Imagine seeing a flower for the first time as a child here on earth – a violet in the grass, a dandelion, tulip or daisy. Indoors as the mother puts flowers in a vase to beautify the home, or outside in a backyard garden or on a forest or prairie walk. As the adult, would you be open to having the child pick a flower, touch, smell and explore the flower parts by pulling the petals off, or what about setting out some paint and having the child use the flower as a brush to paint a picture?
At a very early age when children are like sponges taking in extraordinary amounts of information and exploring the world around them, this is prime time to engage a child’s playful curiosity and imagination for discoveries and creative opportunities. The learning is all about the process and exploring the properties of the nature items. Getting to know flowers in this way can be a stepping stone to next steps such as storybooks about flowers, flower songs and poems, planting flower seeds or bulbs, flower scavenger hunt, flower and plant drawing, and so much more.
There’s this belief that children should never pick flowers. That all flowers are sacrosanct, too beautiful for children to touch, pick or handle. Yes, flowers are beautiful and we all want to enjoy them but we’ve forgotten one important fact: children connect with nature when they have the freedom to touch and interact with it. Children need to pick flowers, hold worms, squish mud, catch butterflies, break sticks and smash rocks to learn about how the natural world works. Children will never learn how to care for flowers without having the chance to pick and play with them.
Backwoods Mama, Yes! Let Your Child Pick Flowers
Here are other resources about children picking flowers:
What happens if every child picks a flower?
Montessori Nature’s guest interview with Rain or Shine Mamma
Why you should pick flowers with your kids – and how to make it into a game
Making Danish – happy, healthy and wholesome
Featured Image by tyannar81