Dandelion Painting

The sight of a field full of dandelions is such a happy thing for me.  Dandelions give me so many memories of being outside in the spring and summer.  Now that I have kids, I love dandelions because my kids can pick a million of them, and there are still more dandelions left to pick.

Once those dandelions are picked, the perfect thing to do with them is paint! 

This was an activity that both of my girls (almost 2 and almost 5 years old) did together.  They had so much fun, and I think that the finished product is pretty neat looking.

I started out by giving my girls a paint palette with washable finger paints, a big empty piece of paper, and some dandelion "brushes."  Kid #1 insisted on having q-tips to paint with too, but those were hardly touched.

My toddler used her dandelion more like traditional paint brush, and my preschooler went with a print-making approach.  Both were great ways to experiment with a new tool.

I love the way the flower pattern looks.  The dandelion held up nicely, despite being mashed and squashed repeatedly. 

In other news, the city that I live in has just gotten warm enough to plant our vegetable garden these last few weeks.  Our days and nights have been filled with planting, planning, and hoping that we'll get a good harvest come August.  Mr. Emily has been the hardest worker, but the kids have enjoyed getting their hands dirty too.