How to do Flower Pounding

Happy Earth Day everyone!  How's the weather where you are?  It's slowly getting warmer and sunnier over here, so Chuck and I have been taking nature walks around our neighborhood.  I was surprised to see so many tiny flowers blooming.  (Nature is so resilient, isn't she?)  Chuck really loved seeing the colorful blossoms too.  We ended up picking quite a few and bringing them back to do some flower pounding. 

How to do Flower Pounding With Kids

This craft basically involves hitting flowers (or grass or leaves) with a hammer or rock to release their pigment.  As you can probably guess, it was a big hit with the little guy.  (Sorry downstairs neighbors!)  Keep reading to see how we pounded our flowers!

Materials Needed to do Flower Pounding

• Freshly picked flowrers (flat ones give the sharpest images)
• Paper towel 
• Watercolor Paper
• Hammer or flat rock 
• Heavy book

How to do Flower Pounding

1.  Go out on a nature walk.  Pick your flowers, leaves, or stems.  (For the best results, choose flat flowers with vibrant colors.  Flowers that are poofier and juicier won't give such sharp images when pounded.  We ended up with a couple of squishy messes.)

2.  Place your watercolor paper on top of a heavy book.  (We folded ours in half because we wanted to make a card.)

3.  Pull off the stem off your flower head.  Then, place it face down on top of your watercolor paper.

4.  Place a paper towel on top of your flower.  

5.  Now you're ready to do some flower pounding. Use a hammer or flat rock and carefully hit the flower a couple of times to "set" (stick) the flower to your paper.  Then, keep hitting until the flower releases pigment onto your page.

(I helped Chuck hold down his paper towel so it wouldn't slide around.  That meant that my poor hand was whacked a few times.  Ouch.  Good thing we didn't use a real hammer.  I suppose I could have just taped the paper towel down too... hrmm....)

Keep hitting the flower until you see its pigment on the paper towel too.  If you're not sure whether you're done, carefully lift your paper towel up to see if the pigment transferred.

If you're satisfied with the results, carefully pull the flower head off your paper.  Keep repeating this process with other flowers until you get a design that you like.

We turned out flower pounding into a thank you card for a neighbor.   But, you don't have to just stick with paper!  There are other lovely projects online where people did flower pounding on cloth too!

Psst- Looking for other Nature themed crafts to do with the kids?

• Painted Twig Wall Art
• Flower Printing
• Toilet Roll Bird Feeders
• Contact Paper Leaves
• Grass Egg Heads

Happy crafting!