SOLSC 2022 #23 Flowering fun

 

It is March 2022 and time for the

 15th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge  

Every single day, for all thirty-one days of March,

writers will share stories.

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this supportive community 

of teacher-writers!

Ten days later, the gorgeous anniversary flowers were no longer so; in fact, they were sad, droopy, and discarding petal after petal onto the table. They had lasted a good length of time; I decided to get them out to the compost. I laid down newspaper to examine and collect them one by one, thinking - maybe, just maybe, some of them were not wilting? Ah, that was not to be. 

Three year old Frog pulled up a chair to where I was working. 

"Nana, shouldn't we do a flower experiment?"

I looked at her, incredulously, and then remembered seeing a photo of her with her other grandmother, breaking apart remnants of another vase of flowers and exploring. My goodness, of course, we SHOULD do this, shouldn't we? 

One couple's trash is a child's treasure! These tasks are great learning fun.

I found some containers and we began pulling off blossoms, taking care - for a short while, anyway - to have each type of flower in a different container. We were fascinated by the different shapes and sizes of the blossoms. Frog bombarded me with questions - 

What is this part called?

Why are some flowers bigger?

What is this flower?

What is this part that is making a powder mess?

Other than petals, leaves, and stems, the discussion was pretty quickly over my head, so I suggested we research this on the computer. We don't have to be the experts, right? Welcome the questions and figure it out together. I looked up "parts of plant," and we studied the diagrams together; soon Frog was tossing around the words "stamen" and "pistil" with confidence, which had me chuckling. Then she had the idea to mix all the petals into one bowl, making a bed for Thumbelina (we had just read this fairy tale together earlier). That cozy bed led to an art project - I found a piece of card stock and got out the glue; Frog made a floral collage. 

This art still drying at day's end; I'll get it out again next week with her, and see if she wants to add some marker or paint...or glue more flowers...

With grandchildren, chores turn into the most pleasant opportunities!