Flower Science Experiment for Kids

 Happy Friday my friends!  We are SO ready for this long weekend...and then only one more week of school!  We are wrapping up our week on Flowers by sharing a really fun and simple experiment we do every few years that my kids completely love.  

This is so simple and easy to put together, but the kids get a kick out of it and learn alot too!  All you need for your own Flower Experiment are some white flowers, plastic cups filled with water and food coloring.

Now our flowers have only been in the water for a little over a day, and already you can see the major changes taking place!  This is such a fun way to show your kids how plants absorb water, and also a great way to learn about predictions and graphs as well.  Check out how our flowers are doing so far:

Orange

Red

Green

Yellow

Blue

I plan on keeping our roses as long as we can to see how dark they will get and to see if our predictions came true!  Most of us thought the blue and red would show the soonest and be the darkest, but the green and orange aren't throwing in the towel yet! ;)

Thank you so much for visiting Blue Skies Ahead today!  I hope you found something you liked and that you have a wonderful weekend!

Resist Watercolor Flower Paintings!

 This week we are studying and learning all about plants and flowers. We have a few science experiments cooking as we speak, so today we did a really fun and simple art project that my kids (and myself!) completely loved!

For this fun Resist Watercolor Painting all you need are a few pieces of cardstock, watercolors, and a white crayon.

If you are like me and have VERY suspect artistic skills you can search on Pinterest for how-to's on drawing flowers.  Or you can just draw the same simple flowers you have been drawing since grade school ;)  Either way, just take a white crayon and draw flowers on white cardstock.  Once you have done that give your kids some watercolor paints and let them have at it!

My kids absolutely loved watching the flowers appear on their papers right before their eyes as  they painted away.  

These abstract works of art turned out beautiful, and I love hanging them in our family study.  The kids were having so much fun I had to join in with them ;) 

Have you tried any resist artwork at your place?  The possibilities really are endless from tape, to crayons, glue and even stickers!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Plant and Flower Week at the Tulip Festival

 Every year our family treks out to Thanksgiving Point and goes to the Tulip Festival at the end of April.  I always try to plan it so we go the week we are learning about plants and flowers...it is a great way for the kids to see up close and enjoy all the things we have been learning about all week long.    

We went last night and had a fantastic time!  You never know what kind of weather you will have in April, so we were thrilled we just needed warm jackets and that SO many beautiful flowers were in bloom.

The first thing we do when we get there?  I always make my kids take a picture at the top of this beautiful hill :)

I bet you can guess what they always do next....;)

Then comes the fun of walking back UP the huge hill :)

Once we are done with the hill we are off to explore all the beautiful flowers and gardens.

Isn't it such a gorgeous place??

These two cuties were there too...they just were lucky enough to have daddy push them around the whole time!

We had a great time enjoying the beauty of Thanksgiving Point, and picking out which were our FAVORITE tulips!  These pretty pink ones were mine...

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

Painted Bread Flowers

 Happy Monday friends!  Hope you all had a lovely weekend :)  We are kicking off our Spring and Plant Week today, and we are excited!  I didn't actually have anything planned for today, but when the kids started whining about being bored I threw this together.  They loved it, and I actually had a lot of fun too ;)

Painted Bread Flowers!

I had pinned this awesome idea forever ago from Share and Remember, and have been waiting for the perfect day to use it...today was that day!

All you need to make your own Painted Bread Flowers are slices of bread, milk, food coloring and a flower cookie cutter.

I used the Neon Food Coloring and just did 2-3 drops in each cup of milk and had the kids stir them up.

Once you have your "paint" ready to go, hand your kids a paintbrush and let them paint away.  We only eat wheat bread so that was what we used, but the colors would be even brighter if you had white bread on hand!

The kids thought it was SO silly that we were painting bread...with MILK!  They loved seeing the different colors show up on the bread and see what designs they could make.

And this little one?  I just gave her a cup of water to paint her bread and she was none the wiser ;)

I even got in on the fun too ;)

Britton was especially proud of his creation. 

After they were all done painting we just toasted the slices for a few minutes to make one side crisp enough to use a cookie cutter on.

 Not only was this a fun activity, but the kids loved eating their Painted Bread Flowers too!

This is a GREAT last minute activity, especially because you usually have all this stuff on hand!

Thanks so much for coming by today, we'll see you tomorrow with a new FHE and lots more plant and flower fun this week :)

Flower Week continues...the Tulip Festival!

Hey everyone!  Long time no blog! :)

Maybe that half-marathon took more out of me than I expected :)   

This week we are continuing learning ALL about flowers and there is NO better place to do that than at a local Tulip Festival!  It has become one of our families favorite traditions...and this year was no dissapointment.  The flowers were all in full bloom and we had a wonderful evening together.  Here are some of the highlights...

First things first...the kids HAVE to roll down the big hill, of course! :)

Then mom has to attempt a good shot with tulips in the background...when will I learn?!  My babies DON'T do grass!

These were my favorite flowers of the night.  I wish I was a better photographer to do them justice, but you still get the idea :)

It really was one of those rare, perfect family nights.  The kids had a blast, the weather was beautiful and we enjoyed our Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. 

Come back tomorrow if you want to see some projects we attempted last week that didn't QUITE turn out as we had planned (surely I am not the only one this happens to...right?!)

Fruit Flower Cups Treat

Just wanted to pop in and post a really fun, quick treat I threw together yesterday for the kids. we read a few books about flowers and plants and I thought this would make a fun after-reading snack :)

All you need for this yummy treat are pineapple, grapes, pudding cups and crushed up Oreos.

To get started I cut slices of pineapple and then used a flower-shaped cookie cutter to get our flower. Using a toothpick I stuck half of a grape in the center and then pushed a skewer up through the bottom of the pineapple flower.

Then I just topped the chocolate pudding cups with a crushed Oreo and stuck in our fruit flower.

Easy, tasty, and fit in with our weekly theme perfectly!

Thanks again for stopping by today! We are going to try out a really fun craft today so hopefully it works and I can post it tomorrow ;) Have a wonderful day everyone!!