Inviting Your Child In: Thanksgiving Flowers

Thanksgiving was the time for one of my most beloved traditions as a teacher.

Thanksgiving flowers.

With some simple logistical guidance, I witnessed children making compositions that reflected their creativity and personality, year after year. These arrangements ranged from the whimsical to the exuberant to the restrained, and from the minimalist to the maximalist - yet they were unfailingly lovely and a source of so much pride.

We’ve already written about the magic of flower arranging here.

Today, I want to share a few additional tips for Thanksgiving arrangements:

• Choose your vessels in advance, and smaller is better so your child can make several and place them around the table. Vessels can be jars, glasses, small vases.

• Choose flowers with thin stems, so your child can cut them

• Choose flowers that are not too top-heavy, so that the vases don’t topple

• Include greenery like eucalyptus

• Spend time in the choice-making process. Consider with your child - what colors look complimentary? What textures and shapes are interesting? How many will be the right amount for your vessels? What flowers work well for the vessels you’ve chosen?

• Don’t fill your vase/s with water until your child is finished arranging their compositions

• Show your child how to cut carefully, emphasizing that you measure the stem for height against the vase

Find my suggested tools here: bud vases, funnel, pitcher, scissors.

And a few words on the benefits:

• Sensory exploration - textures, scents, weights, heights, colors. If sensory work has been suggested for your child, this is a wonderful activity - but this is also beneficial for any child’s sensory integration

• Aesthetic appreciation - color, composition, design

• Contribution - bringing beauty to a space and delight to others

• Meaningful work - when your child spends part of a morning arranging flowers instead of watching shows, they have created something real - something lasting and lovely - that they will appreciate for days to come

Lastly, an extension:

• Invite your child to draw or paint their floral arrangement. Save as a Thanksgiving keepsake.

With thanks to the beautiful beings - children, parents, grandparents - who helped bring these floral creations to life in the classroom, and who shared our Thanksgiving tables in the classroom. What a gift to create these memories with you.