I have fond memories of pressing flowers and leaves collected on walks with my mom and dad. We lived in an apartment but had trails behind our house we would walk regularly. Sometime we’d bring apples and carrots to feed the horses that lived on the property along the trail. I’d collect eucalyptus leaves, branches of lavender and other plants native to california. I’d bring them home in my pockets and my mom would press them between piece of paper in between books. I often wonder what happened to my collections.

Today my children have their own garden to explore and I wanted to think of a way to save their collections in one place for one day but also as a way to use it as a tool for learning and reflection today. To turn the little things that fill their hands + pockets into knowledge for their little minds as well.

Pressing Flowers To Save the Season

This summer I decided to put our flower pressing to good use and turn it into an activity for us to have a place to save our favorite plant allies + new plant finds in one place. A place where we can record the plants, identify features of the plants, learn their names and what they do as a family.

Some of the plants we pressed this year and ones you could include, are but are not limited to:

• yarrow

• california poppy

• calendula

• daisy fleabane

• seasonal leaves, like oak, ginkgo, maple, hickory, chestnut

We gathered specimens of plants that were in good condition, trimming leaves and flowers, if the plants had them to help with plant identification using little herb scissors found here.

We pressed our flowers using this lovely press from Lil Bellies. We waited a good week or two to make sure the plants were dried before removing them from the press. Then we secured our plants to our nature journal with thin craft tape.

Learning Our Plants

I labelled each plant with its name. For older children, I would suggest writing out the scientific name, where the plants grow, characteristics and their uses.

This helps my kiddos know what plants in our garden are for what, and how to identify the plants in the ecosystems around us.