Hello! I’m Laura from Peace but Not Quiet — I blog about kids’ activities, recipes, and other things that make family life a little easier! I’m so excited to be here today, sharing a simple, fun outdoor activity we did this week.
This flower art was inspired by mandalas. I love mandalas — they’re beautiful, and made in so many forms, with so many different materials. We took that idea of repeating patterns in a circle, and adapted it.
Exercises like this are so versatile — you can make these with anything, and children can learn about patterns, and art, and creativity, and so many things.
First, we gathered our materials…
lettuce leaves from the garden
flowers from around the yard…and a few sticks and some chalk to round things out.
And once we got started, we moved on to combination chalk-nature pictures as well.
The kids can spend hours outside, adding to their pictures — this one began as a simple boat, but by the end, there was a house, and landscaping, and a complicated road that wound around our back deck, and animals, and all kinds of other things (they lost me in their explaining things…).
And they can spend quite a bit of time on the mandalas as well.
So much to talk about as we do them — the different flowers and vegetables and plants that grow in our yard. The colors we used in our creations. The patterns we made as we went along.
The creative process (“Do we need some white dots around the edges? What do you think?”). You could even move from this to looking at the way other artists use flowers in their artwork.
So many possibilities!
Or you can just enjoy being outdoors, making beautiful pictures and playing in nature.
Thank you so much for letting me share with you today! For more ideas on getting kids outdoors, try these fun ideas:
- DIY Bird Feeder
- Pressed Flower Suncatcher
- Summer Shadow Art
- Make a journey Stick
- Make DIY Sidewalk chalk
-37 Free Summer Activities for Kids
-Tips for Birdwatching With Your Children
Laura is a mother of four, who lives near Denver, Colorado. She’s passionate about getting children outdoors and helping them learn (even if they don’t realize it!). She also enjoys running and knitting stuff and was recently crowned “Royal Queen of Colorado” by her four-year old. Learn more about her on her blog — Peace but Not Quiet.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
What a fabulous idea! Great Bank Holiday Weekend activity, Lydia will love doing this, she’s really creative and will have so much fun.