Description: Students use art to create their own “Flower Show Art Arrangements” in honor of the famous Philadelphia Flower Show and also to connect their art with news and current events. Flowers are a symbol of compassion and connect us to nature. People and plants grow together.
Project Ideas: compassion, mental healing, social health, interpersonal
Anticipatory Set: Discuss flowers as symbols of compassion. Flowers are a way to connect to other people’s feelings while expressing care or concern.
Vocabulary: symmetry, mono-printing, relief, collage, composition, compassion
Directions:
- Students learn basic flower identification and draw flowers, following along with the teacher.
- Students create paper relief vases and explore symmetry through the folded paper which they collage to flower arrangement drawing.
- Students paint half of the vase and fold, adding pressure to transfer decoration to another side of paper utilizing the basic mono-printing technique.
- Students cut out 3 to 5 flowers. and glue them onto the vase.
Discussion: How do you arrange your flowers so your drawing is unique? How is flower arranging and making art similar and how is it different? What does your bouquet of flowers say to someone?
Resources: Website resources and images
Avas Flowers – Botany guide for kids.
Brooklyn Botanical Garden – Current images of plants in bloom