had given him smaller scissors!!

When he had finished he laid out the daffodils on the table and we compared the length of the stems of the daffodils he had cut using a ruler to help him understand that the stem length and the vase size were important.  I set up a tray with a jug of water, a cloth for spills and a vase and he began arranging the flowers, keeping aside the ones that had shorter stems and didn't fit into the vase.  I offered him some white carnations that I had in the kitchen to add to his display.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with the flowers that had shorter stems as I didn't have a small vase, so I made one using the bottom of a water bottle and decided to let Dooey in on the action when he woke up.  I envisaged water everywhere and my toddler with a mouthful of daffodil petals, but he took to the activity very well.

What we used:

Basket

Flowers

Scissors

Jug of Water

Vase

Cloth

 

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