Nature Study with the Flower Fairies

Back in September I held a potion party for A7 and I did it Flower Fairy themed.  It was such a huge hit that I got thinking about educational ideas using the Flower Fairy as a starting point.  Around the same time we had begun another one year study, this time on a local meadow and woodland.  Such a vast area, I knew, would provide much fodder for study, and the following photo shows this assumption to be correct:

My guys love a nature walk, they love being out in nature and everything about it interests them.  But I remember our pond study.  I really believe that the key to the longevity of that study was due to the fact that we got to know the bird life.  We helped when we found an injured bird; we watched as baby chicks grew into adolescents and then reached maturity and flew off to find a pond of their own to breed in.  It lasted because we knew these birds as old friends and each time we visited it was like pulling up a chair in a good friend’s house and sitting for a while in their company.  I wasn’t sure the same would apply to the plant life we would be focusing on this year.  Using the flower fairies would, in some small way, personalise the study.  Now, my children know fairies don’t exist, despite the fact my mum swearing she saw one as a child.  I have always promised my children to tell them the truth, no matter what.  So they know Father Christmas doesn’t exist, they know there is no Easter bunny and they know fairy tales are just that – fantastical stories made up in someone’s imagination.  I thought flower fairies might make the study more fun, not because the children believe they are real but because there is something very appealing in their beauty and whimsy.  I really believed they would aid our study (as silly as it may seem!).

My mum, who is a flower fairy fanatic, owns the complete collection of books, in one large volume.  We borrowed it to use alongside our study:

Each fairy has a beautifully painted picture of the flower fairy in question, along with an educational poem to go with it.  The poems are proving handy as the children and I seek to prove the things it says!

I have lots of ideas of how I will use this beautiful book, alongside the actual flower to create an original nature study all around the flowers of each season.  For example:

• We may study the fairy to see which attributes of the flower it has.  This will teach, especially the younger two girls, to look very carefully and to notice small details of the flower.
• We may do some colour matches to both the fairy and the plant, teaching the children to be more observant with regards to the shades, patterns and anomalies which might otherwise be missed.
• We may draw the flowers, either from a photo I have taken or from the pinterest images I will be collecting or, best of all, from a specimen of the plant itself.
• We may create our own, different fairy using the actual plant; wooden pegs and bits and pieces of cloth; or even use the make your own fairy kit we have:

• We may have a bit of fun with some flower fairy paint brushes
• Or create some flower fairy pictures using the actual flower
• Or how about making some nature fairies instead, from our many nature hunt treasures which A7 in particular brings home each day?
• And last but not least there is a wonderful flower fairy site which has lots of information and a few games to make learning even more fun

I will write up a post for each flower fairy and therefore plant or tree we cover.  This will be in addition to the weekly one year nature study posts, although I may include a seasonal wrap up of each season’s plant studies.  Tomorrow I will post our first study on Bind Weed:

It was a huge hit, we learnt loads and best of all the little ones have had lots of fun!  I look forward to sharing tomorrow.

Linking up with Phyllis at All Things Beautiful