Create Kids Art With Dried Pressed Flowers

How to Create Art With Dried Pressed Flowers

There is nothing better than getting outdoors in nature and flower pressing is an easy craft activity for doing just that.  We are going to be thinking about the flowers and leaves that we collect as a big box of craft materials that just need a bit of flattening and drying before they are ready to use! Just as pencils, paints, felt tip pens, crayons and pastels come in different shapes and sizes, our flowers and leaves come in different shapes and sizes too.  I’ve grouped some of these treasures together, similar to the treasures you might find, with some ideas with what to do with the dried flowers and leaves.  Creating dried flower pictures has no age limits, the older you get the more imagination and detail I’m sure you will have to give.  First before heading out with a flower press or book, let’s have a brain storm and see if we can be inspired by the below examples…. I suspect you may have some really incredible ideas!

Flower Pressing Ideas For Kids 

1.  Dried Flower Heads

Picking just the heads off flowers is the most obvious way to go about collecting and pressing flowers.  What do you think you could use the below flower heads as in your picture?  

People’s faces, animal faces, a football, car wheels, tree top, sunshine, windows, apple, orange, washing machine door, dinner plate, clouds,  balloons, world, button, pizza, bike wheel, lollipop or planets.

2. Dried Leaves

The beauty about leaves is that you can find them all year around and they come in so many different shapes and sizes.  What could you use leaves for? 

Human body, human legs, Human arms, human feet, animal body, animal legs, octopus legs, animal ears, building bricks or outlines for other shapes (especially thin long leaves!)

3.  Dried Petals

Taking the petals off flowers and pressing them separately is also a great idea.  They are great for filling in bigger shapes and using for finer detail as well as for similar things we could use leaves for.

4.  Dried Flowers On Stems

Flowers can also be pressed on their stems.  However thin stems press quicker and better because they have less water.  Umbrellas, buildings, trees, people’s bodies with arms, plants for pots, flowers for vases.  This one is a bit more difficult but I bet you can think of something more?

5.  Dried Grasses

Grasses will add a different kind of texture to your picture.  They may not press as flat as flowers but are great for playing with.  They also make good outlines to build more complicated shapes as well as for arms and legs, stick body, hair, fur, magic wands, tree branches, a fishing rod, a cricket bat, lightening or furry winter coat.

6.  Dried Weeds

Never overlook weeds, they are always plentiful and come in the most incredible twisty shapes and sizes.  Could they be atoms, swords, make up letters for your initials or simply a beautiful page of patterns?  

7.  Remove Tiny Flower Heads Off a Large bush

For example, from a bush like this buddleia branch below. Tiny flowers are great as using for finer details and outlines like in the car below.  I’ve used them pressed on their little branches for the back car wheel and the tiny flower heads for the outline of the car.  They did turn quite brown when pressed, but that is fine, every paint box needs a good brown!

The pressed flower car show how we can mix all of the different groups of flowers up to create pictures mixing big flower heads, tiny flower heads, flowers on stems and weeds.

Check out my demonstration video below:

Collecting Flowers to Press

I hope you have came up with lots of dried flower ideas?  Now you need to get out collecting flowers!  Do you have any front or back gardens?  Check out what you have growing there.  Even if you don’t maintain it as a traditional garden you may have some interesting weeds that would be great to press.  Ask neighbours if they have anything they wouldn’t mind you picking.  Look on pieces of waste ground, alley ways, curb sides as some beautiful flowers can be found growing wild.  Wild flowers are the quite often the easiest flowers to press because they grow with very little water and generally have thin stems or stems that hold very little water and flatten and dry quickly.  

How Long Do Flowers Take to Press?

If you want your flowers to press quickly, flowers like daisies and buttercups can press in a few days.  Most flowers take about 3 weeks, chunkier flower heads longer.

Arranging dried flowers

Have fun playing around with your ideas, moving your flowers and leaves around until you have shapes and a picture you are happy with.  These can then be stuck down to a sheet of paper carefully with glue.      

What Flowers Never To Pick

Always remember to wash your hands after picking flowers before touching your face or food.  Two very common plants to avoid are stinging nettles which can irritate the skin and foxgloves which are poisonous despite looking magical and beautiful.  When picking flowers try not to pull them out from the root as they won’t be able to grow back again.  When picking from a clump, don’t pick the whole lot.

Nettles are also everywhere, you can spot them from their frilly shaped leaves!  The will irritate your skin if you touch them so avoid them when on your hunt!

Pressed Flower Inspiration

For more inspiration take a look at the embroidery work of Leah Nikolaou who mixes embroidery with flower pressing.

......And if you have a friend or relative who might like this tutorial please help me grow my blog and email a link to them!  Many Thanks for your support!