Here’s another beautiful Tiny Revolution from Clare Taylor of Bus and Bird Arts – she shared with us her seed papers idea couple of weeks ago. Clare says …

Creating a nature rainbow is a beautifully simple activity for all ages to try out. All you need is access to leaves, grass, windfall, blossom and flowers if you are lucky enough to have a garden.

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Step one – Go on a nature walk. This can be done in your own garden if you have one and don’t fancy wandering too far for the activity. Whilst outside, look for flora with different textures and colours in various sizes. By the way, flora is a fancy word for plant life.

Step two – Collect a small amount of leaves, grass, flowers and so on. For nature’s sake it is best to pick small amounts of flowers that are past their best or leaves that have already fallen down off the trees. Blossom is easy to collect but be mindful when scooping it up not to squash any tiny beasties or transport them home! Flora can be collected in tubs, buckets, baskets or paper bags – whatever you have to hand.

Step three – Once home, sort through your nature treasures and place into different coloured piles. Some flowers may have easy to remove petals, which is how we have created some of the rainbow layers.

Step four – On your driveway, grass, path, kitchen table or floor (any flat surface will work), gently chalk out an arc for the largest section of the rainbow. It is easiest to start at the top and work your way dowm to the smaller sections as it works as a guide.

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Step five – Decide which colour to start with and begin to place your chosen petals or leaves on the arc. Repeat this step until you have completed the rainbow shape or run out of natural supplies! If you have any petals left, you could layer them up on top of each other to create an extra layer of pattern and colour.

Step six – Admire your handiwork and take a photo of it as the flora will begin to fade and decay fairly quickly. You may choose to press some of the flowers in between pages of old heavy books for use in a future project!

Further ideas – Incorporate a nature trail into the walk. Discuss the changing seasons. Count the flowers in each arc. Label and draw the parts of each flower as you disassemble them. The list is endless, I am sure that you can think of many more ideas and ways of doing this activity.

All images were created with my 5 year old, apart from the final image which I created myself last summer. She even had a go at taking the photos which was a pleasure to see.

we are also happy to print & send to you – contact us here