Outdoor Fun and Learning Fun!

I don't spray my yard for those beautiful flowered weeds.....Dandelions.  And probably never will.  I don't like chemicals and don't want to spend the money.  No, they are not my favorite and I'd rather them not be there, but they are and they will remain.  They are still part of God's creation.  The Bible does tell us that we will have thistles and stuff chocking out the good stuff in this sinful world.  So, I might as well make the most of them since they are there.

Admit it.  Don't you remember having some fun with those gold yellow flowers too when you were a kid?  I do.  Whether it was picking a beautiful Dandelion bouquet for my parents or holding the flower under my chin and saying, "I've been eating butter"... or something like that from the yellow glow.  I just remember my mom doing something like that based on a Norman Rockwell painting with a boy holding a flower up to a girl. (I think).  I tried to Google it but didn't find what I was looking for.  And at least I think that is where the idea came from.  I guess it's just a vague memory.

These first pictures come from an activity I remember my mom doing with me as a child on warm summer days.  I specifically remember sitting on our wraparound front porch curling dandelions stems.  It was fun.  We'd pick the dandelions, preferably the longer stemmed ones.  It didn't matter whether they were buds, blossoms, or the white seeded part.  We'd pick off the flowered part and discard, gather a bucket of water, and then tear the stem in half and drop in the bucket of water.........and fun little curly cues would appear.  However, not all will curl.

 

 

 

My three-year old and I enjoyed it!  The next thing I knew we were turning the curls into fun little rings on our fingers and toes!  LOVED IT!

A few days earlier, we had been making a game of who could pick the most dandelions the fastest.  I, of course, let her win.  Most of the time.  And, just maybe, by picking them we will prevent a few less Dandelions in the future since those poor flowered weeds won't get the opportunity to blow their white puffy seeds around.  Later we had some outdoor learning fun with the bouquets we'd gathered.  Since I've been trying to teach her letter recognition, I started forming letters with them and quizzing and teaching her the letters of the alphabet.  The letter's with loops and curls are a bit more tricky than ones with just straight points, but it was still fun and a learning opportunity!  Sometimes I'd just break of a flowered part to make the letter more cute!

You can use it for learning spelling words too!

Have fun playing and learning!

Love it!