Oct 23

Oct 23 Lazy daisy days...

art, colour, craft, Fine motor skills, nature, outdoor play, Spring

There are pops of colour everywhere at the moment, as Spring announces herself in bursting blossoms and weather forecasts that are full of surprises.

Our parks and backyards are waking up… and if your lawn is anything like mine it will be dotted with the sorts of small flowering weeds that make me feel nostalgic.

The yellow and black flowers of Capeweed were everywhere in my childhood backyard. While my father thought they were the enemy of his lawn I thought they were cheery and pretty. Afterall, aren’t weeds just flowers in the wrong place?

Have you ever made a Daisy Chain?

Daisy chains are a classic activity to make with, or for, your kids. They can be worn immediately and usually spark some beautiful play. You’ll probably be able to gather the materials from your neighbourhood on your very next walk.

What can you do with daisy chains?

wear them as a crown
wear them as a bracelet
wear them as a necklace
hang as a garland
leave on a friend’s letterbox

Daisy chains are simple to construct, but fiddly. They require just a handful of daisies, a thumbnail, a steady hand and a good eye to make.

Here’s how it’s done.

Pick a stash of daisies - choose those with the longest and thickest stems.
Take daisy 1 and use your fingernail to pierce a slit into its stem, about a centimetre from the end.

Take daisy 2 and thread its stem through the slit of daisy 1 and gently pull through.

Daisy 2 has been threaded through daisy 1.

Repeat this process over and over to link all of your daisies together. They can become a long strand, or you can connect the last daisy to the first and make a loop. To do this you’ll need a larger slit in the stem of the final daisy, and to poke daisy 1’s flower through. You can remove the petals of daisy 1 if needed, as that can make it smaller to thread through the slit.