Experimenting with flowers

My 9yo used the petals from the dandelion she was drawing in her nature journal to color in the picture.

That led to pounding different flowers to make prints.

And that led to an experiment to make ink/paint out of different petals that she smashed up with water and filtered out the petals. I knew she wasn't going to get anything very vivid but didn't want to discourage her.

She was surprised by some of the colors she got. A deep red rose gave her dark purple, almost blue, water. Dandelions were a muddy yellow she didn't like. But so many pretty colors. She was disappointed that the colors were not bright when she painted on paper (with her handmade brush of grass+stick) but she was not discouraged! She is still interested in continuing to experiment with nature as materials for her art, like using crushed rocks and dirt as well.

We also had a great discussion about what she might need to do to get brighter results, how paint historically is made from minerals and a binder like egg, and went into a tangent about how people can use aged urine to get colors to stick onto fibers. My 11 yo boy thought that was the coolest and volunteered to help if the 9yo wanted to take her experiment in that direction. 😂

Jenny, what fun! The colors are so pretty. I admire the inquiring minds of your children and the willingness of the mom to facilitate experiential learning. Great job Super Mom!!