Objective

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to create a pressed flower art piece and understand the process of flower pressing.

Materials and Prep

Materials: fresh flowers, heavy books, parchment paper, cardboard, scissors

Prep: Gather fresh flowers and heavy books for pressing. Cut cardboard into small squares for framing the pressed flowers.

Activities

1. Gather a variety of fresh flowers from the garden or nature walk.

2. Place the flowers between parchment paper and then between the pages of heavy books. Stack more books on top for added pressure.

3. Leave the flowers to press for a week.

4. Once pressed, carefully remove the flowers and arrange them on the cardboard squares, creating a beautiful pressed flower art piece.

Third Grade Talking Points

• "Pressing flowers helps preserve their beauty for a long time. It's like making a picture with real flowers!"
• "We can find different types of flowers in our garden or on a nature walk to press. Each flower is unique and special."
• "By using heavy books, we can squeeze the flowers to make them flat. This process is called pressing."
• "After a week, the flowers will be flat and dry. Then we can arrange them on cardboard to make a pretty artwork."