It's summer! Summer means swimming, playing outside until the streetlights come on, and roasting marshmallows over a campfire. Especially for children, summer is a time of freedom and exploration.
Summer is also a great time for some family bonding.
If you are looking for fun things to do with your children,
here is a list of fun activities that you can do together:
1.)
Grow a flower- Using a Dixie cup, and some soil, plant a seed or two in the soil. Poke several holes in the bottom so that water can drain. Water a little each day and see how long it takes for the flower to sprout.
2.)
Visit a flower shop- Take a field trip to your
local flower shop to look at all the flowers and plants that they have. Ask the florists and staff about care tips for flowers at home. Buy some loose flowers like daisies, carnations, alstromeria to take with you!
3.)
Make an arrangement- After your trip to the flower shop you and your children can make arrangements! You will be surprised to see what neat arrangement children come up with.
4.)
Botanical Gardens trip- Take another field trip to the
Toledo Botanical Gardens. Explore all the different types of garden areas and see how they use different plants and flowers in each one.
5.)
Coffee Filter Flowers- This fun art project is lots of fun but probably best done outside. Using markers, color lightly on the coffee filters. Then lightly moisten the filters which will cause the colors to run together! As you let them dry in the sun, take green construction paper to make a stem and some leaves. then glue the two halves together. Voila! You can put the flowers on the refrigerator, back door or on their walls.
6.)
Magic Flowers- This takes a little time. Take bud vases or clear glasses filled with water. put in a few drops of food coloring of choice, then, putting a fresh cut at the bottom at an angle, stick a white carnation or daisy chrysanthemum in the vase. Kids will be amazed to see the flower change color as it drinks water.
7.)
Art Museum trip- For centuries artists like Claude Monet and Georgia O'Keeffe have been inspired by nature and flowers. Take a visit to the
Toledo Museum of Art and meander through the galleries. Look at the works of world class artists and discuss how they perceive nature. Then at home children can create their own artworks based on nature and flowers.
I hope that this gives you some fun ideas for summer activities. I have at one point or another done all of these activities and I had a lot of fun. If you try any of them, let me know how your experience went down in the comments. (And as always, you can look at my
inspiration board for this blog.)
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2.) Mini Calla Lilies- Mini Callas are an elegant flower for any arrangement. I know the white variety is used a lot for weddings. But they come in all sorts of colors- white, yellow, dark red, and (my favorite) burnt orange. They look fantastic in a vase by themselves or nestled in a mixed arrangement with any of the flowers on the list..jpg)
3.) Liatris- Liatris is such a versatile flower. They are tall and have tiny, soft but spiky florets. They come in white, and lavender. Liatris is perfect at adding height to arrangements..jpg)
4.) Dahlias- I don't even know where to begin with this flower. This is probably by far my favorite of the group. Dahlias come in a wide range of types and colors. They can come in bright happy peppy colors like yellow, orange, pinks, and even some bi-color varieties. Or they can come in deeper more somber hues like the elegant black dahlia that is really rich red. There is a type for every mood and fancy..jpg)
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