April showers bring May flowers
We have a bouquet of flower-themed crafts, gifts and games for you for the month of May…
I often say that really every day is Mother’s Day for me because it is truly such an amazing gift to be a mom! Some beautiful bouquets of flowers came early this Mother’s Day weekend and reminded me how much joy flowers can bring, even when life is already overflowing with so many blessings.
We wish we could send a bouquet of flowers to all of the moms reading this post today, but since we can’t, we are sending you a bouquet of ideas you can enjoy with your children… and a bouquet of prayers for you too!
Hand Print Flower - Fun for Toddlers!
Simply use a wide paint brush to paint your child’s palm and fingers with washable paint. (We used Crayola Washable Project Paint. It has a nice consistency.) Help your child to place his or her hand towards the middle of a piece of cardstock or other thick paper. Then allow your child to finger paint a stem on the flower and other decorations on the page. Just have some wet wipes ready to wipe the paint from your little one’s hands after the painting is complete!
Perler Bead Flowers - Fun for Bigger Kids!
These are so simple, yet surprisingly fun! You can use them as game pieces (see our Flower Bingo game below), as table decorations, or just play with them. It’s amazing what a little imagination can do!
Use perler beads with any cicular perler bead form. Place one perler bead in the center, and surround the center with one ring of perler beads. Iron according to package instructions (remember the parchment paper!).
If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.
– Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Do you want to go on a spring flower scavenger hunt? This can be a fun way to learn about the names of flowers while enjoying the beauty of God’s creation in the springtime.
We have a free printable for you! It comes in 2 versions that can be made into a card to invite someone on a flower scavenger hunt. One says “Happy Mother’s Day!” on the front. The other has a blank front that could be decorated for Mother’s Day or any celebration for someone who loves flowers. To make these printables into cards, print them doubled sided (flip on the short side), and fold in half. You could also simply print the first page to have a flower scavenger hunt without making it into a card.
We are in growing zone 7, so these are some flowers that tend to be in bloom in mid spring around our home. If you are in a different growing zone or want to make a flower scavenger hunt for a different time of year, simply copy and paste flower images and names into a Word document. We often use www.pixabay.com to find free images. If flower seed catalogues or magazines arrive at your home, having children cut and paste images from such publications could also be fun.
You could go on the flower scavenger hunt in your neighborhood or visit a nearby public garden, or even a garden center.
The back of the card has some fun questions about flowers you can talk about and some quotes about flowers to consider as well.
Sweet April showers do spring May flowers.
– Thomas Tusser
When I was a little girl we would sometimes go searching for what we called “May flowers” in the woods around our house (it turns out these dainty purple flowers are actually called wild violets, but they are one of the first flowers to bloom in the springtime woodlands). We would then make little construction paper packages tied with yarn, and hang them on our neighbors’ door handles. I loved this idea of spreading a little joy and a happy surprise to neighbors. While living in France during college, I was delighted to see that this is not simply a childhood pleasure. On the first of May in France, there are lily of the valley flowers (they call them “muguets”) for sale all around, and people offer them to friends to wish them a happy day. Here is a link about the history of this French tradition.
Offering flower seeds or a small potted flower can be a sweet gift to bring a smile to someone’s day… for May Day, for Mother’s Day or any springtime day!
For this little gift, we placed a package of seeds (with directions for planting) in a 3″ round Jiffy pot. We punched a hole at the top, and used a narrow ribbon to tie on a gift tag. Then we topped it off with some tissue paper. Our free printable tags come with three different options – one for May Day (“May God bless you abundantly today and every Day!”), one for Mother’s Day (“Happy Mother’s Day!”), and one blank to write your own message.
Earth laughs in flowers.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
How about a game to bring even more joy and smiles to springtime? If you are looking for a flower-themed game, you could try our flower BINGO game, available on Etsy. The game features beautiful photos of real flowers. There are 10 unique cards (but if you have more players, players could play in pairs or small groups). The game comes with printable bingo chips, but you could also use perler bead flowers (see above in this post), or other chips of your choice.
This could be a fun game for a tea party, a Mother’s Day brunch, a bridal shower, or a garden-themed birthday party.
We recently used this BINGO game for a science lesson with our homeschool group to learn the names of the flowers that surround us.
What are your favorite flowers and why do you love them?
Where have you seen the most beautiful flowers?
We would love to hear from you! Please comment below to share what you love about flowers.
My favorite flowers are hydrangeas. They became my favorite flower when I saw them growing in an abundance of colors along the Atlantic Coast in a little French town called Biarritz.
Sparkles and Sprinkles Dad brought home this beautiful bouquet the other day for Sparkles and Sprinkles Mom He knows my favorite flowers well!
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