Nature's Toys - Storksbill - aka Ballerina Flowers

My cousins showed me how to play with these little weeds when I was a little girl. I thought I would share them with you! The weed is called storksbill, click here for some more photos for identifying them.



This is a picture of the seeds. This is the part of the plant that you can watch dance. I used to call them ballerina flowers. All you need to do is break off very tippy top and then pull back the hairs a little to get the dance started. Make sure that you get the ones that are brown. The browner the better - they work the best, but don't be fooled by the ones that have already lost their seeds. They are brown too but not as thick.

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Below is a video I've included on what happens when you do this. It is real time so wait for it to load and drag the slider over if you want to see it dance faster.

Celery, Daisies, Food Coloring, and Capillaries!

A good way to teach kids about the capillaries in plants as well as humans and how it all works is a simple experiment using white flowers such as daisies , carnations, or Queen Anne's lace and celery! All you need is some food coloring and water!

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We tried celery and daisies after a few days their petals and leaves changed colors. My 4yr old kept checking them to see if it worked and when it work she ran in announcing with delight. They turned colors mommy, they turned colors.

When it was done we had a little science lesson on veins, and capillaries, and how plants and people work. I've included this scholastic/magic school bus link to help you better explain what is happening!

http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/simplescience/archive/labs/capillaries.htm or here is another good one as well! http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/quick/celery.html

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String and Straw Leis

My niece made my little girl this beautiful Lei. I thought it was fun I have worn it for a few days at my daughter's request.

The construction is easy once you have the supplies. Some sort of yarn or string (this one is made out of poofy thick yarn and it helps the flowers and straw beads stay in place nicely!), paper flowers, and cut up pieces of a straw for beads. You will also need some tape to put on the ends of the yarn to make it easier to thread through the beads.

My daughter and I did our own version on this with small photos of herself and her family. It was a really fun charm necklace filled with mementos of our favorite outings. Quick tip though..... when we punched the holes they were a little bigger than the straws that we bought at the store and we had to use a larger straw like the kind you find at McDonald's so the straw's wouldn't slip through the holes we punched in the photos.

Here is another get idea for making flower leis
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10492

Here are some flower necklace printables from Wondertime Online as well. Click here for the link! As well as a How to on lei's thier way! Click here to see.