Flower Power

Author: Sarah Pounders

Overview

Many garden activities lend themselves to audiences with different needs and abilities.

Materials:

Plastic cups: choose smaller cups if you have a small number of flowers to work with; use larger cups if some students have challenges with motor skills or control over their hands
Wet floral foam (make sure the package reads "wet floral foam" -- there are other kinds)
Anchor tape and duct tape (optional)
Assorted flowers and foliage
Scissors: if needed provide adaptive scissors (such as squeeze scissors or spring-loaded scissors)

Background Information and Laying the Groundwork

Teach students about the different parts of a flower and their purpose. For background information and ideas, check out “Seeds: The Promise of Life!”, and "Flower Courtship."

Exploration

Making a flower arrangement is an enjoyable, creative activity with flexibility to accommodate different skill and ability levels. Throughout the instructions, we offer suggestions on how to adapt each step for success with different audiences.

Activity Steps	Example
1. Collect your materials. If you have them in your garden, harvest flowers and foliage there. It's best to cut them early in the morning and immediately place in a bucket of water to prevent wilting. Choose plants with sturdy stems, such as zinnias (a great choice: they come in a wide array of colors and are easy to grow), daisies, and ferns. If you feel comfortable with the skill level of your students, they can harvest the flowers for the activity. You can also find flowers at local grocery stores and florists. Ask if they have discounts or donations available. Check with high school horticulture programs -- the teacher may be able to order flowers for you at a wholesale rate for educational purposes. Daisies, mums, carnations (regular or mini), statice, and leatherleaf are the best options for purchased flowers because they are durable and have sturdy stems. Fresher flowers are more tolerant of rough handling if your students possess excessive energy.
2. Tell students that today you are going to make a floral arrangement. Ask where they've seen floral arrangements (their answers may include holiday gatherings, weddings, at church, funerals, birthday parties, etc.). Explain that arranging flowers is an art that has been practiced for thousands of years; in our society we often use flowers as gifts to celebrate special occasions. Giving someone flowers is a way to express feelings such as love, appreciation, and sympathy, and it makes people feel special.
3. Let the children help you place the floral foam in a tub of water until it's fully saturated. Cut the foam into pieces that fit into the plastic cups. About a half inch of the foam should stick out above the cup. If cut to a close fit, the foam should be secure and not require taping. Explain to students that it's important not to press the foam too hard. If the air pockets in the foam get crushed, they can't fill with water and the flowers won’t last as long. Students can fill the cups or if needed, this step can be completed before the activity by volunteers.
4. If your students have control issues and you are afraid the cups may end up on the floor, you can secure the foam with anchor tape. Use two pieces that intersect off center. The wet foam makes the cups heavy enough to stay in place for most students; however, for students who may have difficulty controlling their hands, secure the cups to the work surface with a loop of duct tape on the bottom.
5. Make a sample arrangement for the class. Start with some foliage. Before placing the stems in the foam, re-cut each stem and remove the leaves from the bottom inch or two so that you have a smooth stem to insert into the foam. Choose where to stick the stem: Once in the foam it will stay in place -- as long as you only stick it in once! If you stick and re-stick stems, the foam won't hold them as tightly. Tell students to think of the arrangement as half a basketball. Their goal is to cover it entirely.
6. After you have a light covering of foliage, begin inserting the flowers. As with the foliage, re-cut the stems, remove the bottom leaves, choose where to stick the stems, and insert them into the foam -- just once.
7. If you are working with older students (middle school or high school), provide them with more detailed instructions on flower placement. After they insert the foliage, instruct them to create a design skeleton: Place one flower in the middle and four others oriented horizontally and spaced evenly around the arrangement, like the points on a compass.
8. Once the design skeleton is in place, fill the gaps with other flowers.
9. Once you've completed an example, distribute the remaining flowers to students. If you have a limited number of flowers, tell students how many of each flower they can use and invite them to start trimming stems and making their arrangements. If students are not able to use scissors (either because of age or ability) or if time is limited, have volunteers pre-cut the stems to the approximate length needed and then place them in a second cup of water for each student. When it's time to arrange the flowers, each student will receive a supply cup.
Making Connections 10. Once they're finished, create a name label to attach to each cup using tape and a marker. Give the flowers to people at the school (such as secretaries or cafeteria staff) as a way for the kids to say "thank you," or ask the students to take the arrangements home and give them to someone special.

Branching Out

- Instruct each student to write a poem inspired by the flowers or the arranging activity. Choose a style of poem based on the curriculum standards for your grade level.

- Explore the ‘language of flowers.’ Flowers have been used to express meaning and send messages throughout history. Visit the FTD website to discover the meanings associated with some common flowers. Develop a class list of flowers and meanings; then have students use pictures of flowers (e.g., from old seed catalogs) to create an encoded message for a friend or family member.

- White carnations provide a simple, dramatic way for students to witness water moving through the vascular tissue of flower petals. Obtain 2 to 4 white carnations and 2 vases (or jars). Fill the vases with water and add several drops of blue food coloring to one vase and red food coloring to the other. Re-cut the carnation stems and place 1 or 2 flowers in each vase. Ask students to observe the flowers over the next few days and record their observations. Discuss the observations as a group and ask students to make conclusions about their findings. (As the stems draw water upwards, the flowers take on the color of the dye.)